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A review by winterg
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
3.0
I am not known to do long reviews as I like to give me summary of book, but a long review is a necessity for this book.
Where to start. Ah, yes, from the characters because the book has a lot of characters that kinda feel the same. The only notables for me were Bazarov and Paval, with a bit of Nikolai, who becomes a disappearing act right up whenever Arkady and Bazarov go out, and after that, it becomes a book about these two people.
Nikolai was an interesting perspective for me, it showed that he was willing to change, he was educated, he had a love life that many would want and even a house that someone would love to have, he almost had everything besides his son's attention, which made him weary, he is a rational person in the books, but he is a romantic even thought I didn't like him with fenechka it felt weird, I didn't mind it because 19th century russians were like that, in his mind he did what any man would do, and one thing I liked about Nikolai was that he was way more modern then the youth he met, he destastes confrontation and he likes to find ways to avoid violence, a man that was born in the wrong decade but as he is labed as a person whose song has been sung by the great nihilist bazarov, it is perhaps said about the wrong person as we soon see that the revolutionary or soon doctor bazarov that perhaps his song was sung.
Bazarov, to me, was a character that was fun to read about, but god, he sounded pretentious even more than Pavel. he tried so hard to not be the regular aristrocat that he saw pavel to be yet he sounded like one, his nihilistic traits are almost seen as invasive, most of his ideas are tradionist at best, his love for Odenstova is open yet he wishes to not pursue it, he just likes to think about it even after Odenstova was the perfect match for him, both pretty and smart which in his philosophy cannot happen, a women is either pretty and stupid or smart and ugly, he implants these ideas in his head because he wishes to follow this nihilistic path of his which he walks so lightly on, he sounds more like a person who is the part of tradions that he detained, but now russian nihilism is different, it is more like he destains authority like the church, etc but still the core concept of nihilism is that nothing matters but to Bazarov things do matter, his duel with Pavel showed that, his disregard for death was not of nihilism but out of shame, he never expected a duel between him and pavel, a person he so detained and insulted and now pavel and bazarov were the same, two artistracts settling arguments with a gun shot and how funny that in the end pavel and bazarov both die! You could say Pavel was the non-radical version of Bazarov, and I saw Bazarov didn't like Pavel because it was almost like looking into a mirror!
Now, to Arkady, I decided to make Bazarov and Pavel in one beautiful summary, but for Arkady, he is a different case. Arkady really is no one. He follows Bazarov and agrees with him about everything but unlike Bazarov, Arkady, while he is a radical and is shy, still went after what he knew would bring him happiness,s which was Katya, unlike Bazarov, who couldn't think of a life with the one person that loved talking to him. Arkady was like his father; he changed with the times, he changed and grew as a person, and because of that, he did some things he would never have done. I like arkady, he is a bootlicker but he grows from it and in the end has a happy ending that ends with Arkady with Katya in his estates with his father and fenechka, a happy family unlike bazarov that died alone, even in the end he became what he always wanted! nothing; he is never mentioned by name, and the only people who remember him are his parents.
That's it. I liked Father and Sons; it was a fun read, the characters were really interesting, and I fell in love with Turgenev's way of writing. But why is it a three, some may ask? well because I felt like some names were just tossed around, and in the end I questioned every one of them, who is this?! and who is that because in this book there are only really 6-8 characters you really gotta pay attention to Bazarov, Arkady, Nikolai, Pavel, Odenstova, Katya (debatable I did forget that it was implied Katya cheated on Arkady but it was a weird of saying it so I can't give a opinion on it) and finally bazarovs parents, it was a tough read but I kinda grew to like noble gossip and intellectual debates.
Where to start. Ah, yes, from the characters because the book has a lot of characters that kinda feel the same. The only notables for me were Bazarov and Paval, with a bit of Nikolai, who becomes a disappearing act right up whenever Arkady and Bazarov go out, and after that, it becomes a book about these two people.
Nikolai was an interesting perspective for me, it showed that he was willing to change, he was educated, he had a love life that many would want and even a house that someone would love to have, he almost had everything besides his son's attention, which made him weary, he is a rational person in the books, but he is a romantic even thought I didn't like him with fenechka it felt weird, I didn't mind it because 19th century russians were like that, in his mind he did what any man would do, and one thing I liked about Nikolai was that he was way more modern then the youth he met, he destastes confrontation and he likes to find ways to avoid violence, a man that was born in the wrong decade but as he is labed as a person whose song has been sung by the great nihilist bazarov, it is perhaps said about the wrong person as we soon see that the revolutionary or soon doctor bazarov that perhaps his song was sung.
Bazarov, to me, was a character that was fun to read about, but god, he sounded pretentious even more than Pavel. he tried so hard to not be the regular aristrocat that he saw pavel to be yet he sounded like one, his nihilistic traits are almost seen as invasive, most of his ideas are tradionist at best, his love for Odenstova is open yet he wishes to not pursue it, he just likes to think about it even after Odenstova was the perfect match for him, both pretty and smart which in his philosophy cannot happen, a women is either pretty and stupid or smart and ugly, he implants these ideas in his head because he wishes to follow this nihilistic path of his which he walks so lightly on, he sounds more like a person who is the part of tradions that he detained, but now russian nihilism is different, it is more like he destains authority like the church, etc but still the core concept of nihilism is that nothing matters but to Bazarov things do matter, his duel with Pavel showed that, his disregard for death was not of nihilism but out of shame, he never expected a duel between him and pavel, a person he so detained and insulted and now pavel and bazarov were the same, two artistracts settling arguments with a gun shot and how funny that in the end pavel and bazarov both die! You could say Pavel was the non-radical version of Bazarov, and I saw Bazarov didn't like Pavel because it was almost like looking into a mirror!
Now, to Arkady, I decided to make Bazarov and Pavel in one beautiful summary, but for Arkady, he is a different case. Arkady really is no one. He follows Bazarov and agrees with him about everything but unlike Bazarov, Arkady, while he is a radical and is shy, still went after what he knew would bring him happiness,s which was Katya, unlike Bazarov, who couldn't think of a life with the one person that loved talking to him. Arkady was like his father; he changed with the times, he changed and grew as a person, and because of that, he did some things he would never have done. I like arkady, he is a bootlicker but he grows from it and in the end has a happy ending that ends with Arkady with Katya in his estates with his father and fenechka, a happy family unlike bazarov that died alone, even in the end he became what he always wanted! nothing; he is never mentioned by name, and the only people who remember him are his parents.
That's it. I liked Father and Sons; it was a fun read, the characters were really interesting, and I fell in love with Turgenev's way of writing. But why is it a three, some may ask? well because I felt like some names were just tossed around, and in the end I questioned every one of them, who is this?! and who is that because in this book there are only really 6-8 characters you really gotta pay attention to Bazarov, Arkady, Nikolai, Pavel, Odenstova, Katya (debatable I did forget that it was implied Katya cheated on Arkady but it was a weird of saying it so I can't give a opinion on it) and finally bazarovs parents, it was a tough read but I kinda grew to like noble gossip and intellectual debates.