Fathers and Sons

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent & Well-Written Yet Flawed
Review: "Fathers and Sons" might be Turgenev's most referred to piece of work. And it is an intelligent and well-written piece of literature, but there were a few things about the book I didn't like. Now naturally who am I to criticize the work of Turgenev. To me one of the greatest Russian authors.

Before I read this book I thought it was about the generation gap between a father and son. Demonstrating the changes which evolve generation after generation. How the young challenge the social conventions of the times. And that is a theme that is played in the book. But, here's comes one of the faults I have with the book. While reading the beginning pages I began to notice who the book starts to revolve around. Mostly the characters Bazarov and Arkady. And the older characters namely Arkady's father Nikolai and his uncle Pavel are not used enough. And this creates a conflict. Throughout the book we read about the younger generations view of life. But we don't get to read about the older characters views enough. There can't be much of a conflict if we don't get to hear both sides. We mostly hear Bazarov's views but he is rarely "challenged" to defend them. One of the best chapters in the book has Bazarov and Arkady arguing with Nikolai and Pavel about where society is now and where it was.

Another problem I had with the book deals with the characters Anna Sergeyevna and her sister Katya. At first both Bazarov and Arkady are both taken by Anna. But we come to know very little about her. We only see her through the eyes of both men. And since they are both in love with her it seems a very lovely portrait is made of her. But, is she really the person they both think she is? We are not given a strong back ground story about her past. The only thing concerning her past that is mentioned is her first marriage. Some detail is given about her father but nothing about her childhood. The same thing happens with Katya. And never once does Turgenev try to put us in both of these women shoes to see what they think of the men. That would of been interesting to know.

And finally I didn't like the way the book ends. By telling us exactly what happens to each character. I thought it was too neat. He was trying too hard to carefully wrap everything up with a bow on top. I would of preferred some mystery. It gives the reader something to think about.

I suppose many might feel I'm nit-picking. But, if it does seem that way it's only because over-all I did enjoy the book and became involved so naturally I would of liked to know more about some of the characters. And naturally I would of liked to read more about other characters.

Turgenev does give the novel a certin poetic feel. Many chapters are touching and heartfelt. I enjoyed the chapter where Nikolai thinks about his first wife. It is so vividly described. It's full of emotion. Another chapter deals with Bazarov visiting his parents and then suddenly leaving. The parents are heartbroken and so are we.

Though for all the touching moments in the book there was one chapter I found quite funny. It deals with Pavel challenging Bazarov to a duel. Pavel informs Bazarov that he "detest" him. They then start to discuss the formalities. Pavel suggest that they fight at six in the morning with pistols at a distance of ten paces. Bazarov says "At ten paces? That will do; we can detest one another at that distance." Later Bazarov starts to get a bit nervous and declares "I risk having my brains blown out." I could almost picture Woody Allen saying these lines with his stammer. It reminded me of his movie "Love and Death".

"Fathers and Sons" is an enjoyable read. It has it's rewarding moments. And I do recommend it to all Turgenev fans and those who love Russian literature. Though I admit I do perfer his novel "First Love" and his play "A Month In The Country".
*** 1\2 out of *****

Bottom-line: Poetic well-written piece of work by Turgenev. Has many touching moments are does create a nice mood throughout. Flawed but interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully-written classic
Review: I bought this book on a whim - ... I read a few pages and liked the writing style, which seemed to me reminiscent of Dostoevsky and other writers of the period. When I finally picked it up again a few months later, though, I found myself instantly hooked, and still am.

As the other reviewers mention, there isn't much of a plot. Although there are some political/philosophical discussions, Turgenev is never heavy-handed or didactic about them. In fact, he seems almost disinterested in the arguments per se (which at the time were highly controversial and often censored), preferring instead to examine the motives and personalities of the characters who espouse them. But I think it is these very qualities that make this novel so accessible and ageless, even to readers (like myself) who know very little about Russian history.

Turgenev writes beautifully, with sharp, closely-observed details about the human condition that are timeless and often humorous. This is a novel not only about intergenerational conflict (via the two main characters' relationships with their parents), but also about the younger characters' interactions with each other. Arkady's essential optimism and Bazarov's misanthropy (despite that he's a doctor) play off each other beautifully, and give insight into their professed beliefs and even their different approaches to love.

This novel isn't a page-turner and it doesn't have the usual plot devices or moral agendas typical of its contemporaries. You won't like it if you have a short attention span. But what a payoff: Turgenev's masterful use of language, gentle affection for his characters, and unsparing depiction of complex, sometimes conflicting motivations is awe-inspiring. Indeed, in my opinion the epilogue contains one of the most moving passages ever captured in literature.

If you love great writers like Dostoevsky or Eliot, you'll be delighted to discover Turgenev. Also highly-recommended is the Everyman edition of First Love and Other Stories. (PS: It's pronounced Ter - GEN - yef; I was mispronouncing it for months!)

Rating:
Summary: Who knew Russian novels could read like this?!
Review: ...Actually, some of my favorites are the Russian writers and true to form, Turgnev's is a novel of philosophy, love (both brotherly and romantic), and sprinkled with a little adventure and tension. Uncharactaristic of Russian novels though, is Turgnev's terse, economical form and (in my opinion) his neutrality to the chaaracters involved. Unlike Tolstoy, there are no seemingly irrelavent asides, and unlike Dostoevsky, Turgnev doesn't play favorites with the characters.

The novel itself is about a young man (Arkady) returning home from college with a friend (Barazov). These two boys are nihilists (meaning they accept no tradition or general truth outside of the scientific). Arkady's father and uncle are traditionalists and the clash is interesting and as several reviewers mention, shockingly relevant to our current climate.

Another point of departure from the Russian Novel... is that the characters change very much through out the novel. Instead of accentuating character traits and sticking with those, Turgnev cleverly weaves the characters through the ups and downs of love, travel, deuling and death. If you appreciate good characters as I do, you will find the growth of these multi-faceted characters thrilling. You might even want to keep a highliter handy for some of the authors amazing observations and lines (i.e., "After all, he didn't become a nihilist for nothing!") ...

Rating:
Summary: The just subordination of man
Review: One of the most eloquent works in Russian literature, Fathers and Sons has had a major influence on subsequent Russian writers. Turgenev weaves so much into this short novel. As the title suggests he is dealing principally with generational differences, but ultimately this is a book about finding yourself in the world. In Bazarov, we have the ultimate nihilist, someone who renounces all societal conventions, which his peers utterly fail to understand. As a young doctor he has turned his back on noble society. We see some of his old feelings briefly rise to the surface in a romance which he pursues, but Bazarov chooses to extinguish those feelings, and return to his paternal home, where he ultimately seals his fate.

Turgenev is the bridge between the Russian writers of the early 19th century and the later 19th century. In many ways, Fathers and Sons reminded me of the theme which Lermontov explored in "A Hero of Our Time," and Turgenev appears in Dostoevsky's work, even if deliberately as a caricature.

Rating:
Summary: A Wise Novel
Review: As Turgenev preceded Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, I always assumed that he belonged to a stuffier time; picking up "Fathers and Sons" in the bookstore, the first few pages seemed to confirm this assumption. Unlike Dostoevsky's prose, which I've always found compulsively readable, Turgenev's style seemed dense and somewhat stilted. Thankfully, the writing gets much more fluid and engaging as the story progresses.

Turgenev is in fact a wonderful stylist: economical, precise, lyrical when it befits his characters, yet never wordy. Whereas Dostoevsky's characters sometimes seem to be acting in a vacuum, and Tolstoy occassionally digresses into paeans on the wonders of nature, Turgenev straddles the happy medium. There are many brief but vivid descriptions of atmosphere, times of day--a horses hooves flashing at dusk, Arcady and Eugene reclining on recently mown hay--yet they are alway in service to the story and not overly symbolic.

Turgenev's approach to his characters is similarly nimble and balanced; sometimes he adopts a more distant tone, sometimes he's in a particular character's head, sometimes he gives a brief description of a character's backgound, at others a character will relate another's history from his point of view.

In fact everything in the novel testifies to Turgenev's faith in humanity, without ever seeming didactic or boring. All of the characters are sympathetic, and I could imagine actually traveling with them or engaging in conversation with them. Nobody beats Dostoevsky when it comes to penetrating psychological insight and dark humor, but his characters are always on some level types, intended to personify philosophical extremes. Tolstoy always seems to be hiding a profound but nonetheless conservative morality up his sleeve. Turgenev's characters, though, are somehow more believable than either of these author's. Eugene Bazarov and Anna Sergeyevna Odintzov are extreme, intense, and difficult people, but they are not caricatures, and they are no more the center of attention than Arcady, his relatives, or Bazarov's parents. Everone is held in equal regard, but everyone is distinct. In reminds me of Ibsen, who seems to regard his characters with the same sort of passionate, humane equanimity.

In a way, Turgenev is the anti-Dostoevsky (intending no disrespect to the master); at every opportunity where he might stage a cathartic "pathetic scene"--the duel, the climactic encounter over the deathbed of one of the main characters--he stays true to the fundamentally disjointed nature of life. The characters don't kiss and make up, nor do they hurl themselves under trains, yet somehow it remains gripping and illuminating. And Turgenev doesn't succumb to the opposite temptation, namely to undermine the gravity of real feelings by interrupting these scenes with trivial details, as Flaubert does so often in "Madame Bovary" for example.

What else can I say? There's no reason not to give this book a try if you like character driven stories that seem full of the essence of real life. Unlike other great Russian novels, this one is short, so if it's not to your taste, at least it's brief. However, I can almost guarantee that you'll wish it lasted longer, and that it'll leave you with a warm feeling inside.

Rating:
Summary: Vivid and memorable
Review: Turgenev's Fathers and Sons is a timeless novel. Set in mid-19th century Russia it follows a few weeks in the lives of two young men, Arkadi and Bazarov. Turgenev sets the characters beliefs against each other and against themselves.

Fathers and Sons operates on many levels, a story of generation vs generation, of ideology vs love, new vs old and friend vs friend. Turgenev takes the pair on a journey through rural Russia. Each stop along the journey sets up the scenario for the tensions and revelations of the characters.

The character of Bazarov is one of the most vivid characters in literature. The timeless representation of a brash bright young man ready to teach the world everything it's doing wrong.

When Fathers and Sons was first published it caused outrage on both the right and the left in Russia. Both sides believed their characterizations were overdone and many never forgave him.

Fathers and Sons is highly recommended. Easily one of the best novels I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: A fine russian novel
Review: This is a book about the effect of 1 man on his peers who represent the new culture, and their parents who represent the old culture. This man is a Nihilist and is a revolutionary type figure who has many great conversations and showdowns with both his generation and the old one.

The book is written very well and always keeps your interest. The characters are very well developed and likable. The author shows keen psychological insights with their relationships, motives, and actions. Over all a very good book, that gets better as it goes along. 4 stars. Check it out.

Rating:
Summary: My dear friend:
Review: I have just finished reading this wonderful book, "Fathers and sons", and I wanted to share my impressions with you. Oh, what a superb novel! I will never forget Bazarov and his constant questioning, his revulsion against nothingness, his moodiness, his noble demeanor.

Turgueniev places in Bazarov the almost unbearable burden of nihilism. Nihilism as a philosophical posture, a methodic negation of systems of belief; nihilism as a continuous quest for the truth. Bazarov's nihilism derives in action and not in an empty criticism of reality that may end up in mere discouragement. As Ortega y Gasset once said: nihilism as a result of having wondered about every ideological creation, every philosophical stance.

Family ties and the confrontation among generations of fathers and sons are also masterly depicted throughout the book. Turgueniev portrays the perplexity of the father when faced with the reality of time ticking inexorably away as well as unconditional love for the son that comes home after a long absence.

I will never forgive Turgueniev for denying Bazarov the possibility of happiness. But I am no one of importance to say what the author should or should have not written. Anyhow, Bazarov's stance before death is as unforgettable as that of Camus' Meursault in "L'etranger" or the anonymous character condemned to capital punishment in Victor Hugo's "Le dernier jour d'un condamné". And here, dear friend, I must make a confession: I have still tears in my eyes, something that Bazarov would have never approved of. If he saw me right now, he would certainly accuse me of being romantic. He would consider my behavior as that of a foolish waif, a weakness proper of a bourgeois woman. Yet, my friend, I don't complain about it: he may be right, but I can't conceal emotion. I hope you will understand me.

What shall I add? You know this novel better than I do. Far from Dostoievsky's books whose characters are constantly dwelling on the brink of madness, this is still a Russian novel, full of sadness and melancholy, where the eternal brooding over social justice in a country that remained feudal until the XXth century taints the story form the first page to the last...

Rating:
Summary: Elegiac and Wistful with a Tragic Conclusion
Review: The multitude of reviews for this very famous book...Well, son, there's nothing new to say in this review. So, here are a few of the things (some trifling) that gave me such pleasure when I read this back toward the end of high school.

1. The scene early in the book between Fenitchka and Pavel Petrovitch. Later, Fenitchka confesses discomfort around Pavel, due to Bazarov's romantic advances in the garden. Was I alone in seeing a bit of the ole wist of the bachelor (which is refered to several times in the novel, apropos of Pavel) in Pavel's appreciation of Fenitchka and babe?

2. The duel between Pavel and Bazarov is masterfully and elegantly rendered. Piotr cringing behind a tree in my edition's woodcut was a bonus.

3. The melancholy that pervades the entire book. Yes, I've weaned myself on Faulkner and Chekhov, where all humor is black humor. Bazarov dying of typhus from surgical infection, Anna Sergeyevna appearing at the Illyitch abode dressed as a mourning wife, though she earlier spurned Bazarov's romantic advances...All minutely and beautifully portrayed.

4. Description! Character Development!: The moles on Arkina Illyitch's(Bazarov's mother)face, Pavel tugging his moustaches in moments of skepticism or perplexity. Madame Kukshin, with her deranged Russian volumes and compound to render dolls' heads unbreakable...Why do I love this stuff?

Russian authors...You gotta love 'em!...

Rating:
Summary: Masterful, Socially Important, Book
Review: Turgenev is a master story teller, whether it takes the form of a novel or his shorter stories. This book, however, takes on special significance. Not only is it well-written, displaying the craft of the novelist as it matured in the mid-nineteeth century, but like many of his fellow Russians, he captures the imagination, themes, ideas, and sensibilities of presence that make Turgenev a twentieth-century joy to read.

This alone is sufficient warrant to read the book. But, there's equally important social reasons to read it. Turgenev is to the novel what Nietzsche is to philosophy, and that they were cotemporaneous is no mistake. "Fathers and Children" is a novel about nihilism, despair, and raw will to power in a vein too similar to Nietzsche to be ignored.

What makes Turgenev singularly important is his writing one of the truly "post-modern" novels as far as his themes go, but writing within the classical tradition of a well-developed plot, story, characters, ideas, and psychology. In many ways, Turgenew anticipates Freud, Kierkegaard, Joyce, and Eliot, while retaining the style of Hawthorne, Austin, and de Balzac. It's a wonderful synthesis -- a masterful story with critically important ideas and themes.