Fathers and Sons

Deeply understanding of the human soul/

I like it

A good read.

Isn't it so true! -- and it always will be so, as it has in the past. Perhaps Baby Boomers reading this review will recall what their parents thought of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, etc. ... and what many of us, at the same time thought about the Nixonian "Establishment" *.* Who was right? I'll encourage you to answer this one.But, as to this book, it's one of the finest Russian Classics I've ever read (and I've read many -- see my listmania lists on Russian works). It's a MYTH that all Russian novels are dreary -- you can even find humor stowed away here and there in Dostoyevsky if you actually read him. You'll find this book especially upbeat, for the most part. It has its serious moments but it also conveys notable hilarity and absurdity as well, ergo, "the duel"!Two young educated men: 1) come into philosophical conflict with their respective elders, and, 2) fall in love with their respective female fancies. "It's as simple as that," as Tolstoy would say!The ending is one of the most compelling closings I've ever encountered. It's quite moving and the Hallmark of a shrewd novelist. I think that the ending, in particular, makes this work as savoury for women as it is for men, perhaps even moreso. At 157 pages, it's a pretty fast read.Michael Katz, (Professor of Slavic Languages, University of Texas), did a fine job on this particular translation -- very fluid and smooth reading. There are also some very informative, but brief, footnotes in this edition which are imperative for the reader who is not much apprised of Russian culture of this period (it takes place just prior to the elimination of Russian serfdom which happened in the early 1860s).This work is also a good warm up prequel, as some have mentioned, to the Russian Mother of All Novels: "War and Peace" (Tolstoy). However, I will point out one chief difference between the writing styles of Tolstoy and Turgenev... Tolstoy is DEEP, psychologically speaking and exudes tons of sub-plots. Turgenev is straightforward and he writes directly that to which he has witnessed in life... nothing more. It's infinitely readable to all.This is a fine novel for anyone who enjoys peeking into the daily inner-workings and inevitable peccadillos of the average family. If I have a complaint with this edition, I confess to finding myself squinting at the notably small fonts.But then, I am getting on in life and I can't see as good as I used to *.*

[This review discusses key parts of the plot. If you have not read the novel and don't want the plot spoiled, stop now.]In this great novel Turgenev details the changes happening in Russian society through the opposition of the young, nihilistic and brilliant student, Bazarov, to the world of comfortable liberalism. For his trouble Turgenev was attacked by the Left and the Right; the former for his emphasis on the world of feeling and the latter for his apparent sympathy for the amoral Bazarov. It is Bazarov around whom the novel is centred and who lives long in the memory. He is the strident materialist who rejects wholly the world of feeling and value and reduces everything to science. He dissects animals out of curiosity and wins both arguments and duels against his elders and betters. Yet he finds it awkward just to be in the presence of his devoted loving parents. Their genuine, motiveless affection and love cannot be abided for long. For Bazarov, attachment to any individual makes no sense. Just as all trees are the same so all humans share the same nature. To study one is to study them all.Yet, just as this young Turk's challenge to the values of the old world matures and his wholesale rejection of feeling and art reaches its peak, he falls in love. For Bazarov, the materialist, to find himself in this position is a failure of intellect rather than anything else. Yet he, like so many before and after him, is powerless to prevent his pointless love for the charming, cold and beautiful Madame Odintsov determining the course of his short life. His love, unrequited, leads to such a sadness of the soul that he almost embraces death by inviting typhus on himself.Even in his dying fever Madame Odintsov can visit Bazarov but cannot return his love. There is no happy ending. So he dies, bringing such a depth of grief and sorrow to his father and mother that the reader can hardly bear it. They asked for nothing from their son but to be. Struck by love, with his nihilism destroyed, he could not even do that.In a world so many think of, Dawkins-like, as prescribed by our genes and devoid of meaning, the triumph of feeling over materialism in Turgenev is as relevant today as ever. However we came to be as we are are on this earth there is no accounting for the mystery of love. That feeling defines our humanity. And it is the depth and tragedy of our humanity that Turgenev's great novel brings so painfully into focus.Turgenev's novel is so beautifully written that it rewards reading and re-reading.