This 1862 novel, in a vibrant new translation by Peter Constantine, is Tolstoy’s semiautobiographical story of young Olenin, a wealthy, disaf...
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Jul 29, 2011
...Interesting slice of life from the perspective of a young aristocratic Russian officer deployed to Chechnya in the 1850's. (Obviously, Tolstoy is writing about his own experiences).
A bit more of a love story than I would've liked, but good if you like stories about the far-flung corners of the earth, urbanite soldiers who "go native" and a bygone era. A bit Conradian, but less dark.
Nonetheless, a good book about a little known (at least in the West) "low intensity conflict" More...
A bit more of a love story than I would've liked, but good if you like stories about the far-flung corners of the earth, urbanite soldiers who "go native" and a bygone era. A bit Conradian, but less dark.
Nonetheless, a good book about a little known (at least in the West) "low intensity conflict" More...
Dec 19, 2010
Ben
rated it: 
Set in a Cossack stanitsa in the midst of intermittent battle with invading Chechens somewhere on the Russian side of the Caucasus (I imagine near Mt. Elbrus), this novella requires a little historical research to be appreciated by modern readers. The story is simple enough: boy meets girl - only the boy is a rather dandified nobleman from Moscow and the girl is a Cossack peasant. The complications presented are both psychological and sociological. The romantic themes are decidedly fatalistic. I
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Feb 05, 2012
Steven
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It's not bad, but although it is interesting at times, I found it rather too brief. The main characters were well-conceived, but elements of the story were so rushed that they felt a bit disjointed. For instance, even though the protagonist's time in the woods is described in detail, his 'campaigning' isn't even mentioned, so that when he's talking about his lack of promotion (despite several raids), the reader is left thinking, "wait, what raids?" I'm not saying that they should've be
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Dec 23, 2009
Abe
rated it: 
At first I was bored. Then I was willing to finish. Then I loved every character. Then I started to admire Tolstoy. When it ended I was astounded. The Cossacks was an honest account of a young man's life on the road, albeit a rich young man. You leave home thinking you're gonna show the world what it means to be alive - the world shows you that you have yet to even begin living. The road exposes us as children and Tolstoy accurately delivers this sentiment. We lay our heads down in a new place a
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Nov 20, 2009
Marcus
rated it:
For me as a programmer, going from reading most fiction to reading Tolstoy is like going from writing Java to writing Ruby. It just feels right, I feel more relaxed and at one with the world. I can't think of another author that apparently understands the thoughts and motivations of such a large swath of humanity and communicates them so simply and perfectly.
The Cossacks isn't as expansive as War and Peace or as dramatic as Anna Karenina, but it is a story worth reading. It has its s More...
The Cossacks isn't as expansive as War and Peace or as dramatic as Anna Karenina, but it is a story worth reading. It has its s More...
Nov 02, 2010
Mad Dog
rated it: 
I very much enjoyed War&Peace, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Resurrection, and Anna Karenina. This one just didn't work for me. There is a great setup, culminating with the main character's epiphany ("I have all I need so I'll dedicate myself to doing good for others") in the forest. After the epiphany, I was looking forward to something akin to Dostoevsky's The Idiot, with many of the lives of the Cossacks intermingling with the main character(Olenin). But Olenin does very little 'good',
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Jul 14, 2009
Núria
rated it:
Como parece que nunca reuniré la fuerza de voluntad suficiente como para enfrentarme a 'Anna Karenina', opté por leer 'Los cosacos', que también es de Tolstoi pero que tiene como 800 páginas menos. Se trata de una obra de juventud con elementos autobiográficos. Olenin es un jovencito de veintipocos años que es el típico jovencito que tanto prolifera en las novelas rusas del siglo XIX, un jovencito que ha leído demasiado, ha bebido demasiado y ha seducido demasiadas doncellas virginales y/o espos
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Apr 28, 2008
Johnny
rated it: 
An absolute masterpiece by Tolstoy, and a less intimidating work than the later, monstrously long novels he is better known for. Dmitri Olenin is a young man who has ruined himself through gambling and scandalous love affairs, so he buys a commission in the Russian army and gets sent to the the Caucasus, where troops simultaneously protect the Cossack minority and seek to subdue the Chechens and other groups on Russia's imperialist frontier. Despite being written on the other side of the contine
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May 13, 2008
Wawan
rated it:
it's a cool tolstoy. by cool, i mean "short". hahaha... talking about tolstoy, i bet you can't help quoting the pillow-thick books anna karenina and war and peace. yeah, you're right buddies.
and this time, when i read the cossack, i feel somewhat relieved with the chance to read a real and "reasonable" tolstoy. it's real that tolstoy brings forth morals in the story of dmitry andreich olenin's search of self among the savage-in-the-eyes-of-civilized-russians coss More...
and this time, when i read the cossack, i feel somewhat relieved with the chance to read a real and "reasonable" tolstoy. it's real that tolstoy brings forth morals in the story of dmitry andreich olenin's search of self among the savage-in-the-eyes-of-civilized-russians coss More...
Oct 19, 2007
Nels
rated it:
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. With this novel, Tolstoy finally matured as an author. With Childhood, Adolescence and Youth as well as The Sevastapol Sketches, he was still awkward and didactic. In the former, Tolstoy assuredly makes claims to the nature of love. In The Cossacks, Tolstoy dives into the subject of love right on the very first page, but he brilliantly displays love as the incredibly complicated thing that it is. He makes no attempts at teaching the reader. Instead, he wea
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Mar 18, 2010
Ferris
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Audiobook................Another wonderful Russian novel underscoring that the true path to happiness and beauty are through a close connection to nature. Olenin, our hero, goes through the rite of passage of becoming a Cossack, living in the rural Caucasus mountains, and finding the true nature of life and love. Ahhhhhhh................
Jan 10, 2012
Johnny
rated it:
It was handy having the Internet when reading this book, so I could check some of the words and references that a Russian at the time would understand. What I liked best was what turned out to be a portrait of the main character's naively and weakness. Worth persisting.
Dec 16, 2008
Peg
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I read this for our book group. It is short (180 pages), beautifully written, and a romanticized view of mid-19th century Cossack living. Not too much plot, but interesting to compare the many parallels between the protagonist's life and Tolstoy's.
Jan 18, 2009
Periwinkle
rated it:
The Cossacks was pretty good. Not nearly as in depth or long as Anna Karenina, but an interesting story. I would recommend this book to anyone that just wants a taste of Leo Tolstoy.
Nov 26, 2011
Scott
rated it:
A great way to get into Tolstoy if you're not ready for the big books. It explores the definition of "love" through a young man desperate to give it. You decide if he succeeded.
Jan 22, 2011
Nicolas
rated it:
It's a nice story. Just that. Short book, nice ending. The nice touch from Tolstoi is that what he writes is what he lived, so everything is told through experience.
Aug 26, 2010
Max
rated it:
Think living on the american frontier was tough? Try Asia. Go ahead and fall in love with a girl at a time when maurauding bands would kill you just for the fun of it.
Jan 04, 2012
Jacob
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I always love a good Russian novel. I enjoyed Anna Karenina and liked this as well, though wasn't wowed by it. It was a really quick read and moved fast.
Jun 29, 2009
Erin
rated it: 
Arg, Tolstoy is a cad! Horrible book, horrible ending. I think I'm going to give up on him unless this book was an aberration.
Aug 05, 2010
tremendous. i've had a similar dynamic with another human being (spoiler alert: i wasn't maryanka; i was olenin.)
Aug 07, 2009
Elena
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Affluent, aimless 20 something goes to find himself among the Cossacks, characterized in the noble savage tradition.
Mar 13, 2010
Rafael
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Great book about leaving the busy life of the city and falling in love with nature and the slow life.
Feb 11, 2008
Matthew
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A Slavic warrior caste known throughout Russia, Ukraine and Northern Mongolia. The name Cossack probably originates from Turkic, "Kazakh" meaning either "horseman" or "free man" (i.e. not a serf or noble) depending on context. Both definitions hold true, as Cossack warriors were exclusively cavalry, and actively recruited freed or runaway serfs into their ranks. Going by the Turkic/Mongolian origin of their name, the Cossacks may have originated in Central Asia, and
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Jul 21, 2011
Rafael
rated it:
A short read. Loved the setting, the characters--it was the essence of Tolstoy himself.
Sep 07, 2009
Chris
rated it:
James Byrd Jr did not drag this bad....
Too soon?
Well it was seriously that terrible.
Too soon?
Well it was seriously that terrible.
Nov 25, 2009
Bill
rated it:
While not, I think, typical Tolstoy, it still comes across as pleasant and bucolic. A quaint tale of male rivalry over the hand of the idealized Cossack woman.
Although the end seemed a bit rushed, I enjoyed this work as a whole.
Although the end seemed a bit rushed, I enjoyed this work as a whole.
Nov 28, 2011
Saoirse
rated it:
J'ai malheureusement eu un peu de mal à entrer dans l'histoire des Cosaques. Par contre, une fois captivé c'est un roman que l'on ne lâche plus. J'ai toujours autant aimé la plume de Tolstoï, ses descriptions. J'ai un peu moins aimé l'histoire, par rapport aux nouvelles que j'ai lu récemment (La mort d'Ivan Ilitch, Maître et Serviteur par exemple).
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