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spav's review against another edition
4.0
Letting aside the poor edition provided by Amazon, the story itself is captivating and can be read in one sitting.
Tolstoy manages to give a full picture of the characters, in just few pages and through their actions, without much descriptions, epic ending included.
The story is amazing and its meaning stretches past a moralist story into the realm of human relations and even class struggle.
Tolstoy manages to give a full picture of the characters, in just few pages and through their actions, without much descriptions, epic ending included.
The story is amazing and its meaning stretches past a moralist story into the realm of human relations and even class struggle.
coppercrane2's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
chris_chester's review against another edition
3.0
A short and simple morality tale from an author who I associate with just about everything but works short and simple.
The impetuous and selfish master Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov, eager to engage in his business of the world, effectively drags an unwilling peasant in his charge out into a deadly blizzard. Nikita the peasant, the picture of humility, does as his master bids and is nearly killed.
It's only after nearly abandoning Nikita horseless in a snow drift that the master has a revelation and in a decisive moment sacrifices his own life for Nikita's.
The point of the story seems to be just that grace can only be found in helping others. But surely Andreevich could have found a position wherein they BOTH could survive the cold and he could go on to apply his revelation to his own life in a more Dickensian fashion?
Oh well, I guess that's the price of the short story.
The impetuous and selfish master Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov, eager to engage in his business of the world, effectively drags an unwilling peasant in his charge out into a deadly blizzard. Nikita the peasant, the picture of humility, does as his master bids and is nearly killed.
It's only after nearly abandoning Nikita horseless in a snow drift that the master has a revelation and in a decisive moment sacrifices his own life for Nikita's.
The point of the story seems to be just that grace can only be found in helping others. But surely Andreevich could have found a position wherein they BOTH could survive the cold and he could go on to apply his revelation to his own life in a more Dickensian fashion?
Oh well, I guess that's the price of the short story.
downloadnapster's review against another edition
3.0
Tolstoy's stuff is always interesting and exceptionally well written but I don't think his worldview is personally my thing, I'm still interested in reading Anna Karenina at some point though. Goodreads really needs a half star feature because I didn't enjoy this as much as the death of Ivan ilyich but I don't want to have to give that 4 stars lol
dara_kossok_spiess's review against another edition
4.0
Tolstoiesque. Manchmal etwas zu viel, bis man* merkt, dass es genau richtig ist.
martinac's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
kaitlinsime's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Reading this took forever and I could never get through until I finally set aside the time to read this in one go and it turned out to be really good and interesting!