Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
OLGA (syleillen kumpaakin sisartaan) "- - Aika kuluu ja me lähdemme iäksi, meidät unohdetaan, meidän kasvomme ja äänemme unohdetaan, unohdetaan montako meitä oli, mutta meidän kärsimyksemme muuttuvat iloksi nille jotka tulevat elämään meidän jälkeemme, onni ja rauha koittavat maan päällä ja hyvillä sanoilla ja siunaten muistetaan niitä jotka nyt elävät. Voi rakkaat sisaret, ei meidän elämämme vielä ole päättynyt. Eläkäämme! Musikki soi niin hilpeästi, riemukkaasti, ja tuntuu että jo kohta samme tietää miksi elämme, miksi kärsimme... Jos sen tietäisi, jos sen tietäisi!"
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I like Three Sisters better than any of the couple of Chekhov's short stories I read. This play is a masterpiece for being not much about anything. I watched many, many, many videos of actors doing monologues, and sometimes I started crying... just from little speeches.
Natasha was just a woman trying to live in those conditions and did she not LIVE and proceed to THRIVE!!!!!! COME ON PROTOPOPOV!!!!!
"And, restless, seeks the stormy ocean, as though in tempest there were peace."
I feel this is an amazing play that stunningly portraits existential crisis inevitable in the life of every person who thinks of life in a deeper way.
TUZENBAKH: You think it's no use even dreaming of happiness! But what if I'm happy?
VERSHININ: No, you're not.
MASHA: Gogol says: it's dull living in this world, friends!
I really liked the exploration of themes of transience and the meaning of life (found in work, ambition, dreams of living in a different place and future) and our importance in the universe that can be found in each character in a different way. My favorite character by far was Vershinin, the deliverance of his thoughts and philosophy was brilliant.
VERSHININ: Yes. They'll forget us. Such is our fate, there is no help for it. What seems to us serious, significant, very important, will one day be forgotten or will seem unimportant [a pause]. And it's curious that we can't possibly tell what exactly will be considered great and important, and what will seem petty and ridiculous.
I could relate to the restlessness of the human soul so much, and sense of balancing between the pressure of wasting life and realization of the unimportance of everything we do on a larger scale. Do we use our work and hope in a better future in day to day as a defense mechanism from almost unbearable feelings of meaningless of life? And, more importantly, are they efficient enough? When do forget our big dreams and settle down with mediocrity and small-mindedness, and do we really ever settle down? Does society kill our individuality and uniqueness?
VERSHININ: Let's suppose that of the hundred thousand people living in this town, which is, of course, uncultured and behind the times, there are only three of your sort. It goes without saying that you cannot conquer the mass of darkness round you; little by little, as you go on living, you'll be lost in the crowd. You'll have to give in to it. Life will get the better of you, but still you'll not disappear without a trace. After you there may appear perhaps six like you, then twelve and so on until such as you form a majority. In two or three hundred years, life on earth will be unimaginably beautiful, marvellous. Man needs such a life and, though he hasn't got it yet, he must have a presentiment of it, expect it, dream of it, prepare for it; for that he must see and know more than his father and grandfather.
VERSHININ: If one listens to a man of the educated class here, civilian or military, he's worried to death by his wife, worried to death by his house, worried to death by his estate, worried to death by his horses. . . . A Russian is peculiarly given to exalted ideas, but why is it he always falls so short in life? Why?
Not the most imaginative plot, but the questions that this play opened, were for me deeply moving and brilliant but the ones that nobody can give answers to. A lot of great quotes to think about and get either inspired to do something in your life or get really depressed.
ANDREY: Oh, where is it all gone? What's become of my past, when I was young, happy, and clever, when my dreams and thoughts were exquisite, when my present and my past were lighted up by hope? Why on the very threshold of life do we become dull, drab, uninteresting, lazy, indifferent, useless, unhappy? . . . Our town has been in existence for two hundred years -- there are a hundred thousand people living in it; and there's not one who's not like the rest, not one saint in the past, or the present, not one man of learning, not one artist, not one man in the least remarkable who could inspire envy or a passionate desire to imitate him. . . . They only eat, drink, sleep, and then die . . . others are born, and they also eat and drink and sleep, and not to be bored to stupefaction they vary their lives by nasty gossip, vodka, cards, litigation; and the wives deceive their husbands, and the husbands tell lies and pretend that they see and hear nothing, and an overwhelmingly vulgar influence crushes the children, and the divine spark is quenched in them and they become the same sort of pitiful, dead creatures, all exactly alike, as their fathers and mothers. . . .
Recommended for all lovers of existentialism and nihilism.
I feel this is an amazing play that stunningly portraits existential crisis inevitable in the life of every person who thinks of life in a deeper way.
TUZENBAKH: You think it's no use even dreaming of happiness! But what if I'm happy?
VERSHININ: No, you're not.
MASHA: Gogol says: it's dull living in this world, friends!
I really liked the exploration of themes of transience and the meaning of life (found in work, ambition, dreams of living in a different place and future) and our importance in the universe that can be found in each character in a different way. My favorite character by far was Vershinin, the deliverance of his thoughts and philosophy was brilliant.
VERSHININ: Yes. They'll forget us. Such is our fate, there is no help for it. What seems to us serious, significant, very important, will one day be forgotten or will seem unimportant [a pause]. And it's curious that we can't possibly tell what exactly will be considered great and important, and what will seem petty and ridiculous.
I could relate to the restlessness of the human soul so much, and sense of balancing between the pressure of wasting life and realization of the unimportance of everything we do on a larger scale. Do we use our work and hope in a better future in day to day as a defense mechanism from almost unbearable feelings of meaningless of life? And, more importantly, are they efficient enough? When do forget our big dreams and settle down with mediocrity and small-mindedness, and do we really ever settle down? Does society kill our individuality and uniqueness?
VERSHININ: Let's suppose that of the hundred thousand people living in this town, which is, of course, uncultured and behind the times, there are only three of your sort. It goes without saying that you cannot conquer the mass of darkness round you; little by little, as you go on living, you'll be lost in the crowd. You'll have to give in to it. Life will get the better of you, but still you'll not disappear without a trace. After you there may appear perhaps six like you, then twelve and so on until such as you form a majority. In two or three hundred years, life on earth will be unimaginably beautiful, marvellous. Man needs such a life and, though he hasn't got it yet, he must have a presentiment of it, expect it, dream of it, prepare for it; for that he must see and know more than his father and grandfather.
VERSHININ: If one listens to a man of the educated class here, civilian or military, he's worried to death by his wife, worried to death by his house, worried to death by his estate, worried to death by his horses. . . . A Russian is peculiarly given to exalted ideas, but why is it he always falls so short in life? Why?
Not the most imaginative plot, but the questions that this play opened, were for me deeply moving and brilliant but the ones that nobody can give answers to. A lot of great quotes to think about and get either inspired to do something in your life or get really depressed.
ANDREY: Oh, where is it all gone? What's become of my past, when I was young, happy, and clever, when my dreams and thoughts were exquisite, when my present and my past were lighted up by hope? Why on the very threshold of life do we become dull, drab, uninteresting, lazy, indifferent, useless, unhappy? . . . Our town has been in existence for two hundred years -- there are a hundred thousand people living in it; and there's not one who's not like the rest, not one saint in the past, or the present, not one man of learning, not one artist, not one man in the least remarkable who could inspire envy or a passionate desire to imitate him. . . . They only eat, drink, sleep, and then die . . . others are born, and they also eat and drink and sleep, and not to be bored to stupefaction they vary their lives by nasty gossip, vodka, cards, litigation; and the wives deceive their husbands, and the husbands tell lies and pretend that they see and hear nothing, and an overwhelmingly vulgar influence crushes the children, and the divine spark is quenched in them and they become the same sort of pitiful, dead creatures, all exactly alike, as their fathers and mothers. . . .
Recommended for all lovers of existentialism and nihilism.
2.5 stars, rounded to 3 because I think it probably is better on stage. I listened to it as an audio book, which helped, but like every piece of Russian writing, it is stuffed with characters and complex names that are hard for a non-Russian to track--and for me, the audio with no accompanying visual made that more pronounced, especially with all of the soldiers. The audio book did feature Jon Hamm though, and I did like that. :)
Anyway, it was ok. Discontented people remain discontented, and life is disappointing, sometimes due to our own actions and sometimes not. In spite of that heavy theme, there are flashes of humor here, and I suspect more of them would be evident if one was watching this on stage.
Part of my meh-ness with this might also be discomfort with listening to a story featuring sort of-noble Russian soldiers at the present moment-- of course, Chekhov is hardly at fault for the sins of Putin. But I do think current events shadowed the experience of reading this somewhat.
Anyway, it was ok. Discontented people remain discontented, and life is disappointing, sometimes due to our own actions and sometimes not. In spite of that heavy theme, there are flashes of humor here, and I suspect more of them would be evident if one was watching this on stage.
Part of my meh-ness with this might also be discomfort with listening to a story featuring sort of-noble Russian soldiers at the present moment-- of course, Chekhov is hardly at fault for the sins of Putin. But I do think current events shadowed the experience of reading this somewhat.
I'm just gonna go ahead and declare this as one of those plays you should watch and not attempt to read first. Dastardly confusing to read - even beyond keeping track of all the surnames and middle names in addition to the first names for each character! - and not incredibly compelling on paper.
I did get that everyone was unhappy and stayed unhappy. (which probably could describe all of Russian lit).
I did get that everyone was unhappy and stayed unhappy. (which probably could describe all of Russian lit).
Can appreciate what he’s doing but I literally hate Chekhov so much. #bored
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated