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Tales of Chekhov #1
The Darling and Other Stories
This large print title is set in Tieras 16pt font as reccomended by the RNIB.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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About the author
Anton Chekhov
5,967 books9,785 followers
Antón Chéjov
(Spanish)
Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.
Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.
"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.
In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.
Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.
Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.
In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.
The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.
Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu
Dramas, such as The Seagull (1896, revised 1898), and including "A Dreary Story" (1889) of Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, also Chekov, concern the inability of humans to communicate.
Born ( Антон Павлович Чехов ) in the small southern seaport of Taganrog, the son of a grocer. His grandfather, a serf, bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught to read. A cloth merchant fathered Yevgenia Morozova, his mother.
"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." Tyranny of his father, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, open from five in the morning till midnight, shadowed his early years. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog from 1867 to 1868 and then Taganrog grammar school. Bankruptcy of his father compelled the family to move to Moscow. At the age of 16 years in 1876, independent Chekhov for some time alone in his native town supported through private tutoring.
In 1879, Chekhov left grammar school and entered the university medical school at Moscow. In the school, he began to publish hundreds of short comics to support his mother, sisters and brothers. Nicholas Leikin published him at this period and owned Oskolki (splinters), the journal of Saint Petersburg. His subjected silly social situations, marital problems, and farcical encounters among husbands, wives, mistresses, and lust; even after his marriage, Chekhov, the shy author, knew not much of whims of young women.
Nenunzhaya pobeda , first novel of Chekhov, set in 1882 in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Mór Jókai. People also mocked ideological optimism of Jókai as a politician.
Chekhov graduated in 1884 and practiced medicine. He worked from 1885 in Peterburskaia gazeta.
In 1886, Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him, a regular contributor, to work for Novoe vremya, the daily paper of Saint Petersburg. He gained a wide fame before 1886. He authored The Shooting Party , his second full-length novel, later translated into English. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in later her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd . First book of Chekhov in 1886 succeeded, and he gradually committed full time. The refusal of the author to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intelligentsia, who criticized him for dealing with serious social and moral questions but avoiding giving answers. Such leaders as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov, however, defended him. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.
The failure of The Wood Demon , play in 1889, and problems with novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890, he traveled across Siberia to Sakhalin, remote prison island. He conducted a detailed census of ten thousand convicts and settlers, condemned to live on that harsh island. Chekhov expected to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. Hard conditions on the island probably also weakened his own physical condition. From this journey came his famous travel book.
Chekhov practiced medicine until 1892. During these years, Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgmental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion." Because he objected that the paper conducted against [a:Alfred Dreyfu
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 21, 2024
In a Nutshell: A collection of ten stories by Anton Chekhov. Might work better for the right reader. To me, this was more of an experimental pick and ended up an average read.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I might have read a couple of Chekhov’s stories over the years in some or the other compilation, but I don't recollect any at present except 'Misery'. And I've never read any of his story collections. This seemed like a good time and book to begin exploring his writing.
It was not.
As this is a classic collection and many might know these stories, I’ll be brief. (Well, briefer than my usual reviews.)
➾ Ten stories, of which one is novella-length. I stopped reading the novella halfway as I was bored out of my head.
➾ This translation was first published in 1916. It seems like a good attempt, with the language being consistent across the set.
➾ Portrayal of women - Typical of the era and culture and male Russian authors. Sigh…
➾ Typical Russian writing tendency of calling one character by ten names! Longer sigh…
➾ Of the ten stories, I liked only one. The titular “The Darling” - From the ironic title to the vacuous yet endearing lead character to the intelligent juxtaposition of tragedy and comedy to the cryptic yet clear ending, this story reads even better between the lines than at surface level. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
➾ The stories are all in the public domain so you can download them from various sites. I read an EPUB downloaded from the globalgreyebooks site, which has an amazing collection of public domain works available for free downloads. I loved how well this free book was formatted, much better than some Project Gutenberg copies. I’ll check out some other classics from this site in future.
➾ Still interested in giving this a go? You can get a copy of this book here:
https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/darl...
2.5 stars, rounding down as even the good stories were somewhat misogynistic in their depiction of women.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I might have read a couple of Chekhov’s stories over the years in some or the other compilation, but I don't recollect any at present except 'Misery'. And I've never read any of his story collections. This seemed like a good time and book to begin exploring his writing.
It was not.
As this is a classic collection and many might know these stories, I’ll be brief. (Well, briefer than my usual reviews.)
➾ Ten stories, of which one is novella-length. I stopped reading the novella halfway as I was bored out of my head.
➾ This translation was first published in 1916. It seems like a good attempt, with the language being consistent across the set.
➾ Portrayal of women - Typical of the era and culture and male Russian authors. Sigh…
➾ Typical Russian writing tendency of calling one character by ten names! Longer sigh…
➾ Of the ten stories, I liked only one. The titular “The Darling” - From the ironic title to the vacuous yet endearing lead character to the intelligent juxtaposition of tragedy and comedy to the cryptic yet clear ending, this story reads even better between the lines than at surface level. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
➾ The stories are all in the public domain so you can download them from various sites. I read an EPUB downloaded from the globalgreyebooks site, which has an amazing collection of public domain works available for free downloads. I loved how well this free book was formatted, much better than some Project Gutenberg copies. I’ll check out some other classics from this site in future.
➾ Still interested in giving this a go? You can get a copy of this book here:
https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/darl...
2.5 stars, rounding down as even the good stories were somewhat misogynistic in their depiction of women.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
July 1, 2023
Women are lonely & dependent. Men are dreamers & cads. Although these stories are melancholic, Three Years ends with a mature contentment.
January 5, 2015
The Darling ***
Ariadne ****
Polinka ***
Anyuta ***
The Two Volodyas ****
The Trousseau ***
The Helpmate ***
Talent ***
An Artist's Story *****
Three Years ****
Ariadne ****
Polinka ***
Anyuta ***
The Two Volodyas ****
The Trousseau ***
The Helpmate ***
Talent ***
An Artist's Story *****
Three Years ****
September 7, 2020
These stories were a nice palate cleanser over months of focusing mainly on science fiction and pulp. The novella included, Three Years, is no better than the shorts while being significantly longer and I see this as a fault. I've found nine of these Chekhov collections for free on Kindle, and will read them I think over the course of my forties. Feel free to join.
May 22, 2018
For good or for bad, Constance Garnett's translation and published editions of the stories of Chekhov don't follow any chronological direction with the exception that more of the later stories are crowded into the first half of the series of these 13 books. This is, from an editorial stance, a solid plan because you want to hook people and get them to buy each volume as it comes out, but it means that your final few volumes are made up of more shorter, earlier Chekhov stories. These more minor pieces are not the legacy Chekhov is or will ever be known for, so reading one of the last volumes after the good stuff has mostly been seeded early ends the collected editions on a low note unfortunately.
However, what is there left for me to say about the high quality of Chekhov's writing? Up to this point, I'd only read a few stories here and there, but the accumulative effect of this clarifies why he's so often spoken of when people discuss Alice Munro's stories. Both writers, Munro in pretty much everything she writes, and Chekhov once he began producing longer works, write with incredible compression and density. The contents of many of these stories would be novels in other writers' hands, but Chekhov focuses on the essential in such a way that "The Lady with the Dog" becomes instead a novella instead of the 400 page romantic novel another writer would have turned it into. The bleak "Ward No. 6" could easily be three or four times as long with another author belaboring the conditions in the mental ward, the hospital, and in the conspiracy that brings down the hapless doctor Andrey Regin (I don't hold with other critics who view Regin as actually being mentally ill, but he is driven there by a melancholic disposition and the envy and ambition of those around him who gin up their charges -- but that's neither here nor there). The power of this story lies in its compression, in its slow descent in the beginning culminating in a rapid shocking twist and decline, and prolonging either half of this morbid gem would diffuse the power. (Lenin himself said reading this story turned him into a revolutionary, one of the main reasons why Chekhov didn't have to be so vigorously back-datedly excused by the coming Soviet revolution.)
But the entirety of Chekhov's body of work will put you through the emotional wringer. The final years of his life are a testament to continuing to produce incredible literature even in the face of certain death from tuberculosis.
However, what is there left for me to say about the high quality of Chekhov's writing? Up to this point, I'd only read a few stories here and there, but the accumulative effect of this clarifies why he's so often spoken of when people discuss Alice Munro's stories. Both writers, Munro in pretty much everything she writes, and Chekhov once he began producing longer works, write with incredible compression and density. The contents of many of these stories would be novels in other writers' hands, but Chekhov focuses on the essential in such a way that "The Lady with the Dog" becomes instead a novella instead of the 400 page romantic novel another writer would have turned it into. The bleak "Ward No. 6" could easily be three or four times as long with another author belaboring the conditions in the mental ward, the hospital, and in the conspiracy that brings down the hapless doctor Andrey Regin (I don't hold with other critics who view Regin as actually being mentally ill, but he is driven there by a melancholic disposition and the envy and ambition of those around him who gin up their charges -- but that's neither here nor there). The power of this story lies in its compression, in its slow descent in the beginning culminating in a rapid shocking twist and decline, and prolonging either half of this morbid gem would diffuse the power. (Lenin himself said reading this story turned him into a revolutionary, one of the main reasons why Chekhov didn't have to be so vigorously back-datedly excused by the coming Soviet revolution.)
But the entirety of Chekhov's body of work will put you through the emotional wringer. The final years of his life are a testament to continuing to produce incredible literature even in the face of certain death from tuberculosis.
May 15, 2020
Although weird, it seemed like a happy ending.
November 19, 2020
Chekhov is a king
May 10, 2018
With this book I am beginning Ecco Press’ 14 volume collection of “The Tales of Chekhov”. It is too bad that the Ecco versions have fallen out of print as this is a beautiful set with a typography I enjoy. The Darling collects eight stories, one of which, “Three Years” is a novella of over 130 pages. This book acted as an introduction of Chekhov to me, as I had read very little of him in the past. I was knocked out by half of the stories. The gems here are The Helpmate, the Two Volodyas and Three Years. The story having the least impact was Adriana. I don’t want to get into the storylines of all eight, but would like to comment on Three Years. This is a study of a wealthy man falling in love with a woman who simply doesn’t care for him. If only he could obtain her, he is sure his life will be bliss. For reasons of her own, and there are several, she accepts his offer. Now the tale relates the following three years of marriage and the madness of mated people who are not in love. It is a sobering reflection on getting what you ask for. There is an old adage that is as so: Is it better to love or to be loved? There is no answer to this question.
Read
June 18, 2024This was my first real foray into Chekov outside of The Cherry Orchard in college required reading and viewing. And I didn't get into it. In it you'll find the same basic writing style as Tolstoy, and which there's also some flavor of in Dostoevsky (probably just because of the translation), but the general time period, setting, and to some extent the observation of interpersonal minutiae, are where the similarities end. After that, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Gorky become more concerned with the parts of society that aren't the upper crust, while Chekhov only dwells there--and that lends it a boringness, in my opinion. I don't love reading about hoity toity people, whether they're from today or the 1800s, California or Russia, doesn't matter.
September 1, 2025
Had to let it ripen in my brain for a few days but now I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s good.
Don’t know if Chekhov was trying to criticize women, or just pointing out a way of loving that isn’t actually real love (a sort of consuming and imitating love that is universal, not reserved for either sex), but I’m hoping it was the latter because that’s what made me give the 5 starts. Please don’t prove me wrong I will be sad.
Don’t know if Chekhov was trying to criticize women, or just pointing out a way of loving that isn’t actually real love (a sort of consuming and imitating love that is universal, not reserved for either sex), but I’m hoping it was the latter because that’s what made me give the 5 starts. Please don’t prove me wrong I will be sad.
October 15, 2021
It’s not bad. As in the writing is fantastic, but the stories were just eh. More than that, I am not sure I got the point of most of the stories. Most of them ended rather abruptly and so the main point was lost to me. There is better Chekhov out there.
May 1, 2022
Familiar with Chekov's plays but first time reading any of his stories. They are dense and slow reading, sitting back and enjoying getting to know his characters and their lives, so very foreign to our present way of life. Yet the quarrels, loves, irritations are familiar.
December 14, 2022
Chekhov was indisputably the greatest short story writer of all time. The best stories in this collection are also the shortest and though they are mere glimpses of characters seen in passing, they possess incredible psychological depth, perhaps even more so due to their very brevity.
July 17, 2018
Librivox audiobook, read beautifully by Kirsten Ferreri.
July 20, 2018
Like most of Chekhov left me feeling like i just wanted to sit by the fire and wait for death.
July 17, 2019
the short story master.
December 13, 2020
Excellent collection of short stories
April 16, 2024
Beautiful and insightful
May 21, 2024
Wonderful stories, ranging from short to very long.
November 20, 2025
very melancholic
i do like the titular darling best but three years is also quite nice
i do like the titular darling best but three years is also quite nice
February 22, 2012
This was the first of a series of 13 volumes of Chekhov's tales. Many of them seemed to address the rise of woman during that time and the difficulty men still had in his interactions with them but Chekhov also addresses frivolous men who spend every last rouble and of men who philander and leave their dying wives to suffer alone. His sense of characters range from the redeemable to the nearly absurd. There is the painter who only paints landscapes and thinks we should all should merely work a couple of hours a day and the woman who marries a much older man for his money and spends the next ten years miserable. There is the story which the novel starts out with, The Darling (followed by a criticism of this story by Tolstoy) in which a woman takes on the distinct passions of every man she marries as vehemently as if they were always her own and seeming to possess truly none of her own. Chekhov seems to hypothesizing about women and the future in a few of these and, though there is sometimes a sense of ridicule, one also gets the impression that he sees the value in women too.
In any case, the definitive delivery of these stories is a sense of the people living in Russia in the late 1800s and we see all walks of life from the successful business man's son to the artist. Most of the people are living above the poverty line but the backgrounds are still quite diverse to be interesting.
Those expecting stories reminiscent of a dark and dreary Dostoevsky will be surprised. Chekhov's tales vary from the slice of life variety to the profound but they often have a sense of wit and intellectual mirth that makes them brighter stories. One can imagine Chekhov smiling in real life whereas one can only picture Dostoevsky gnashing his teeth. The stories are also very easy to read and understand, with the only major difficulty still being so many similar names and very different sounding nicknames attached to full formal names which make it slightly more challenging at times to follow the characters.
It's difficult to top the introduction from Richard Ford and how he explains Chekhov's writing. Here's a couple of quotes I liked from that:
"Indeed, one regularly finds humor in Chekhov, often in surprising though never really mistakable moments. As in Shakespeare as in Falkner as in Flannery O'Connor, the comic turn not only counterweighs and intensifies a serious story's gravity, it also humanizes our own fated intimacy with what's grave by permitting life's fullest, most actual context to be brought into view, even as it points us toward an approved method of acceptance: laughter."
"The entirety of Chekhov's stories, in fact, often seem-but for their formal, sturdy existence in language-not even artful (although that would be wrong) but rather to be assiduous in mapping out degree by precious degree an accurate ground level constellation of ordinary existence-each story representing a subtly distinguished movement in a single sustained gesture of life confirmed."
"With Chekhov, we share the frankness of life's inalienable thereness; we share the conviction of how much we would profit if more of human sensation cold be elevated into clear, expressive language; we share a view that life (particularly life with others) is a surface beneath which we must strive to construct a convincing subtext in order that more can be clung to less desperately..."
In any case, the definitive delivery of these stories is a sense of the people living in Russia in the late 1800s and we see all walks of life from the successful business man's son to the artist. Most of the people are living above the poverty line but the backgrounds are still quite diverse to be interesting.
Those expecting stories reminiscent of a dark and dreary Dostoevsky will be surprised. Chekhov's tales vary from the slice of life variety to the profound but they often have a sense of wit and intellectual mirth that makes them brighter stories. One can imagine Chekhov smiling in real life whereas one can only picture Dostoevsky gnashing his teeth. The stories are also very easy to read and understand, with the only major difficulty still being so many similar names and very different sounding nicknames attached to full formal names which make it slightly more challenging at times to follow the characters.
It's difficult to top the introduction from Richard Ford and how he explains Chekhov's writing. Here's a couple of quotes I liked from that:
"Indeed, one regularly finds humor in Chekhov, often in surprising though never really mistakable moments. As in Shakespeare as in Falkner as in Flannery O'Connor, the comic turn not only counterweighs and intensifies a serious story's gravity, it also humanizes our own fated intimacy with what's grave by permitting life's fullest, most actual context to be brought into view, even as it points us toward an approved method of acceptance: laughter."
"The entirety of Chekhov's stories, in fact, often seem-but for their formal, sturdy existence in language-not even artful (although that would be wrong) but rather to be assiduous in mapping out degree by precious degree an accurate ground level constellation of ordinary existence-each story representing a subtly distinguished movement in a single sustained gesture of life confirmed."
"With Chekhov, we share the frankness of life's inalienable thereness; we share the conviction of how much we would profit if more of human sensation cold be elevated into clear, expressive language; we share a view that life (particularly life with others) is a surface beneath which we must strive to construct a convincing subtext in order that more can be clung to less desperately..."
April 12, 2016
This is my first Chekhov. I've been putting him off, not being fond (in general) of the short story genre. But I've discovered that *listening* to a short story often works better for me than reading it myself. It worked with Chekhov, anyway. This collection included:
THE DARLING
ARIADNE
POLINKA
ANYUTA
THE TWO VOLODYAS
THE TROUSSEAU
THE HELPMATE
TALENT
AN ARTIST'S STORY
THREE YEARS
And I was surprised at how much I liked them. For one thing, they didn't seem "thin" as so many short stories do to me, there was enough time taken building the characters to give me a sense of true life-likeness, a sense of their existence beyond the one or two incidents told about. The other thing that stood out to me was the deft way he handled his endings. He doesn't really "conclude" - he doesn't sum up! I was a little bit startled and intrigued at first - and then I understood (or thought I did). These stories are not the usual Beginning/Middle/End kind - they are Middles. The story is the conflict, unresolved, unceasing. The tension remains. So interesting. The contrast between Chekhov and say, someone like Dickens (or Marryat, who I just finished reading) is something that sits in the back of my head, waiting to be addressed. Are people empty and hollow, or full of interest and possibility?
(Of these, "The Darling" was my favorite.)
THE DARLING
ARIADNE
POLINKA
ANYUTA
THE TWO VOLODYAS
THE TROUSSEAU
THE HELPMATE
TALENT
AN ARTIST'S STORY
THREE YEARS
And I was surprised at how much I liked them. For one thing, they didn't seem "thin" as so many short stories do to me, there was enough time taken building the characters to give me a sense of true life-likeness, a sense of their existence beyond the one or two incidents told about. The other thing that stood out to me was the deft way he handled his endings. He doesn't really "conclude" - he doesn't sum up! I was a little bit startled and intrigued at first - and then I understood (or thought I did). These stories are not the usual Beginning/Middle/End kind - they are Middles. The story is the conflict, unresolved, unceasing. The tension remains. So interesting. The contrast between Chekhov and say, someone like Dickens (or Marryat, who I just finished reading) is something that sits in the back of my head, waiting to be addressed. Are people empty and hollow, or full of interest and possibility?
(Of these, "The Darling" was my favorite.)
October 31, 2011
Garnett is a competent translator, and the shorter pieces, along with the title piece of course, are brilliant. Two things knocked off a couple of stars. One, Three years is just weak no matter the translation. But also, you get what you pay for. Bless the hearts of the volunteers who have transcribed these top have available for free, but the Kindle version is awkwardly formatted and rough to read.
July 8, 2010
Read "the Darling" on advice of "Art of Time in Fiction" as an example of the successful progression of a lifetime within 10 pages. He does help the reader understand the character, and with a static character such as this, revolves events around her to underscore how she was unable to change in her attachments.
December 18, 2011
It took a couple of stories to get into the swing of things, but eventually I got used to Chekhov's character profile short stories. His stories might be conspiciuously brief, but I imagine it's because he wanted to capture and distill humanity in one specific scene.
The final story "Three Years" is a departure from his brief style, but it still felt fulfilling at the end.
The final story "Three Years" is a departure from his brief style, but it still felt fulfilling at the end.
February 6, 2008
This short story lead me into one direction of my feelings for the main character, but upon discussion in our class, the true identity of the main character was revealed. It is a little different, but interesting, in how you can relate it to people today.
Want to read
October 19, 2009I want to compare this with Russell Banks' The Darling A Novel which I recently finished.
September 9, 2011
The Darling ****o
Ariadne ***oo
Polinka ***oo
Anyuta ***oo
The Two Volodyas ***oo
The Trousseau ***oo
The Helpmate ****o
Talent ****o
An Artist's Story ***oo
Three Years ***oo
Ariadne ***oo
Polinka ***oo
Anyuta ***oo
The Two Volodyas ***oo
The Trousseau ***oo
The Helpmate ****o
Talent ****o
An Artist's Story ***oo
Three Years ***oo
April 19, 2019
Olenka is a charmer who goes through many men. In succession, they keep dying off. She finds all the way to the end she is unlucky in love.
No real redemption here, just a slow ride to a dark ending.
Can't recommend
No real redemption here, just a slow ride to a dark ending.
Can't recommend
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews