#199 In The Ravine

You can find today’s 16,430 word novelette here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/199.html Travis review: This noirish story feels complete even though it is open ended with life continuing in spite of tragedies and upheavals to a certain family. It is interesting that Chekhov’s kicks off this story with the tale of Ukleevo, the village known for “the deacon ate …

#198 At Christmas Time

You can find today’s 1884 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/198.html Travis  This is a depressing Christmas/News Year themed story. Chekhov writes two scenes illustrating abuse of power. The first is with an illiterate, uneducated mother in the country. Vasilisa thinks constantly about her daughter who went away to Petersburg after her marriage. Saddled with poverty and a …

#195 The New Villa

Please find today’s 5781 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/195.html Travis review: I liked this story because it got under my skin. It the story of wealthy, well-intentioned people building a house in a small village and dealing with the petty and belligerent peasants. Unlike My Life, which had the peasants acting in selfish and horrible ways to the …

#185 The Peasants

Please find today’s 13,095 word long short story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/185.html Travis review In today’s story Nikolay, Olga and readers learn through a harsh, crash course about the squalid lifestyle of the peasantry. Chekhov does a great a job in putting Nikolay and his family into a situation where they cannot turn back. Penniless they left Moscow …

#155 The Princess

Find today’s 4853 word story here:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/155.html. Travis review In the “A Problem” Chekhov dealt with a spoiled aristocrat who felt entitled to exploit his uncles’ credit, but he knew he was bad or a criminal as he calls himself. In this story, we have a princess who believes she is a good person and cannot …

#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 …