Reviews

Misery by Constance Garnett, Anton Chekhov

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estifanos's review

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4.0

A father who recently lost his son and was unable to find consoling company.

Poor soul!
3.75⭐

matijao's review

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4.0

4.5

t51's review

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T-T

anastasiarozova's review

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3.0

*Read for class.

That was... Depressing. Wow. Not a good bedtime read.

His misery is immense, beyond all bounds.

He is an old cabman waiting for a fare in the cold snowy night. His son has died recently and he is desperate to give voice to his misery; to talk to anyone who would listen.
Would he be able to find someone compassionate and caring enough to pause, listen and mourn along with a miserable old soul?

It takes talent to convey so much in just a few pages and Chekhov is a genius when it comes to short story writing.

monazaneefer's review

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2.0

This is my second Chekhov short story, the first being "The School Mistress", and both were just so bland. Perhaps I have too much of a modern taste to like them. As much as I'd like to tab ONE Chekhov collection and update that by checking off and reviewing each story in one place, I don't have interest in pursuing more Chekhov short stories - except maybe for inspiration. Because I like how Chekhov takes a general, universal desire of wanting somebody to listen to you and places it in a specific scenario. Like I've been in situations where when one hasn't heard me, I lose heart before misplacing my hope onto somebody else ... only for it to repeat. So Chekhov's choice of narrating it this way inspires me to elicit certain emotions and paint them through a straw lens.

Let me try a play before calling it quits though.