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A review by agirlandabook85
Home of the Gentry by Ivan Turgenev
4.0
April’s choice for #ayearofrussianlit took us to the Russian countryside with Turgenev’s A Home for the Gentry, in which Lavretsky a broken hearted nobleman returns home to his country estate.
Turgenev’s writing is evocatively descriptive, a passage which described the sound of sitting outside alone in silence was sheer genius, one of the most powerful passage of words I’ve ever read and now lives rent free in my head. I’m currently writing this review sitting in my garden enjoying just such a serene moment. Swipe across for anyone interested in reading the words which have had such a profound impact on me.
Turgenev’s novel contains just a handful of interesting characters interacting in a small number of locations which I could very much see this being adapted for the stage. He wrote with a real theatrical flair I remember one particular moment made me audibly gasp whilst reading in this very bath!
I think why I enjoyed this so much is I resonated with Turgenev’s pessimistic realist attitude, this is a love story which does not have the fairy tale happy ending I so often find unrealistic. It felt real, he assembled a cast of characters, gave us their backstory and then spent a little time with them before moving on it was not complicated in format but does a good story have to be?
And whilst I describe this as a love story between two people it it is also a brilliant portrayal of social history. Our story opens in 1842 a time after the Napoleonic Wars and December revolt and yet before reforms and liberation of Serfs within Russia. In understanding the wider history we can see how in Lavretsky Turgenev reflects the homecoming of a whole generation of young Russians who are struggling between the influence of European ideas and their Russian patriotism and attempt to find reconciliation with their land.
It’s safe to say I loved this one.
Turgenev’s writing is evocatively descriptive, a passage which described the sound of sitting outside alone in silence was sheer genius, one of the most powerful passage of words I’ve ever read and now lives rent free in my head. I’m currently writing this review sitting in my garden enjoying just such a serene moment. Swipe across for anyone interested in reading the words which have had such a profound impact on me.
Turgenev’s novel contains just a handful of interesting characters interacting in a small number of locations which I could very much see this being adapted for the stage. He wrote with a real theatrical flair I remember one particular moment made me audibly gasp whilst reading in this very bath!
I think why I enjoyed this so much is I resonated with Turgenev’s pessimistic realist attitude, this is a love story which does not have the fairy tale happy ending I so often find unrealistic. It felt real, he assembled a cast of characters, gave us their backstory and then spent a little time with them before moving on it was not complicated in format but does a good story have to be?
And whilst I describe this as a love story between two people it it is also a brilliant portrayal of social history. Our story opens in 1842 a time after the Napoleonic Wars and December revolt and yet before reforms and liberation of Serfs within Russia. In understanding the wider history we can see how in Lavretsky Turgenev reflects the homecoming of a whole generation of young Russians who are struggling between the influence of European ideas and their Russian patriotism and attempt to find reconciliation with their land.
It’s safe to say I loved this one.