#044 Children

Today’s story contains 1926 words: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/044.html Travis Review: Today’s story revolves around children gambling while waiting up for their parents to arrive home with details of a christening. Chekhov’s utilizes an omniscient point of view to reveal the motivations each child (five) has in the loto game. The money involved is slight, a kopek — which like …

#043 A Blunder

Today’s story is a short one…only 645 words!  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/043.html Travis Review: We have four characters in today’s flash story: a pair of scheming parents, their daughter, and a writing teacher. The story seems like a scene in bedroom farce play. Like Steve mentions below, there are a lot of references to writers and writing. When …

#042 Art

Today’s story is 2286 words and his first of 1886: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/041.html Travis Review: In today’s story, we get to watch an artist at work. Seryozhka is an irascible “a short-legged, ragged, mangy-looking fellow” who has but one talent in the world. And to his credit, he uses it. His art allows him to be awful and …

#041 The Looking-Glass

Today’s story, the last one written between 1882-1885, has 1524 words:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/041.html Travis Review: Chekhov starts today’s story as if he is writing a fantasy tale using elements of Lewis Carroll or the Brothers Grimm. Nellie, “a young and pretty girl, dreaming day and night of being married,” gazes into a looking-glass. In the mirror her …

#040 Mari D’elle

Today’s story is 2015 words: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/040.html Travis Review: I was fairly disappointed with this story, expecting more. At first I thought this would be the story of an opera singer and her daughter reunited. Like Chekhov was going against type with a tale of a selfless diva. But the daughter never shows up again after …

#039 Oh! The Public!

Today’s story has 1233 words:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/039.html Travis Review: The motivation of today story reminds me of bad New Year’s resolutions. Often it’s not that the goal that is bad, but the administering of it sets one up for failure. When Podtyagin, a ticket collector on a train, decides to give up drinking and work honestly at his …

#038 Sorrow

Find this 2370 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/038.html Travis Review: This story could be summarized as a life wasted. Unlike other peasants we’ve read about, (The Huntsman excluded) Grigory Petrov has a skill that is valued by others. His woodturning craftsmanship is squandered by drinking and quarreling. The story is told non-linearly through Grigory’s rambling as he madly races through a blizzard …

#037 Old Age

Find today’s 2,200 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/037.html Travis Review: Another title could have been “Men Who Had Behaved Badly.” Uzelkov is an architect returning to his hometown after an 18-year absence. He finds much of the town has changed and he has almost been forgotten about. What is interesting is the man who does remember him, …

#036 Overdoing It

Today we have a story worth 1633 words:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/036.html Travis Review: Smirnov, a land surveyor, gets off a train and looks to hire a cab. Already he has apprehension on how long the journey will take based on a potential driver’s drunkenness and quality of the horse. When he is told he has to hire …

#035 In a Strange Land

Today’s story has roughly 1470 words:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/035.html Travis Review: It seems Alphonse Champoun has it made. The native Frenchman no longer tutors the wealthy landlord Kamyshev’s children since they’ve grown up and are leading successful military careers. He gets paid to “be properly dressed, to smell of scent, to listen to Kamyshev’s idle babble, to eat and …