In all his other novels I’ve read, Tolstoy was a third-person omniscient narrator, but here he used a first-person narrative as a young woman. Is it conceivable that Tolstoy, who was 31 when he wrote this, knew all the feelings and thoughts of a 17-year-old girl? I was incredulous, and only after many paragraphs into the story did I get used to the narrative. It’s a beautiful story of the […]
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“Father Sergius” by Leo Tolstoy
This book should definitely be adapted into movies for the modern viewers, and I fancy there can be at least two different versions, depending on the targeted audience. The R-rated version: The hero is a handsome, passionate prince with an uncontrollable temper, who attracts women everywhere and gets into fights (verbal and physical) with men. There would be plenty of scenes of sexual tension, seduction and violence (with blood spills […]
Read more“Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
A good case can be made that this book should be titled Konstantin Levin, not Anna Karenina. Tolstoy described Levin in great detail, his personality, his emotions, his life, and the political, religious and economic environment in Russia as experienced and perceived by him. If it’s true that Tolstoy based Levin on himself, then I must say that I enjoyed the book as his autobiography. As a novel, however, this […]
Read more“War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy
It took me at least three attempts and more than a year’s time to finish “War and Peace”, and I’m certainly glad that I finally did. A True of Work of Art Like a good farmer who sows the seeds, cultivates, waters, and patiently waits for the crops to mature, Tolstoy lets his characters develop slowly, giving vivid descriptions of their external and internal lives as they unfold. “War and […]
Read more“Master and Man” by Leo Tolstoy
A master and his servant go on a short trip through a snowstorm. On the way, we learn much about the lives and characters of the two men, through their actions and dialogue, as if we were traveling together with them in the sledge. In the end, one of them unexpectedly finds exceeding joy and the meaning of his life, though not without paying a heavy price. A bittersweet story […]
Read more“The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by Leo Tolstoy
Ivan Ilyich lived a happy, healthy, decorous and dutiful life as a judge, until an accident made him terminally ill and brought him face to face with Death and the terrible realization that he hadn’t lived as he should. Like Morrie Swartz (“Tuesdays with Morrie”), Ivan suffered a slow death, unlike Morrie who was able to share some of his feelings with his family, friends and the public, Ivan was […]
Read more“Journey to the Center of the Earth” by Jules Verne
After reading Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty days“, I wished to follow in Phileas Fogg’s footsteps as closely as possible and tour around the world myself. After reading this book, however, I can’t say I’m ready to embark on the journey to the center of the earth, even if it were possible and the route were laid out before me by the heroes in the book, Professor Lidenbrock, Axel […]
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