Ivan Turgenev

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Ivan Sergejevič Turgenev

Накануне

Анастасия Розова

*Read for class.

I actually enjoyed this one! It wasn't boring almost from the very beginning and felt somehow different from his other novels. Seems like it was based on real events, left in writing to the author by another man.

And this book really surprised me. It was gripping, interesting, easy to read and I actually cared for the characters more, than I usually do in classics. Which is a "must" factor for me to enjoy a book. I was also pleasantly surprised by one moment, where the Elena says "So take me". I was like "WHAAAT?" Cause, you know, 19th century novel... Never seen that before in classics of that time. Maybe I don't read enough.

This novel seemed to be received rather critically, but some of the reasons are that Elena was somehow not woman enough, had no conscience and so on. Fuck you, 19th century critics! I can't say in the full meaning of this word that the novel was a feminist one, but I'm putting it over there. Elena was strong and independent, she made her own decisions, made first moves. And those are the reasons I loved her. Turgenev was not a feminist, his Sketches from a Hunter's Album give me bad vibes from time to time, but he made this heroine a decent one.

Overall, I'm glad I didn't skip this novel, because this one wasn't actually mandatory.

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