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yoessif's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
nelroden's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Part two of three in the Childhood, Boyhood, Youth series. Similar vibe to the first book - was interesting to learn that the series is semi-autobiographical.
kikaod's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.25
anniis96's review against another edition
4.0
Overall I really enjoyed this one. I would even say that I enjoyed it more than Childhood. Of course there might be several factors contributing to this statement whereas this is the first work by Tolstoy that I've read. And I'm slowly but surely getting used to his writing style, with longer descriptive parts which lets the imagination escape for a while. I'm happy to say that I'm continuing my Tolstoy journey.
apn01's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
polinag's review
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
zachhois's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
The problems in this novel felt a little pettier than the first, but dude still came through with the writing:
Has it ever befallen you, my readers, to become suddenly aware that your conception of things has altered—as though every object in life had unexpectedly turned a side towards you of which you had hitherto remained unaware?
Who has not known those secret, wordless communications which spring from some barely perceptible smile or movement—from a casual glance between two persons who live as constantly together as do brothers, friends, man and wife, or master and servant—particularly if those two persons do not in all things cultivate mutual frankness? How many half-expressed wishes, thoughts, and meanings which one shrinks from revealing are made plain by a single accidental glance which timidly and irresolutely meets the eye!
at one of those moments when the mind leaves off thinking and the imagination gains the upper hand and yearns for new impressions—I
I am certain that nothing so much influences the development of a man as his exterior—though the exterior itself less than his belief in its plainness or beauty.
I again assert that, in matters of feeling, it is the unexpected effects that constitute the most reliable signs of sincerity.
His was one of those limited natures which are agreeable through their very limitations; natures which cannot regard matters from every point of view, but which are nevertheless attracted by everything. Usually the reasoning of such persons is false and one-sided, yet always genuine and taking; wherefore their narrow egotism seems both amiable and excusable.
The truth was that we knew one another too well, and to know a person either too well or too little acts as a bar to intimacy.
Praise exercises an all-potent influence, not only upon the feelings, but also upon the intellect; so that under the influence of that agreeable sensation I straightway felt much cleverer than before, and thoughts began to rush with extraordinary rapidity through my head.
In youth the powers of the mind are directed wholly to the future, and that future assumes such various, vivid, and alluring forms under the influence of hope—hope based, not upon the experience of the past, but upon an assumed possibility of happiness to come—that
Has it ever befallen you, my readers, to become suddenly aware that your conception of things has altered—as though every object in life had unexpectedly turned a side towards you of which you had hitherto remained unaware?
Who has not known those secret, wordless communications which spring from some barely perceptible smile or movement—from a casual glance between two persons who live as constantly together as do brothers, friends, man and wife, or master and servant—particularly if those two persons do not in all things cultivate mutual frankness? How many half-expressed wishes, thoughts, and meanings which one shrinks from revealing are made plain by a single accidental glance which timidly and irresolutely meets the eye!
at one of those moments when the mind leaves off thinking and the imagination gains the upper hand and yearns for new impressions—I
I am certain that nothing so much influences the development of a man as his exterior—though the exterior itself less than his belief in its plainness or beauty.
I again assert that, in matters of feeling, it is the unexpected effects that constitute the most reliable signs of sincerity.
His was one of those limited natures which are agreeable through their very limitations; natures which cannot regard matters from every point of view, but which are nevertheless attracted by everything. Usually the reasoning of such persons is false and one-sided, yet always genuine and taking; wherefore their narrow egotism seems both amiable and excusable.
The truth was that we knew one another too well, and to know a person either too well or too little acts as a bar to intimacy.
Praise exercises an all-potent influence, not only upon the feelings, but also upon the intellect; so that under the influence of that agreeable sensation I straightway felt much cleverer than before, and thoughts began to rush with extraordinary rapidity through my head.
In youth the powers of the mind are directed wholly to the future, and that future assumes such various, vivid, and alluring forms under the influence of hope—hope based, not upon the experience of the past, but upon an assumed possibility of happiness to come—that
mayeeta's review against another edition
4.0
the lonely musings of this boy were so conceited and deeply rooted in his self-absorption but they were also really accurate.
teenagers are fuckin obsessed with themselves.
tolstoys writing continues to enrapture me. i hope to read the last installment in this series later this month.
teenagers are fuckin obsessed with themselves.
tolstoys writing continues to enrapture me. i hope to read the last installment in this series later this month.
msand3's review against another edition
5.0
The second part of Tolstoy’s autobiographical trilogy, published two years after [b:Childhood|2359878|Childhood|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328040092s/2359878.jpg|50778762], takes up where that narrative left off, continuing the recollections of Nikolai as he transitions from childhood to young adulthood. It’s a stormy transition (indeed, Tolstoy begins with Nikolai’s description of a sudden thunderstorm that moves across the countryside as he rides in a carriage). We see how the young man copes with life without his mother, the transition from being under the care of his beloved German tutor to a more strict French tutor, and the first spark of his interest in women. To cope with these changes, Nikolai turns even more inward with his philosophical musings. He invents long imaginative narratives in his mind as fantasies to offset the turbulent changes in his life.
In one of the more memorable sections, Tolstoy offers a first-person account of the German tutor's difficult life to contrast with Nikolai’s own narrative, which we discover is rather less harsh by comparison. This is an important moment because Nikolai not only comes into his own understanding as an individual with agency, but he also begins to recognize others -- especially servants and villagers -- as being individual people with their own lives, rather than merely “serfs.” He grapples with the same three Big Ideas as in Childhood (life, love, and death), as well as his first encounters with (and resistance to) authority.
Despite chronicling a very specific time, place, and culture, Tolstoy’s narrative has a universal appeal. We share in Nikolai’s anguish that “the world is against him” because it is the same feeling we all experience at that age. Once again, Tolstoy has penned an insightful, gripping, intellectual, and emotionally resonant work -- at the age of 25!
In one of the more memorable sections, Tolstoy offers a first-person account of the German tutor's difficult life to contrast with Nikolai’s own narrative, which we discover is rather less harsh by comparison. This is an important moment because Nikolai not only comes into his own understanding as an individual with agency, but he also begins to recognize others -- especially servants and villagers -- as being individual people with their own lives, rather than merely “serfs.” He grapples with the same three Big Ideas as in Childhood (life, love, and death), as well as his first encounters with (and resistance to) authority.
Despite chronicling a very specific time, place, and culture, Tolstoy’s narrative has a universal appeal. We share in Nikolai’s anguish that “the world is against him” because it is the same feeling we all experience at that age. Once again, Tolstoy has penned an insightful, gripping, intellectual, and emotionally resonant work -- at the age of 25!