A review by _marco_
First Love by Ivan Turgenev

emotional lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

It usually takes me longer than a day to finish a book, but Turgenev’s First Love was exceptionally short and rather quick paced.

First Love follows a certain Vladimir Petrovich as he recounts the story of his first love, a princess Zinaida, set within the backdrop of the peaceful Russian countryside.
While it opens almost like a pastoral comedy — playful and bucolic — it eventually takes on a darker atmosphere as Vladimir begins to lose his child’s innocence and instead be exposed to a violent, jealous love as expressed by the adults. 

I cannot even begin to convey the feelings with which I left her. I never wish to experience them again, but I should count it a misfortune to never have had them at all. 

While Turgenev does an exceptional job at describing those universal emotions —passion, ecstasy— we feel when affronted with love in our youth, I found that at some points the story felt somewhat unrealistic. But I believe this is the point — the story is being told as a memory, tainted with nostalgia and a subconscious longing for youth. In contrast, the story is especially realistic in that outside of what Vladimir sees and hears, the reader is left in absolute ignorance. This isn’t a story about Vladimir. Instead we are transported through his own experience, his own mind. 

I love reading books that take place in the countryside, especially ones that explore themes of nostalgia and longing, and Turgenev’s description of the dynamic natural setting makes it feel as though the bees and the butterflies are characters of their own, not influencing anything but instead watching the events unfold. 

The real gem of this story is the fleetingness of it all, perfectly captured by Turgenev’s simple yet constitutive descriptions of the setting.  It’s a short story, a brief yet pivotal moment in Vladimir’s life, bound to end just as abruptly as it began, yet exist forever in his memory. A young person’s life changes just as quickly as Turgenev’s dynamic countryside, painted in wide strokes of ephemerality. It’s these short moments, and short stories, that stay with us long after they end. 
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