Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Didn't care for any of the characters but their unappealing behaviour clearly played an important part in the story's trajectory. I felt little sympathy for the young protagonist's yearning, but appreciated his character arc from the novel's start to its end.
It's been a useful reading experience in my neglected education in Russian literature.
It's been a useful reading experience in my neglected education in Russian literature.
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
dark
funny
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the second book I have read by Ivan Turgenev and mostly I feel the same way about it as with his previous book, "Fathers and Sons".
The story is rather simple, even though a bit preposterous... At a gentlemen's club our narrator and a few men are sitting around, speaking about first love. Attention is then turned towards our narrator who has a rather particular stipulation: that he be allowed to leave and write down what he wishes to say, and that he may, uninterrupted, read it to the other men. They agree, and he proceeds to leave, write over one hundred pages, and then returns and tells his story. Although we never return to this framing device, I couldn't help but think about these other men who were just making fun conversation only for this other dude to go and write out a novella which they must now listen to quietly as he pontificates on notions of first love. What a buzzkill!
Anywho, the story is about a teenage lovelorn Russian rich boy who falls in love with the daughter of the princess who just moved in next door. He desires her, is overwhelmed by her beauty and wit (a wit that only a beautiful aristocrat of marrying age could get away with), but there are impediments, scandalous ones at that.
The book, much like Turgenev's other novel I read, is also an opportunity for the author to reflect on philosophy and the changes occurring in Russia during the nineteenth century. It's efficiently written, though quite boring and mundane, and it's quite hard to give a damn about people who simply sit around as unseen servants cater to them, playing idiotic games and having the most inane conversations. If this is a love story, it is the most pedantic, immature, and dispassionate one I have read in quite some time.
Turgenev may just not be for me.
The story is rather simple, even though a bit preposterous... At a gentlemen's club our narrator and a few men are sitting around, speaking about first love. Attention is then turned towards our narrator who has a rather particular stipulation: that he be allowed to leave and write down what he wishes to say, and that he may, uninterrupted, read it to the other men. They agree, and he proceeds to leave, write over one hundred pages, and then returns and tells his story. Although we never return to this framing device, I couldn't help but think about these other men who were just making fun conversation only for this other dude to go and write out a novella which they must now listen to quietly as he pontificates on notions of first love. What a buzzkill!
Anywho, the story is about a teenage lovelorn Russian rich boy who falls in love with the daughter of the princess who just moved in next door. He desires her, is overwhelmed by her beauty and wit (a wit that only a beautiful aristocrat of marrying age could get away with), but there are impediments, scandalous ones at that.
The book, much like Turgenev's other novel I read, is also an opportunity for the author to reflect on philosophy and the changes occurring in Russia during the nineteenth century. It's efficiently written, though quite boring and mundane, and it's quite hard to give a damn about people who simply sit around as unseen servants cater to them, playing idiotic games and having the most inane conversations. If this is a love story, it is the most pedantic, immature, and dispassionate one I have read in quite some time.
Turgenev may just not be for me.