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msand3's review against another edition
5.0
The second part of Tolstoy’s autobiographical trilogy, published two years after [b:Childhood|2359878|Childhood|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328040092s/2359878.jpg|50778762], takes up where that narrative left off, continuing the recollections of Nikolai as he transitions from childhood to young adulthood. It’s a stormy transition (indeed, Tolstoy begins with Nikolai’s description of a sudden thunderstorm that moves across the countryside as he rides in a carriage). We see how the young man copes with life without his mother, the transition from being under the care of his beloved German tutor to a more strict French tutor, and the first spark of his interest in women. To cope with these changes, Nikolai turns even more inward with his philosophical musings. He invents long imaginative narratives in his mind as fantasies to offset the turbulent changes in his life.
In one of the more memorable sections, Tolstoy offers a first-person account of the German tutor's difficult life to contrast with Nikolai’s own narrative, which we discover is rather less harsh by comparison. This is an important moment because Nikolai not only comes into his own understanding as an individual with agency, but he also begins to recognize others -- especially servants and villagers -- as being individual people with their own lives, rather than merely “serfs.” He grapples with the same three Big Ideas as in Childhood (life, love, and death), as well as his first encounters with (and resistance to) authority.
Despite chronicling a very specific time, place, and culture, Tolstoy’s narrative has a universal appeal. We share in Nikolai’s anguish that “the world is against him” because it is the same feeling we all experience at that age. Once again, Tolstoy has penned an insightful, gripping, intellectual, and emotionally resonant work -- at the age of 25!
In one of the more memorable sections, Tolstoy offers a first-person account of the German tutor's difficult life to contrast with Nikolai’s own narrative, which we discover is rather less harsh by comparison. This is an important moment because Nikolai not only comes into his own understanding as an individual with agency, but he also begins to recognize others -- especially servants and villagers -- as being individual people with their own lives, rather than merely “serfs.” He grapples with the same three Big Ideas as in Childhood (life, love, and death), as well as his first encounters with (and resistance to) authority.
Despite chronicling a very specific time, place, and culture, Tolstoy’s narrative has a universal appeal. We share in Nikolai’s anguish that “the world is against him” because it is the same feeling we all experience at that age. Once again, Tolstoy has penned an insightful, gripping, intellectual, and emotionally resonant work -- at the age of 25!
darwin8u's review against another edition
4.0
"Kerr has said that every attachment has two sides: one loves, and the other allows himself to be loved; one kisses, and the other surrenders his cheek."
- Leo Tolstoy, Boyhood
Boyhood, is Tolstoy's second novel(la) and the second of his three autobiographical novels ([b:Childhood, Boyhood, Youth|226377|Childhood, Boyhood, Youth|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408406518s/226377.jpg|1685249]). Like with Childhood, I get big Knausgårdian vibes from reading these early Tolstoy novels. They are "technically" ficiton, but draw heavily on the childhood, boyhood and youth (see what I did?) of Tolstoy. Details may change, relationships might not be exact, but in many ways, these novels capture if not the letter of Tolstoy's early years, at least the spirit of those years. But I also get a bit of a Nabokovian vibe too (yes, I agree, Nabokov's and Knausgård's novles TECHNICALLY have a Tolstoyan vibe...but bear with me.). Some scenes in Boyhood sing with a flavor I haven't felt since certain chapters of [b:Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle|12187|Ada, or Ardor A Family Chronicle|Vladimir Nabokov|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327867767s/12187.jpg|2138313] or [b:Speak, Memory|30594|Speak, Memory|Vladimir Nabokov|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1346107008s/30594.jpg|2540547].
Probably the most poignant part of this novella, for me, was the section where he was talking about the almost Nihilist hatred Tolstoy had for St. Jerome (his French tutor). He captured in a couple short paragraphs that melancholy loneliness of boys from 12 to 14. That awkward incediarism driven by isolation, curiosity, and inevitable growth, that all must pass through and MOST pass through safely, with just a few scars. Tolstoy NAILED it, at least from my perspective. He captures the insecurities, the fears, the myopic stupidities of boyhood. Some things NEVER change.
- Leo Tolstoy, Boyhood
Boyhood, is Tolstoy's second novel(la) and the second of his three autobiographical novels ([b:Childhood, Boyhood, Youth|226377|Childhood, Boyhood, Youth|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408406518s/226377.jpg|1685249]). Like with Childhood, I get big Knausgårdian vibes from reading these early Tolstoy novels. They are "technically" ficiton, but draw heavily on the childhood, boyhood and youth (see what I did?) of Tolstoy. Details may change, relationships might not be exact, but in many ways, these novels capture if not the letter of Tolstoy's early years, at least the spirit of those years. But I also get a bit of a Nabokovian vibe too (yes, I agree, Nabokov's and Knausgård's novles TECHNICALLY have a Tolstoyan vibe...but bear with me.). Some scenes in Boyhood sing with a flavor I haven't felt since certain chapters of [b:Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle|12187|Ada, or Ardor A Family Chronicle|Vladimir Nabokov|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327867767s/12187.jpg|2138313] or [b:Speak, Memory|30594|Speak, Memory|Vladimir Nabokov|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1346107008s/30594.jpg|2540547].
Probably the most poignant part of this novella, for me, was the section where he was talking about the almost Nihilist hatred Tolstoy had for St. Jerome (his French tutor). He captured in a couple short paragraphs that melancholy loneliness of boys from 12 to 14. That awkward incediarism driven by isolation, curiosity, and inevitable growth, that all must pass through and MOST pass through safely, with just a few scars. Tolstoy NAILED it, at least from my perspective. He captures the insecurities, the fears, the myopic stupidities of boyhood. Some things NEVER change.
amandaalexandre's review against another edition
2.0
The writing is elegant (Although it begins with 10 pages of a bland road trip and excessive weather descriptions. Something authors could afford to do in a time there was no Candy Crush Saga.). The way [a:Tolstoy|8203337|Tolstoy|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] paraphrased the simplicity of childish conversations with his mature prose gives a deliciously hilarious effect....
But the plot failed to engage me. I felt [b:The Death of Ivan Ilych|18386|The Death of Ivan Ilych|Leo Tolstoy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336967150s/18386.jpg|234915] or [b:Master and Man|50270|Master and Man|Leo Tolstoy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386748184s/50270.jpg|538757] had more depth and critique.
But the plot failed to engage me. I felt [b:The Death of Ivan Ilych|18386|The Death of Ivan Ilych|Leo Tolstoy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336967150s/18386.jpg|234915] or [b:Master and Man|50270|Master and Man|Leo Tolstoy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386748184s/50270.jpg|538757] had more depth and critique.