The woman is wild, a she-cat tamed by the purr of a Jaguar
Money's the matter
If you're in it for love
You ain't gonna get too far
Watch out boy she'll chew you up
(Oh here she comes)
She's a maneater
~Hall and Oates

What a sly little novella Turgenev has given us here! Ivan took a lot of crap for not writing, in 1860, about important societal changes that began after the end of the Crimean war. I am terrible with Russian history, but this would have been around the time that serfs stated agitating in their own defense. One of the czars (Alexander II maybe?) in response to the agitation finally allowed commoners to purchase land. It might have taken until 1917 for the revolution to finally end the monarchy, but their end was on a giant countdown clock the moment serfs were given self-determination. So at this hinge moment people were scandalized when Turgenev chose to write about adolescent passion! Or was he only writing about adolescents passion? This story is a scream in favor of the end of the aristocracy. To say the people in the book are subtly cruel, absurdly melodramatic, and entirely ridiculous is to grossly understate the case.

The comically manipulative and conceited Princess Zinaida has men dancing around her doing things like drawing lots for the honor of kissing her hand. The amount of time spent in these sorts of activities gave me a new respect for the efficiencies of Tinder. Many men appear superficially besotted with the beautiful princess, but most seem to be engaging in this dance because it is expected. Our narrator (telling the story years later), Vladimir, is Zinaida's next door neighbor, a 16-year old boy (Zinaida is 21) who seems to be "in love" in the sense that his hormones are kicking in, she is beautiful, and she has been identified as desirable by older and more experienced courtiers. This feels so authentic to 16 year old love, so straightforward, that I found Vladimir irresistible and honestly lamented the end of his innocence which was clearly coming. Unsurprisingly, Zinaida falls not for one if her suitors, but for someone who is not in the room, The identity of that man is somewhat surprising. I don't want to spoil this but I will say that Zinaida says early on she needs a man who will "master her" despite knowing that will be bad for her in the end and she finds that man. It seems like Zinaida is the only one other than Vladimir who loves operatically, and like Vladimir she has chosen badly.

The whole novella is beautifully crafted. Spare prose and a structure that takes the reader step-by-step from idealism to disillusionment to dust.

You love her
But she loves him
And he loves somebody else
You just can't win
And so it goes
'Til the day you die
This thing they call love
It's gonna make you cry
I've had the blues
The reds and the pinks
One thing for sure
(Love stinks)

~The J. Geils Band ( )

Surprised that a praised short novel would be so boring.

Well-written, yet too predictable... ( )

8481300896

We are halfway through February and I still haven't started a novel for the first quarter of Read Envy Russia 2022, and I found this on Hoopla. I haven't had a lot of luck with audio classics, but decided to just try it. And Edoardo Ballerini is perfect as a lovesick 16-year-old in 1833. Perfect. His accent is a bit unusual which works for me in this situation, and he has that slight whiny tone that isn't actual whining. He sounds like a very earnest 16-year-old.

In many ways this story still feels modern despite being set in 1833. A 16-year-old boy falls in love with the 20-something (?) princess living next door. There is no hope for him here--he is too young, her family is too poor, she has many eligible suitors (one of whom even tries to warn him to stay out of this mess). She also has a bit of a reputation (that went right where I expected), but later makes a successful match. And his parents just want him to study for upcoming exams.

Also I googled the game of Forfeits. ( )

I found this novella the most accessible and most pleasurable read of the shorter works I have read of Ivan Turgenev, so far. Probably, because the number of characters is relatively small, and the sentiment of the story is easy to understand. ( )