#116 The Letter

Find today’s 4630 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/116.html Travis review: This story is told in three parts it seems. The first is the alcoholic and most-likely-to-be defrocked Father Anastasy refusing to leave his Reverence Fyodor Orlov’s office for an unknown (even to Anastasy) reason. The second is Deacon Liubimov telling Orlov about his son’s heathen lifestyle and …

#115 The Cossack

Please find today’s 1974 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/115.html Travis review: Today’s tale comes off more like a fable than a story. It is easy to like Maxim as a character. He’s an optimistic, high-on-life kind of guy. Things seem to be going great for him, but in literature that’s usually a bad sign. Chekhov gives indications …

#114 A Mystery

Find today’s 1593 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/114.html I like this story a lot, even if it isn’t a great one as it pushes lines of absurdity and questions faith. If anything can be said of actual Civil Councilor Navagin, it is that when he takes on a project, he commits to it wholeheartedly. The mystery of …

#113 In Passion Week

Find today’s 1965 word story here here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/113.html Travis review: This is a first person point of view/slice of life story told from an honest, good intentioned adolescent taking communion and giving confession. The tone seems innocent throughout with “nearly nine” year old boy trying to be a good Christian, even making amends with this his …

#112 Typhus

Find today’s 2555 word story. http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/112.html Travis review: Today’s story is a sad tale told from a young lieutenant’s personal point of view as he returns home. Sitting next to a pipe smoking “well-to-do Finn or Swede“, the lieutenant feels ill and his annoyance at the pipe smoker becomes an obsession as several paragraphs are dedicated to hate …

#111 Too Early!

Find today’s 2050 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/111.html Travis review: This is not a story about children getting up in the morning for Christmas or having to catch a train at a very inconvenient hour. Nope, it about two ne’er-do-well alcoholics who pawned their guns so they could drink. “…ah, I wish I had never looked at it, …

#110 The Lottery Ticket

Find today’s 1957 word story http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/110.html Travis review: This is sort of a “The Monkey’s Paw” story although nobody gets money and at least in the point where the story ends, nobody dies… although suicide is contemplated. This is about greed and the projected futures people see of themselves and others when they expect an easy fortune. What …

#109 Home

Find today’s 3712 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/109.html Travis review A prosecutor of the circuit court comes home and finds it impossible to punish his young son for smoking his tobacco. This situation kind of reminds me of a surgeon who faints at the site of his children bleeding. A man who can do his job well, but …