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aasplund's review
4.0
I received this book in a Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
I had never read any Tolstoy until now. My dad is a huge fan of Russian literature and has talked about it quite a bit, so I dunno why I waited so long. I'm glad I finally got around to it.
This is a collection of 5 novellas by Tolstoy. I had very different feelings regarding each of them.
1- The Invaders - It took me a couple weeks to get through this story. It's short, but the characters and the plot didn't catch my interest. And the ending didn't make too much sense to me. This story wasn't meaningful or interesting in my mind.
2- The Death of Ivan Ilyich - I expected that I'd feel similarly about this novella, but this is where everything changed. I couldn't put this story down. It was fascinating and made me think quite a bit. To make things even better, I finished the story with one view of the possible meaning and then turned to an afterword, which pointed out some similarities between Ivan Ilyich's death and Christ's death. I had to go back and skim a bit of the story to fully appreciate this new perspective and that changed things quite a bit. I love reading stories that make me think.
3- Two Hussars - This novella made me laugh. The characters are all so melodramatic and have such high expectations and the juxtaposition of the father and son amused me to no end.
4- Father Sergius - This novella probably resonated with me that most. Father Sergius is a fascinating character and, while I don't know yet if I fully agree with his opinions, I adored him. Also, this story makes interesting points about what it means to be devoted to God, which I enjoyed.
5- Master & Man - This final novella didn't resonate with me quite as much, but I enjoyed it. What began as an interesting and somewhat humorous tale got to be pretty serious by the end and had an unexpected end.
I'm glad I read this and I'm excited to read a bit more Tolstoy. But I'm most excited to pass this along to my dad.
I had never read any Tolstoy until now. My dad is a huge fan of Russian literature and has talked about it quite a bit, so I dunno why I waited so long. I'm glad I finally got around to it.
This is a collection of 5 novellas by Tolstoy. I had very different feelings regarding each of them.
1- The Invaders - It took me a couple weeks to get through this story. It's short, but the characters and the plot didn't catch my interest. And the ending didn't make too much sense to me. This story wasn't meaningful or interesting in my mind.
2- The Death of Ivan Ilyich - I expected that I'd feel similarly about this novella, but this is where everything changed. I couldn't put this story down. It was fascinating and made me think quite a bit. To make things even better, I finished the story with one view of the possible meaning and then turned to an afterword, which pointed out some similarities between Ivan Ilyich's death and Christ's death. I had to go back and skim a bit of the story to fully appreciate this new perspective and that changed things quite a bit. I love reading stories that make me think.
3- Two Hussars - This novella made me laugh. The characters are all so melodramatic and have such high expectations and the juxtaposition of the father and son amused me to no end.
4- Father Sergius - This novella probably resonated with me that most. Father Sergius is a fascinating character and, while I don't know yet if I fully agree with his opinions, I adored him. Also, this story makes interesting points about what it means to be devoted to God, which I enjoyed.
5- Master & Man - This final novella didn't resonate with me quite as much, but I enjoyed it. What began as an interesting and somewhat humorous tale got to be pretty serious by the end and had an unexpected end.
I'm glad I read this and I'm excited to read a bit more Tolstoy. But I'm most excited to pass this along to my dad.
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