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A review by timeforthecheck
First Love by Ivan Turgenev
dark
emotional
fast-paced
2.0
Reading this made me feel so glad I’m not a teenager anymore.
The prose was beautiful, like absolutely elegant. Turgenev captures the first love intensity so well, and readers will be transported back in time to their own. However, this is all the novella has going for it.
The characters, and I mean all of them, are so unlikable. And you know, maybe that’s the point. Everyone is insufferable in their own way when they are experiencing infatuation and love. Zinaida, the love interest that everyone is infatuated with, just plays with all their hearts, and as an adult you sit there and go why would you put up with that. Vladimir, the 16 year old, really has the only excuse-how could he know better?
The affair you can see coming, and I truly hated it. Because you’re telling me that Vladimir tells his father about his crush on Zinaida, and the father just goes, “yep, let me get in on that.” AND Vladimir harbors NO ILL WILL?!?? Could not be me.
The ending was incredibly sad because you think it can’t get worse. Then it does. Then you’ll sit there staring at a blank wall because what else can you do after reading that.
I would recommend on the prose and the emotion capture only but be prepared to be frustrated.
The prose was beautiful, like absolutely elegant. Turgenev captures the first love intensity so well, and readers will be transported back in time to their own. However, this is all the novella has going for it.
The characters, and I mean all of them, are so unlikable. And you know, maybe that’s the point. Everyone is insufferable in their own way when they are experiencing infatuation and love. Zinaida, the love interest that everyone is infatuated with, just plays with all their hearts, and as an adult you sit there and go why would you put up with that. Vladimir, the 16 year old, really has the only excuse-how could he know better?
The ending was incredibly sad because you think it can’t get worse. Then it does. Then you’ll sit there staring at a blank wall because what else can you do after reading that.
I would recommend on the prose and the emotion capture only but be prepared to be frustrated.