Mother (1907)

This has the distinction of being the only major Russian literary work written in the USA, being written when the author was in exile there in 1906. It is a tale of the purity of the revolutionary soul opposed to the infinitely corrupt and historically wrong soul of the capitalist oppressor. As such, it is populated by characters who are really ciphers who don't come across as real, living, breathing people, except (up to a point) the eponymous mother. The benefit of the hindsight of the Soviet experience also sharply reduces the impact of this novel. That said, it flows mostly very smoothly and is a easy read for a Russian novel. ( )

Russian/Reader

A wonderful story. sort of a Russian Grapes of Wrath, except it portrays people a little bit higher than laborers, a little bit higher than people who work in the soil. These people can read and write. They distribute pamphlets. They read books and they teach others.
The Mother in the novel is a loving, old Russian mother who you cheer for when she begins to understand the fire that burns within her children, and how uniting this fire brings about a flame large enough to burn hypocrisy.
“If I get presented with a bit of happiness I won’t refuse it, but I’ll not go begging for it.”
“Yes, a little happiness doesn’t harm anyone,” said Nikolai softly. “But no one is satisfied with a little, and when there’s a lot it becomes cheap.”
( )