#184 My Life

Please find the 37,799 word novella here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/184.html Travis review: Chekhov presents as he has in many stories, a passionate young man full of intense ideology. Unlike most of the young men in his stories though, Misail is cut from a different cloth. His talk is not idle bluster. He follows through on his passion to …

#168 An Anonymous Story

Find today’s 30,510 word novella here http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/168.html Travis review: This story feels like a 19th century French bildungsroman with Chekhov’s touch. In 18 chapters we follow a would-be revolutionary hampered with consumption who takes on the job of a manservant for the son of a hated government official. He watches as his master who has means and intelligence, …

#160 The Duel

Find today’s 40,842 word novel here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/160.html Travis review: In The Duel, Chekhov tries to cram all of humanity into a single novella and largely succeeds. Like Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, well realized characters representing different sides of Russian culture are presented, but with less words than Chekhov’s contemporaries. Set in a small seaside town, Chekhov …

#156 A Dreary Story: From the Notebook of an Old Man

Today’s 24,250 word novella here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/156.html Travis review: With Chekhov’s track record, a title like “A Dreary Story” should not turn off the reader. Misery is one of the most powerful stories I’ve read, and A Misfortune and Mire are also great. With over 24k words in this novella, it feels like Chekhov was trying to do what …

#148 The Steppe (The Story of a Journey)

Today’s novella comes in at 39,155 words. http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/148.html Travis review: This review took longer to come out than others. Not only was I traveling over the weekend (and have 7 out of the last 8 this summer which has affected the consistency of daily reviews), but the length of this story is tremendous compared to the …