Rating: 
Summary: What happened to the part with the clown?
Review: What's with this translation?! It left out the part with the clown! That was the best part in the book! Without the clown, the whole thesis collapses altogether! You're better off learning Russian or waiting for a new translation to come out, because without the clown it's rubbish!
Rating: 
Summary: Placid Turbulence
Review: Like the other Russian literary giants with whom he is so often compared, Turgenev displays a remakable facility for writing about profound ideas and issues in a way that is entertaining and never oppressive. Turgenev comments on topics ranging from social conditions in the Russian Empire to the transitory nature of philosophical systems of belief. The tone of the book is gentle, even affectionate, toward its characters, hardly the tone that one expects from a highly controversial novel. I believe that its is what makes it so effective in communicating Turgenev's meaning. Perhaps it is this, in turn, that made it so controversial.
Rating:
Summary: an excellant insight into the relationships
Review: A must for human beings who want to understand and realise the importance and the value of relationships.
Rating:
Summary: A perfectly written Russian masterpiece
Review: Ivan Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons" ranks with his "Sketches from a Hunter's Album" as one of the most perfectly written and deeply moving books I have ever read. It far surpasses most of Dostoyevsky's works and possibly, in my opinion, could outrank even Tolstoy. A reader with a good knowledge of Russia will not fail to appreciate "Fathers and Sons" and will not at all regret the cost of this book. I was not able to put it down, not so much from being riveted to an adventurous plot, but from being captivated by the sublime, marvelous beauty of Turgenev's prose (and, of course, Rosemary Edmonds' wonderful translation). "Fathers and Sons" is a very powerful book, eye-opening and profoundly sad, which every reader will appreciate.
Rating: 
Summary: Fathers and Sons is art
Review: The art involved in creating this novel is what makes it a truly amazing and valuable piece of literature. Each character has characteristics that are very human. The thoughts,ideas, and ideals of the very different characters are the entirety of the plot. Turgenev does such an implorable job of creating conflict, that he doesn't need to place the characters in any action in order to attract the reader. This is a must read for any fan of Russian literature!
Rating:
Summary: Like Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky? Don't ignore Turgenev!
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read. Turgenev was a supremely devoted artist and his characters truly shine in this novel, his masterwork. I like to think of him as the Russian version of Hemingway, because Turgenev writes in such a beautiful, engaging manner. However, the comparison ends there...besides, Turgenev was a better writer than Hemingway. Very highly recommended for all lovers of Russian literature...belongs in your collection right next to Crime & Punishment, Dead Souls, War & Peace, etc.
Rating:
Summary: thought provoking, compulsive reading - a masterpiece
Review: The book concerns the lives of two young men and their fathers, or more precisely the relationship between the 'new generation' and the old. Bazarov, the book's central character is a nihilist, he claims to depise art, social institutions of any kind and any sort of emotion. Turgenev illustrates his contempt for people prepared to embrace nihilism at this expense with bazarov's ultimate disillusionment and unhappiness; as such it is a very political book and it had him labeled a conservative by his contemporaries.
Rating:
Summary: turgenev's fathers and sons - an appreciation
Review: Following a link from Hamsun to Gogol found Fathers and Sons. Like the manic haunted heroes of Hamsun's Mysteries and Hunger there is Turgenev's Bazarov - a nihilist passionate - a hero of a kind. Take the path from Turgenev to Lermontov then to Dostoyevsky or criss cross paths and return to Hamsun. For this reader Turgenev's beautiful Fathers and Sons is but one part of this world of inspiration and Bazarov but one example of the gift these authors had for characterisation. Turgenev's novel - the cause of furious debate in its day and long beyond - is a powerful, challenging, emotional, wonderful book. Read it. Read them all.
Rating:
Summary: Turgenev is, quite possibly, the world's biggest stud.
Review: Like many of the laudable Pre-Revolution authors, Turgenev's writing poignantly depicts the emotional and political unrest of a nation tearing itself apart. The book focuses on the deterioration and restoration of the relationship between the nihilistic Bazarov and his father. However, this central family relationship also mirrors the larger themes of social movements and progressive ideas. Turgenev's work remains a classic not only because of its historical significance, but for its timelessness as well. Like most great literature, the themes pertain to our culture as well. The dialectic between the older and younger generations will always exist, but Turgenev leaves the reader with the eventual hope for a synthesis. . .
Rating:
Summary: There are feelings. Everything depends on them.
Review: This is such a wonderful novel about two young men returning home from University - Arkady Kirsanov and his friend, Yevgeny who is known mostly as Basarov. Firstly they stop at Arkady's father's poor farm - but he is a landowner. Arkady's father's name is Nikolai and living with him is his brother Pavel. What contrasts we immediately meet - Nikolai whose wife has died (Arkady's mother) but who is living with one of the local peasant women (Fenitchka) and has a son by her, and Pavel whose playboy life collapsed when the princess he hoped to marry rejected him.So here we have two young men with all the potential of their living beings contrasted with Nikolai and Pavel and their strange life outcomes. What complicates the matter is that Basarov is a nihilist - someone called him the first 'angry young man'. He is cynical and argumentative - prepared to accept Nikolai's simple innocence and honesty in living, unprepared to tolerate Pavel's Anglophile airs and graces. The young men move on to Basarov's parent's place (simple folk living a traditional old age) but on the way meet Madame Odintsova - quickly called Odintsov (presumably because she is widowed). They spend some time with Odintsov and we learn her name is Anna Sergyevna. Anna lives with her younger sister Katya and and older aunt. The contrasts are once again evident. Anna has no feeling for Arkady at all and quickly Arkady and Katya become friends as Anna and Basarov fascinate each other. But Basarov is appalled at his romantic feelings - not what he expects a nihilist should experience! And when Odintsov's flirting causes him to express that love he has to flee to his parent's place horrified by what he has felt. But he is no more at home with his parents whose love and affection overwhelms him, so the young men return to the Kirsanov's farm, stopping briefly at Odintsov's country residence where they are not really welcomed. However Arkady, home again, is ill at ease and has to return to Odintsov, leaving Basarov behind. What happens at Odintsov's residence is perhaps not unexpected, what happens at the Kirsanov's farm - with Fenitchka and Pavel is remarkable. Eventually Basarov joins Arkady at Madame Odintsov's before returning home. The outcomes I will leave to Turgenev. As a mid-fifties person myself I can readily identify with Nikolai and Pavel who see themselves as old, although they too are only fiftyish. But we all have memories and I can see myself as Basarov and Arkady - in some ways each of them, but in no ways entirely either of them. While, as a young man, I too had ideals (anarchist rather than nihilist) that I used to obscure other things in my life, subsequent experiences in my life have lead me to regret that path my life took for a while. Turgenev's outcome for Basarov is entirely in accord with my view. But what then of Pavel? Perhaps the most extraordinary thing for me about this beautiful novel is that at the end - but not during the novel - I loved each and every one of the characters. The title of this review is a quote (p203 Konemann edition) and it is my feelings that are immensely positive from reading this book. Other recommended reading: For a non-Russian view of Russian people read 'Under Western Eyes' by Joseph Conrad
|
