Not sure what to think. I had trouble “enjoying” these stories, but I guess that’s not what were meant for anyway. I felt like maybe I didn’t care for the translation, I certainly don’t know Russian so I couldn’t speak to whether it’s a “good” translation. An awful lot of stuff in the stories is clearly idiomatic so I’m sure that’s a challenge to translate. I wonder how Huckleberry Finn works in Russian? But I haven’t gone through the trouble of hunting up a different translation to compare. Well, actually I read two of these stories as contained in George Saunders book “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” (and actually that refers to one of the stories) and I think I liked them better there. But maybe that was just the context, I dunno. I want to read more Russian works but I think I’m all set on Chekhov for now - and I def am going to try a different translator for my next book. (This book was translated by Pevear & Volokhonsky)

This volume contains 30 short stories. Some a few pages long, others a few tens of pages. The stories are drawn from and tightly woven into the fabric of life in Russia near the end of the 19th century. Through the first nine I found them somewhat interesting and quirky, nothing more. But then, out of the blue, comes the strikingly misnamed "A Boring Story." This is a mature work and well done. The main character, the professor, is drawn wonderfully. His, the professor's, description of how he executes and controls his lectures was a delightful surprise and rings exactly true. This one story alone justifies the price of the book.

However, there are a few others that stand out. "Ward No. 6" is one, and although predictable, is a good read. Another that hit home with me is "The Lady with the Little Dog." This one (and, to be sure, many of the others, but this one especially) confirms my theory that human nature is unchanging over historical time.

Congratulations are due to the husband and wife translation team; the stories read well, the notes are informative and helpful.

Chekhov works very very well as a bookend of sorts to my russian existentialism journey. Many of the characters are as flawed, dark and explosively hate filled as ones present within turgenev, dostoyevsky, tolstoy, etc, but with one crucial difference. The play format. This situates dialogue over inner monologue, meaning the various nihilistic hate fueled lamentations are immediately countered by another character, rejecting the thought process or even ridiculing it. It illustrates the flaws of an "underground man" worldview in a very pronounced sense, trading subtly for strength. I mean, more than one of these stories ended with the protagonist straight up shooting themselves, as literally the final scene before the curtain.
And although steeped in darkness, the plays are also just very funny! Rebuttals, philosophizing, ridiculing, Chekhov had hilarious upper class bickering down to a science.
Speaking of, I also quite liked how the plays had a very "pride & prejudice" school of literature tone, with its manor houses and drawing rooms. Most stories I've read in this vein are set in squalor. It just really shows how sick with rumination Russian seemed to be at the time, from the bottom to the top.

I don’t know why, but I’ve never been a big fan of short stories. Now after reading this collection, from the acknowledged master of the form, I can be assured that the problem is with me. I found some of the stories interesting, others not so much. Ward 6 is really more of a novella and is pretty good.
I’ll round up from 2.5 — I’m sure Chekhov deserves better than a 2.

If you want to start to read Anton Chekhov, these small stories are good choose. Moreover, Anton Chekhov is a very famous with his small story. I believe small story lovers will like it

ENGLISH: Warning: This review may not correspond to this edition of the stories. I have read them in a public domain e-book in Spanish, and have associated the review with the most similar set of editions I have found.

A collection of 38 short stories, typical of this author. I have liked specially "The story of a double bass" and "The chameleon."

ESPAÑOL: Advertencia: esta reseña puede no corresponder a esta edición de las historias. Los he leído en un libro electrónico de dominio público en español y he asociado la reseña con el conjunto de ediciones más similar que he encontrado.

Una colección de 38 cuentos, típicos de este autor. Me han gustado especialmente "La historia de un contrabajo" y "El camaleón".

Chekhov er dritfett!!!

In recent years, I have developed quite an affinity for short stories. It's a fascinating genre in that a tale must be told succinctly and quite well in order to hold the reader's attention. Russian writer Anton Chekhov is widely considered to be the master of the short story so naturally I picked up this book with great excitement.

Master or not, this is a tough read. Almost without exception, the stories have only a bare minimum of plot with topics that range from heartbreakingly sad to desperately tragic. The calamities of human existence are explored in depth—untimely deaths, the often long and drawn-out process of dying, painful and fatal diseases, illicit love affairs, unhappy marriages, mental illness, and child abuse. Chekov said that his role as a writer was to ask questions and not answer them. Indeed.

This is serious literature. When the stories were published in the 1800s, Chekov was viewed as having invented a new kind of story about aspects of life that Russian literature had not yet explored, according to the translators of this edition, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. His brilliance is in the descriptions—minute points that give detailed impressions in scant words that drop the reader into a scene. One example: "Pork was being fried in a pan on the stove; it hissed and spat and even seemed to say 'flu-flu-flu.' It was stuffy."

Some of the stories that particularly caught my attention are:
• "Panikhida" (or The Requiem): Shopkeeper Andrei Andreich's daughter, Maria, has died, and he comes to the local church to request prayers for her. But the priest is incensed that when Andrei made the request in writing he called his daughter a harlot—and Andrei is utterly bemused over the priest's anger.

• "Sleepy" is an appalling story about the abuse of a 13-year-old girl, who works as a maid and nanny to a wealthy family. She is deprived of sleep, being forced to stay awake all night with the baby. The end is horrifying.

• "A Boring Story" is better classified as a novella than a short story. Physician Nikolai Stepanovich has convinced himself that he is dying and he feels utterly disconnected and confused by his family and the world that continues seemingly without him.

• "The Black Monk" is one of the spookiest in the collection, telling the story of brilliant Russian scholar Andrey Kovrin's descent into madness.

• "The Lady with the Little Dog": Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna are both unhappily married. He frequently cheats on his wife, and when he meets Anna on a vacation in Yalta, the two begin an affair. But unlike all of Dmitri's many other affairs, he falls in love with Anna—a woman he can never have.

Bonus: This translation includes scads of valuable footnotes that explain critical pieces of Russian culture, religion, politics, and history. These are things that Chekov's contemporary readers would have known, but with which we in 21st century America may not be familiar.

For me, reading this collection of stories by Anton Chekov was a way to further my literary education. It was illuminating, but the subject matter made it difficult and not particularly enjoyable.

I must be in a slump, because I had to return to the literary masters to recharge my battery. You can never go wrong with Anton Chekov.
For all you writers out there: read this before you write another word. This is how it's done!

Oh, I've read lots of Chekhov in my day but usually a story here or there as opposed to coast-to-coast in a collection like this. Pevear and Volokhonsky arrange these chronologically and choose their faves, omitting the long "novella-like" stories.

Hey, Mikey. I liked it! The only story I did not much enjoy was "The Ravine," third from last. The trouble with a collection of stories, then, is that you often look back over the titles and flat-out forget what they were about (unless you were taking notes). If you DO remember, that has to be good. So let's look at titles that still have a hold on me:

"Gusev," which is about Russian soldiers a long way from home on a ship in the hot Pacific Ocean climes, each dying one by one. One man insists he will live to see Russia again. The other keeps fantasizing about snow, leading us to a wonderful snow sleigh scene where the sleigh topples and the villagers shout and laugh as our poor protagonist, in his day dream, lifts himself from the snow among barking dogs. It also includes a spookily wonderful finish about a dead body being sewn up and dropped into the deep sea. You, gentle reader, go down with the body.

"A Boring Story" is anything but. It's longish, but reminiscent of Tolstoy's "Death of Ivan Ilych" as the dying protagonist dies a thousand deaths by just thinking about it. On and on. Excruciatingly. It's called philosophy, friends, and it's no coincidence that this man is a professor. I was all in.

"Ward No 6," where the crazies go, defines that thin line between captors and captured. The good doctor is bored silly by his inmate slash patients, but then one of the patients, a man with a keen eye and a good education, so intrigues the good doctor that he purposely visits said patient for regular talks. Guess who the rest of the staff begins to wonder about? Slippery, meet slope. That's what happens when crazy people make more sense than the powers-that-be.

'The Student," ridiculously short, but supposedly Chekhov's personal favorite, spins around a retelling of the Biblical story of Peter, who three times denies Christ before the cock crows. The student connects Biblical times to the present and is left with wonder.

"The Darling" is the ultimate tale of a lady who lives vicariously only, a lady happy only with paired with people she can be happy for. How rare is that in this day and age?

"The Lady with the Little Dog" (Usually translated as "Lap Dog"). This familiar tale seemed more confidently told as the story of an affair between unhappy married man and unhappy married woman. If there is one thing Chekhov trades in, it's unhappy people.

"The Bishop." Short story writer Peter Orner considers this Chekhov's best, because it examines a man in a respected position who, like many Chekhovian heroes, wonders what life's all about and what is it for? In Chekhov's world, no one escapes, not even the good bishop who still hasn't found what he is looking for (this is pre-U2 and Bono, of course).

"The Fiancée" is straightforward. Young girl gets happily engaged. Young girl gets cold feet. Young girl backs out with the encouragement of the one black sheep in the family, which helps her to survive all the social tumult she causes. She sees the future and envisions despair. Check! -ov!

Ironically, though Chekhov seems a bummer, there's no end to sudden paragraphs depicting the beauty of nature, the beauty of a time of day, the beauty of LIFE itself. The moment. Being here and now. Who would ever trade this heaven-on-earth away for a second?

And for every dead end a desperate character reaches, there's the possibilities in new beginnings. Yes. Even if that new beginning is death.

Nice translation. Nice read. Nice return to the Russkies. And if you pan for gold in the mud, you will see that Chekhov hides a happy gift for you in most every outing. Some nuggets are larger than others, but they are there. Oh, they are there.

Note: For an extended quote from the story "The Bishop" plus some additional thoughts on how Chekhov riffs on Henry David Thoreau in a certain way, you can read more at my shiny new website..

শেষ করলাম আন্তন চেখফ।
বইটা মুলত পড়া এই কারনে যে তাকে ছোট গল্পের জন্য অদ্বিতীয় বলা হয়। ভাবলাম ট্রাই মারি একটা। আসলেই সে অদ্বিতীয়। অনুবাদের চেয়ে মুল টেক্সট অনেক বেশি সুন্দর হয়। আর ছোট গল্পকে অনুবাদে ফুটিয়ে তোলা আসলেই অনেক কঠিন। রবীন্দ্রনাথের কথা-ই বলা যায়। তার যে শুধু ছোট গল্প অনুবাদ কঠিন তা নয়। তবুও বাংলা একটা গল্প কে ইংরেজিতে অনুবাদ করলে তার মজাটা অনেকাংশেই কমে যাবে। ঠিক তেমনি এটার বেলাতেও। যদিও অনুবাদ যথেষ্ট ভালো।


প্রায় ১ মাস ধরে পড়ছিলাম এই বই। প্রতিদিন দুই একটা করে। গল্প শুধু গল্প। না পরবর্তীতে কি ঘটতে চলেছে সেটা ভাবার তাড়না, না দুঃখ, না আনন্দ, সাবলিল গল্প বলা তবুও কত চমৎকার। গল্প গুলোকে মনে হবে নিতান্তই সমাজে ঘটে চলা কিছু কর্মকান্ডের বিবরণ। ধরেন আমি কারোর সাথে কিছুক্ষন কথা বললাম। তার কিছু কথা বা তার কোন একটা বিষয় নিয়ে কিছুক্ষন শুনলাম। তারপর সে কাহিনী আর তার সাথে নিজের খুব অল্প চিন্তা মিশায়ে একটা গল্প লিখলাম। ঠিক এমোনি চেখফের গল্প। না আছে অত্যধিক কল্পনা প্রবনতা, না আছে গল্পের মাঝে টান টান উত্তেজনা তৈরী করবার কোনো তাড়া। তবুও কেন যেন ছাড়া অসম্ভব। যে কোন একটা মানুষের, যে কোন একটা বিষয়ের, যে কোন একটা ঘটনার বর্ননা যে কত সুন্দর করে দেওয়া যায় আর তার মধ্য থেকে সাহিত্য রস ফুটিয়ে তোলা যায় সেটা চেখফ পড়লে বুঝা যায়। গ্রাম্য জুয়াড়ি যুবক থেকে শুরু করে ভবঘুরে স্বামী, দূর দেশ থেকে নিজ গৃহে ফেরার জন্য কাতরাতে থাকা সৈনিক, জিবনের সকল মায়া ছেড়ে দেওয়া নাবিক, ডাক্তার, কৃষক সবার জীবনের গল্প ফুটে উঠেছে সাবলীল ভঙ্গিতে। জীবনের সাথে মিলে মিশে থাকা গল্প সব।

আসলে সমগ্র গল্পগুলোর একসাথে রেটিং দেওয়া ঠিক না। বা দেওয়াও মুশকিল। ভেতরের সব গল্পই যে ভাল লেগেছে এমন না। তবে অধিকাংশ গল্প ভাল লেগেছে। ছোট গল্প জগতে চেখফ সেরাদের মধ্যে একজন।

Overview: a selection of short stories depicting the everyday life within Russia in the late 1890s.

*The book I read was published by a different company, the stories may differ.

What I liked:

(1) Immersive: Anton Chekhov had mastered the art of worldbuilding. Within a couple of pages the reader is transported into a completely different world (in some stories I even managed to forget where I actually was, evidence to how good Chekhov's worldbuilding skills are).

(2) Pacing: the author manages to convey a lot with very few words. This, combined with the fact that his stories rarely exceed ten pages, makes for a dense yet fast read, a rare combination. Readers who value pacing must give Chekhov's short stories a try.

(3) Flow: Chekhov's stories famously lack a concrete plot. Rather he relies on their flow. Focusing on the nuances of day-to-day life rather than a grander plot is something Chekhov pulls off masterfully.

(4) Characters and their development: Anton Chekhov's characters 'live': they are written so well that they cease to be felt as fiction. Every single character thinks different, sees the world different, and all in all is different.

What I disliked.

Nothing at all! There were no points in the course of the book where I felt something could have been done differently.

Overall a great read which readers can ponder upon days after completing the book.