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Ah, friendship, love, idealism -- in a word, Turgenev!
The "eve" in question is the start of the Crimean war. The setting, however, is provincial Russia (as usual in Turgenev's work) and the characters are a small circle of close friends. They're prone to earnest philosophical discussion. There's a slightly complex romance that drives the plot, and as might be expected things ultimately don't turn out well for the lovers. (This is, after all, a Russian novel.) If that sounds a bit pat, then let m ...more
The "eve" in question is the start of the Crimean war. The setting, however, is provincial Russia (as usual in Turgenev's work) and the characters are a small circle of close friends. They're prone to earnest philosophical discussion. There's a slightly complex romance that drives the plot, and as might be expected things ultimately don't turn out well for the lovers. (This is, after all, a Russian novel.) If that sounds a bit pat, then let m ...more
Quite lovely and a reminder that life doesn't change as much as we think it does. The same questions, longings and shenanigans took place in 1850 Russia as they do today but with more Edenic picnics.
...more
Dec 26, 2009
Juliana Philippa
marked it as to-read
