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1.51k reviews for:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
George Saunders
4.52 AVERAGE
1.51k reviews for:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
George Saunders
4.52 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
I really really enjoyed this book and found each of the stories analyzed to be thought-provoking and useful to pick apart. The only one I thought was a drag was the fourth story (Tolstoy’s “Master and Man”). I enjoyed the exercise of cutting down words at the end and how the stories stuck with me for various reasons. I’ll be thinking of “Gooseberries” and “The Nose” for some time. It makes me want to write a short story (which is on the 2025 bingo board so…). Thanks @Malhaar for the gift and inspo!
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Not sure how I felt about this one honestly. I'll say one thing, this is a terrible book to listen on audiobook. The book is about reading Russian short stories and analyzing them, picking them apart and figuring out what makes them great. This process, requires referencing the original text a lot, which does not work at all when you are listening to an audiobook. If I ever try this book again, I would definitely read the physical book, probably with a pen in hand to annotate.
All that being said, the stories that were covered were good, by Chekhov, Gogol, Tolstoy, and Turgenev. Of these, I've only ever read Chekhov (who I loved), so this book was a great introduction to great Russian writers, with easily digestible stories.
The analysis of the stories were pretty hit or miss for me. At times, Saunders made me feel like I don't even deserve to be reading the same books as he, with some of the insightful things he was gleaning from the text that I was missing entirely, it made me feel inadequate as a reader. Other times though, I thought some of the things he was talking about was utter hogwash, and reading wayyyy too far into the analysis and finding things that weren't there at all.
All that being said, the stories that were covered were good, by Chekhov, Gogol, Tolstoy, and Turgenev. Of these, I've only ever read Chekhov (who I loved), so this book was a great introduction to great Russian writers, with easily digestible stories.
The analysis of the stories were pretty hit or miss for me. At times, Saunders made me feel like I don't even deserve to be reading the same books as he, with some of the insightful things he was gleaning from the text that I was missing entirely, it made me feel inadequate as a reader. Other times though, I thought some of the things he was talking about was utter hogwash, and reading wayyyy too far into the analysis and finding things that weren't there at all.
George Saunders is too modest here; he is the one giving a master class on writing, and it is masterful. It's been a long time since I read the great Russian writers--Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev--and again, they are truly great. (Though he left out my own favorite, Dostoevsky.) Saunders's approach is to reproduce the stories and then walk us through them, deconstructing how the authors created the effects that they did through plot, word choice, repetition of motif, etc. It also contains some relevant biographical information about each author and discussion of translation and Russian language. But perhaps the most important thing, the most telling detail, is that I finished the book wanting to try my hand at writing again myself. Very grateful for this book and recommend it to all.