Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Author: Gustave Flaubert
Original title: Madame Bovary
Pages: 338
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no
Format: e-book
Genres: classics
Goodreads

Blurb:    
   Madame Bovary tells the story of farmgirl Emma, who marries provincial doctor, Charles Bovary, and almost immediately regrets it when she realises that it means she has to live in the provinces.

  My thoughts: 
    Finally, I finished madam Bovary. It was one of my must read classics list. I am not sure what I was expecting, another Gaskell or Austen probably, so I was totally unprepared for what I got into. Such irritating, and unpleasant main character. I was angry with her almost all of the time.
No one can deny the beauty of prose and description. The writing style captures straight away and I could only amaze with what ease and skill the author describes the nature and striving of one's soul.
As for the story, it is a good one, that depicts triviality of provincial life. The main character lives beyond her means in order to escape the trap of her marriage and is looking desperately for happiness. This driving throws her from one desperate and stupid decision to another.
 I was still sick and tired with the main character. I had no patience to all the whining and sighing. I could find no compassion for her, as her behavior, her superiority thinking, her total absence of respect to the only person who truly loved her, made me only more and more irritated.
 I must confess, that I believe, that if I would have read this novel 10 years ago, I might deeply sympathize with madam Bovary, with her unhappiness and romantic wishes. However, now from all the life experience I have no tolerance with her. A person, who failed as a wife and as a mother, in search of something that she deserves, purely based on vanity and a couple romantic books. And her stupid, selfish and dishonorable way of resolving her problems, leaving her family in the mess she created... Not my hero. I took the star from my rating purely based on my disliking of madam Bovary, which does not make a book less worth reading.

Rating:  

    4/5 

Tales of Belkin by Alexander Pushkin

Author: Alexander Pushkin
Original title: Повести покойного Ивана Петровича Белкина 
Pages: 82
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no
Format: paperback
Genres: Classics
Goodreads

Blurb:    
   This collection is a set of stories within a story. The preface by "the editors" incorporates a letter from a friend of the eponymous Belkin, describing the dead writer's character, history and interests. The stories are themselves said to be tales once told to Belkin by various and sundry figures.
  
My thoughts: 

    Pushin is often referred to as the father of modern Russian literature. Though the title implies gravity and humorlessness, Pushkin was a very funny writer. He was light-hearted and good-spirited Thus, his writing, both poetry and prose almost always interwoven with satire, parody and allusions. And this book is a great example in that regard. The five tales of Belkin were brief, to the point, and composed with a lightness that I found delightful. Curiously, the story I liked best was the only sad one The Stationmaster. My childhood favorite was The Mistress Peasant and I was not so enchanted this time.
      I have read many reviews where people find the stories quite funny and witty. True, but I was finding a lot of drama between the lines. Where are scenes in which you can see many social problems, inequality and bulling. At the same time other matters as parental love, sense of duty and pride are discussed in this witty and fun collection of short stories that made me feel genuine delight and enjoyment.

The Shot - a duel is derailed when one participant notices the indifference his opponent has towards his inevitable demise (5 stars)
The Blizzard - an aristocratic young woman falls in love with a young officer, but her parents disapprove of the relationship so they decide to elope, marry quickly, and then beg forgiveness (5 stars)
The Undertaker - an undertaker returns home after a party offended after someone jokingly offers a toast to the health of Prokhorov's customers; he decides to hold his house-warming party with his customers rather than his neighbors (3 stars)
The Postmaster - a returning traveler is surprised to see the station master's change of fortune after this daughter's kidnapping (5 stars)
The Mistress Peasant - in order to meet the handsome new arrival, a young lady pretends to be a peasant girl(4 stars)  

Rating:  

    5/5 

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

Author: Anne Brontë
Original title: Agnes Grey
Pages: 224
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no
Format: paperback
Genres: classics
Goodreads

Blurb:    
   Agnes Grey is the touching story of a young girl who decides to enter the world as a governess, but whose bright illusions of acceptance, freedom and friendship are gradually destroyed.

  My thoughts: 
    It pains me to only give this three stars, mainly because of the tremendous respect I have for the three Bronte sisters, and because Anne was overshadowed by her older sisters, Charlotte and Emily.
     In my view, the book’s major weakness is the relative lack of development in Agnes’ character. While Agnes undergoes some very difficult experiences working as a governess, the Agnes at the end of the novel is more or less the same as the Agnes at the beginning of the novel. Agnes acknowledges that her youth and inexperience contributed to some of the difficulties she faced. However, she never questions herself and never doubts that she’s right, but to me Agnes was rubbish at being a governess. 
    I could not connect and feel for Agnes, with her a very passive character, whose main role was to be an observer to the lives going on around her. I felt that this contributed somewhat to my sense of detachment to the book. I even found myself not being bothered as romance finally entered her life.  
    It was not a bad book, by no means, but it left me without any wish to reread it any time ever. 

Rating:  

    3/5 

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Author: George Orwell
Original title: Animal Farm
Pages: 95
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Format: Paperback
Genres: Classics
Goodreads

Blurb:    
    Mr. Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock. The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs Napoleon and Snowball leads to the animals taking over the farm. Vowing to eliminate the terrible inequities of the farmyard, the renamed Animal Farm is organized to benefit all who walk on four legs. But as time passes, the ideals of the rebellion are corrupted, then forgotten. And something new and unexpected emerges...
My thoughts: 
      This book sounds like a children's tale: all of his animals on the Manor Farm meet in the big barn at the request of old Major, an old pig. Major delivers a political speech about the evils inflicted upon them by their human keepers and their need to rebel against the tyranny of humans. Shortly after, when Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall. 
     But this is not a children's tale at all. That's some very heavy stuff. The book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. It felt as I was reading the history of the USSR in a nutshell and this experience is terrifying. I read a chapter every second or third day as the writing was dense; and with every event in the book I had a lot of other information occurring in the head making connection to reality out of Orwell's metaphors.
     George Orwell created the brilliant analogy to the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the development and establishment of the USSR and his ability to keep it short is purely amazing. My only regret was that he did not write the rest of the history of "Aminal Farm" and how it ended. I liked that the book was written in the politically neutral voice without painting black and white, which made this book unique as, though the idea is based on Russian history, I could not help but thinking that the scenario of Aminal Farm is applicable to any revolution. It is actually terrifying how universally applicable it is. History is repeating itself, people are driven by money, profit and power; and Aminal Farm is revealing the history of humankind on this planet. 

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

    In conclusion, Animal Farm is a novel that completely shook and terrified me and one of the few books that I think everyone should read at some point in their lives.

Rating: 

        5/5 

 

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #16: result

So the result for a Classics Spin this time is number 4, which adds another book to my TBR:

Flaubert, Gustav: Madame Bovary (1856)

Do not know anything about the book and do not want any spoilers. It is much better to go into the book without any expectations and predictions and be genuinely surprised and enchanted.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #16

What is the spin?

It’s easy. At your blog, before next Friday, November 17th, create a post to list your choice of any twenty books that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.

This is your Spin List. You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the year.  On Friday, November 17th, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List, by December 31, 2017. 

    I completely failed the previous Classics spin, I am going to try read the book for spin #15 till the end of this month, so I can consemtrate of ht e winner of spin # 16.

Here is my spin list:
1.    Austen, Jane: Persuasion (1818)
2.    Dostoevesky, Fyodor: The Idiot (1868–69)
3.    Du Maurier, Daphne: Rebecca (1938)
4.    Flaubert, Gustav: Madame Bovary (1856)
5.    Fitzgerald, F. Scott: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (1921)
6.    Bronte, Anne: Agnes Grey (1847)
7.    Hemingway, Ernest: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)
8.    Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of Green Gables (1908 -39)
         a.    Anne of Green Gables (1908)
         b.    Anne of Avonlea (1909)  
         c.    Anne of the Island (1915)
         d.    Anne of Windy Willows  (1936)
         e.    Anne's House of Dreams (1917)
         f.    Anne of Ingleside (1939
9.    Pushkin, Alexander: Tales of Belkin (1831)
         a.    The Shot, (Выстрел)
         b.    The Blizzard (Метель);
         c.    The Undertaker (Гробовщик);
         d.    Stationmaster (Станционный смотритель);
         e.    The Squire's Daughter (Барышня-крестьянка)
10.    Pushkin, Alexander: The Captain's Daughter (1836)
11.    Steinbeck, John: The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
12.    Wells, H.G.: The Time Machine (1895)
13.    Turgenev, Ivan: Home of the Gentry (1859)
14.    Zola, Emile: L'Assommoir 1877
15.    Goncharov, Ivan: The Precipice (1869)
16.    Eliot, George: Middlemarch (1871-72)
17.    Hardy, Thomas: Far From the Madding Crowd (1874)
18.    Rhys, Jean: Wide Sargasso Sea (1939)
19.    Turgenev, Ivan: Rudin (1856)
20.    Dostoevesky, Fyodor: The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80)

Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief by Maurice Leblanc

Author: Maurice Leblanc
Original title: Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur
Pages: 254
Edition Language: Russian
Series: Arsène Lupin #1
Format: Paperback 
Genres: Classics, Mystery
Goodreads

Blurb:     
   Created by Maurice LeBlanc during the early twentieth century, Arsene Lupin is a witty confidence man and burglar, the Sherlock Holmes of crime. The poor and innocent have nothing to fear from him; often they profit from his spontaneous generosity. The rich and powerful, and the detective who tries to spoil his fun, however, must beware. They are the target of Arsene’s mischief and tomfoolery.  Sparkling with amusing banter, these stories—the best of the Lupin series—are outrageous, melodramatic, and literate.

My thoughts: 
      I have never heard about this Sherlock Holmes of crime, and I happy to read this book. It is not I am now a fan of Arsene Lupin and will read all the books, but really enjoyed the book and found it an easy and funny read. The book is full of style and  high society demeanor. You can feel the book was written at the beginning of the 20th century by the author style: it is so calm, full of dignity and manners. Unfortunately, the characters and adventure seem a bit out of date and someone who is just getting into the series must not expect mind-blowing events and action, but a cozy and enjoyable read.

Rating:

    3/5 

The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas

Author: Alexandre Dumas
Original title: La tulipe noire
Pages: 349
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no 
Format: Paperback 
Genres: Classics, Historical Fiction
Goodreads

Blurb:     
    A deceptively simple story and the shortest of Dumas's most famous novels, The Black Tulip (1850) weaves historical events surrounding a brutal murder into a tale of romantic love. Set in Holland in 1672, this timeless political allegory draws on the violence and crimes of history, making a case against tyranny and creating a symbol of justice and tolerance: the fateful tulipa negra.

My thoughts: 
      It was a re-read for me. The shortest novel by Dumas and a great story of love. If you survive the first chapters of brutal bloodbath that set the plot in Holland in 1670s you will then follow the touching and innocent love of two young people and the overwhelming and brutal struggle over such a small but great phenomenon as the Black Tulip. Sometimes it sounds like a joke -  a whole book about one particular flower, and still it is so full of action, emotional strain and strong feelings. Dumas's descriptive style pictures the nature, style and manners; and while following the story of two beloved, we see the clear picture of the land and people at that time.

Rating:  

    4/5 

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Author: Elizabeth Gaskell
Original title: North and South
Pages: 521
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no 
Format: e-book
Genres: Classics, Romance, Drama
Goodreads

Name: North and South
Year: 2004
Director: Brian Percival 
Cast:  Daniela Denby-Ashe, Richard Armitage, Tim Pigott-Smith, Sinéad Cusack
Genres: Classics, Drama, Romance
Language: English
Country: UK
Time: 235 min (4 parts) 

    Blurb:     
     When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.
My thoughts:
      I really liked the book: its slow pace and detailed scenery and characters description. The main character Margaret Hale is not my favorite and did not agree with her judgements on many points, but she is quite likable and worthy of our sympathies. Sometimes I was really irritated by her and had a wish to stop reading but in the end I continued and am very glad I discovered such a writer as Elizabeth Gaskell. I am looking forward to read more novels by her.
     I absolutely loved the movie and though I did not find the first acquaintance of Margaret Hale and John Thornton to my tasting, the rest of the movie was great! The portrait of John Thornton in a movie is a bit harsh in comparison to the book, I imagined his manners a bit different, but altogether Richard Armitage was an excellent choice for this role. I did not quite like Daniela Denby-Ashe performance, I did not picture Margaret so shy and putting her gaze all the time down. I found it hard to put together her appearances with her actions and state of mind. I would prefer her less shy and more dignified, as she seemed sort of ashamed all the time in a movie. Sinéad Cusack's role as Mrs Thornton was astonishing, she was truly inspiring.

Rating:

    4,5/5 

Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov

Author: Ivan Goncharov  
Original title: Обломов 
Pages: 634 
Edition Language: Russian 
Series: no 
Format:  Paperback 
Genres: Classics, Russian Literature  
Goodreads  

About:     
     The novel focuses on the midlife crisis of the main character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, an upper middle class son of a member of Russia's nineteenth century landed gentry. Oblomov's distinguishing characteristic is his slothful attitude towards life. While a common negative characteristic, Oblomov raises this trait to an art form, conducting his little daily business apathetically from his bed.  

 My thoughts:  
     Absolutely the best book I have read so far this year! The author style is so distinct and beautiful. By no means this was an easy read, the story dragged and it took around 200 pages for main character just to get out the bed. But the language is sooo good, it is like a warm cozy blanket that wraps you up and makes you calm and peaceful and sleepy. But be aware and do not miss in this sleepiness many philosophical ideas about life, destiny, friendship, love.
      This book has no sudden outbursts of emotion, no unbelievable plot twists, and that is why it is so brilliant. The reader can see the emotional and intellectual depth of this novel once he gets past the superficial stereotypes surrounding this novel. 
    The book is so reach on different characters, they are so well written that a reader can see a vivid picture of middle class gentry life in the mid of 19th century with all the troubles, concerns and issues.  The main theme of the book it is the clash of old and new lifestyle. The "new" style is all about striving to the better future, acting, resolving, moving, education yourself and never stop and waist time. "Old" style is all about enjoying yourself, laying, watching, talking, listening to good music, eating tasty food, dreaming and not straining yourself with worries and obligations. The first according to Goncharov leads to prosperity, spiritual stability and satisfaction, the later to decay and destruction of body and soul.
       This work captures every aspect of the Russian attitude, intellect, emotion, soul, and lifestyle from the most superficial level to the very deep. It can be recommended to anyone who enjoy character driven books, when not much happening in reality but a lot in heads and hearts of main characters.

Rating:  
    5/5   

The Lockwood Concern by John O'Hara

Author: John O'Hara 
Original title: The Lockwood Concern
Pages: 368
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no
Genres: Family Saga  
Goodreads

Blurb:
      A novel about 4 generations of Lockwood men their despair, greed, accomplishments and it's pursuit of wealth.
My thoughts:
      I really have no idea why I started to read this book about 11 years ago, when I was at the university. But I did not advance too far. I stopped just after Lockwood built the wall around his new house. I had the impression that I stopped in the middle of the book and the whole mystery is laying ahead. There was a passage of how he secretly contracted a hidden passage in his house, nobody knows about and I was imagining all kinds of mysteries and possible development that can involve this passage. So, this book was haunting me all those years and I had an urge to finish the story, that started so promising. So finally, this spring I found an old copy and read it... To say that I was disappointed is to say nothing. Of course, there were no mystery at all, no tension and the story dragged really slowly.
      The book is basically about 4 generations of men of Lockwood family and their way to make their name worthy to be accepted by the aristocracy and leave the trace in history.
      I do not say it was a bad book, it is very thorough in the description of the society of that time and difference between old families with roots and new rising names who gain fast money but not are accepted totally by the high society, but it just did not grab me at all. I could not feel more remote from the ideas and troubles this family had; the general treatment of women in this family did not inspire me to be connected with any of the characters at all.
      The ending was as well disappointing: the whole book you are expecting some kind of critical point from which the narration will finally come to the logical end, but the book ended so abruptly, that I was actually checking if my addition if some pages were missing... not happy with it.

Rating: 

    2/5 

The Classics Club:The Classics Spin #15

What is the spin?

It’s easy. At your blog, before next Friday, March 10th, create a post to list your choice of any twenty books that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.

This is your Spin List. You have to read one of these twenty books in March & April. (Details follow.) Try to challenge yourself. For example, you could list five Classics Club books you are dreading/hesitant to read, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favorite author, re-reads, ancients — whatever you choose.)

On Friday, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List, by May 1, 2017. We’ll check in here in May to see who made it the whole way and finished their spin book!

Here is my spin list:
1.    Austen, Jane: Persuasion (1818)
2.    Dostoevesky, Fyodor: The Idiot (1868–69)
3.    Du Maurier, Daphne: Rebecca (1938)
4.    Dumas, Alexandre: The Black Tulip (1850)
5.    Fitzgerald, F. Scott: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (1921)
6.    Goncharov, Ivan: Oblomov (1859)
7.    Hemingway, Ernest: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)
8.    Montgomery, L.M.: Anne of Green Gables (1908 -39)
         a.    Anne of Green Gables (1908)
         b.    Anne of Avonlea (1909)  
         c.    Anne of the Island (1915)
         d.    Anne of Windy Willows  (1936)
         e.    Anne's House of Dreams (1917)
         f.    Anne of Ingleside (1939
9.    Pushkin, Alexander: Tales of Belkin (1831)
         a.    The Shot, (Выстрел)
         b.    The Blizzard (Метель);
         c.    The Undertaker (Гробовщик);
         d.    Stationmaster (Станционный смотритель);
         e.    The Squire's Daughter (Барышня-крестьянка)
10.    Pushkin, Alexander: The Captain's Daughter (1836)
11.    Steinbeck, John: The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
12.    Tolstoy, Leo: Anna Karenina (1873-77)
13.    Turgenev, Ivan: Home of the Gentry (1859)
14.    Zola, Emile: L'Assommoir 1877
15.    Goncharov, Ivan: The Precipice (1869)
16.    Eliot, George: Middlemarch (1871-72)
17.    Hardy, Thomas: Far From the Madding Crowd (1874)
18.    Rhys, Jean: Wide Sargasso Sea (1939)
19.    Turgenev, Ivan: Rudin (1856)
20.    Dostoevesky, Fyodor: The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80)