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djred's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
laurenjoy's review against another edition
A book that was pretty good, but which lacked some substance.
jasperverfaillie's review against another edition
4.0
Uitgelezen in 9 toiletbezoekjes te Oudegem. Mijn excuses aan iedereen die telkens op mij zat te wachten.
lukewarmacid's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.0
** sort of vague spoilers, doesnt explicitly say stuff but id still be cautious haha **
this little 102 pgs long book was actually quite fantastic. i took quite a bit of notes in comparison to its length haha
this book essentially details this irrevocable love that consumes, an experience that situates deep within your soul. this is a novella where a man details his first love experience to a group of other people, showing his perspective of when he first fell in love with the princess next door at the age of 16.
my initial notes of this novella is comical to read back on considering the twist we find out later on, that i correctly predicted at around 70 pgs in.
anyways, what i enjoyed was the experience of trying to gauge whether this instance of love is good for the guy, woldemar. he’s just 16 yrs old, but hes so deeply enamored with the princess, zinaida, knowing deep down in his gut that this treatment isn’t proper but he willfully allows himself to remain stagnant in this negative atmosphere nonetheless because the blissful love is soooo addictive.
i think this novella served me well because i can relate to how deeply love roots into my soul!!!! but this is also a tale of figuring out love and passion at a young age but also identifying abuse and mistreatment. a little key message i picked up on was “know when to leave.”
but it was lowkey an insane book, where this princess plays around and has games with all these men who are obsessed with her, yet she doesn’t prioritize love, more so prioritizing herself above all but then she does. she does love. i remember feeling surreal about one of the nights where she played a bunch of games with the men (including our woldemar); i genuinely felt like i should’ve been high n it vaguely reminded me of the drugged up midsommar scene.
i also was in awe with some of woldemar’s thoughts, this idea of doing anything for zinaida, but for some reason he wouldn’t imagine himself a happily ever after with her? i think he knew it was a fleeting experience… trust ur gut…
quite a fantastic piece of literature! now here are some quotes i enjoyed:
“i never wish to experience [the feelings with which i left her] again, but i should count it a misfortune never to have had them at all.”
“evidently to sacrifice oneself is the height of bliss — for some people.”
- honestly, there was more to this quote, but this portion made me think of how one maintains the illusion of seeing and finding more within a person to justify the self sacrifice.
“take what you can yourself, and don’t let others get you into their hands; to belong to oneself, that is the whole thing in life…”
this little 102 pgs long book was actually quite fantastic. i took quite a bit of notes in comparison to its length haha
this book essentially details this irrevocable love that consumes, an experience that situates deep within your soul. this is a novella where a man details his first love experience to a group of other people, showing his perspective of when he first fell in love with the princess next door at the age of 16.
my initial notes of this novella is comical to read back on considering the twist we find out later on, that i correctly predicted at around 70 pgs in.
anyways, what i enjoyed was the experience of trying to gauge whether this instance of love is good for the guy, woldemar. he’s just 16 yrs old, but hes so deeply enamored with the princess, zinaida, knowing deep down in his gut that this treatment isn’t proper but he willfully allows himself to remain stagnant in this negative atmosphere nonetheless because the blissful love is soooo addictive.
i think this novella served me well because i can relate to how deeply love roots into my soul!!!! but this is also a tale of figuring out love and passion at a young age but also identifying abuse and mistreatment. a little key message i picked up on was “know when to leave.”
but it was lowkey an insane book, where this princess plays around and has games with all these men who are obsessed with her, yet she doesn’t prioritize love, more so prioritizing herself above all but then she does. she does love. i remember feeling surreal about one of the nights where she played a bunch of games with the men (including our woldemar); i genuinely felt like i should’ve been high n it vaguely reminded me of the drugged up midsommar scene.
i also was in awe with some of woldemar’s thoughts, this idea of doing anything for zinaida, but for some reason he wouldn’t imagine himself a happily ever after with her? i think he knew it was a fleeting experience… trust ur gut…
quite a fantastic piece of literature! now here are some quotes i enjoyed:
“i never wish to experience [the feelings with which i left her] again, but i should count it a misfortune never to have had them at all.”
“evidently to sacrifice oneself is the height of bliss — for some people.”
- honestly, there was more to this quote, but this portion made me think of how one maintains the illusion of seeing and finding more within a person to justify the self sacrifice.
“take what you can yourself, and don’t let others get you into their hands; to belong to oneself, that is the whole thing in life…”
diaswuri's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of my favorite Russian classics of all time. Read it in Russian when I was still in college for my literature class, and now I have the eBook in English. Both versions are achingly good.
athend's review against another edition
3.0
A flirtatious young girl flirts and leads on a crowd of sex starved pervs who worship her for no particular reason than her virtues of being young, pretty and a tease. Protagonist, like any other 16 year olds, has a lot of enthusiasm but zero knowledge of how any of it works, so he's just following her caprices like a dummy.
Girl proceeds to ignore all her wannabe-boyfriends and jumps into an affair with an older guy who actually knows what's up (such shock!). Of course, the guy is married (big scandal!), such drama!
And at the end, as in has to be with any self-respecting Russian book (or any story, for that matter), we have DEATH, a surprising amount of it!
There, at the final, we read the protagonist's sobering retrospective on love, youth, feelings and how fleeting and precious life is. It's actually worth to go through the entirety of this book and suffer all the delusional oh's and ah's of youth, just to read the last few musings. If it wasn't for that part, this review would have been 2 stars less.
Girl proceeds to ignore all her wannabe-boyfriends and jumps into an affair with an older guy who actually knows what's up (such shock!). Of course, the guy is married (big scandal!), such drama!
And at the end, as in has to be with any self-respecting Russian book (or any story, for that matter), we have DEATH, a surprising amount of it!
There, at the final, we read the protagonist's sobering retrospective on love, youth, feelings and how fleeting and precious life is. It's actually worth to go through the entirety of this book and suffer all the delusional oh's and ah's of youth, just to read the last few musings. If it wasn't for that part, this review would have been 2 stars less.
axellerbn's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
3.25
intéressant à lire ! mon introduction à la littérature russe !
le sujet du livre était hyper intéressant. je pense avoir compris … 85% du livre mais bon. bonne lecture :p
le sujet du livre était hyper intéressant. je pense avoir compris … 85% du livre mais bon. bonne lecture :p