#117 An Adventure (A Driver’s Story)

Find today’s 2479 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/117.html Travis review: In the past I’ve said that Chekhov often uses restraint when it comes to conflict, but into today’s story there are two murders. I’m not sure that the title “An Adventure” is the most appropriate. There are elements of adventure, however thriller or suspense might be better to …

#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, …

#104 An Inadvertence

Find today’s 1563 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/104.html Travis review: This story is a hybrid of situation comedy and the movie D.O.A. Chekhov gives us a few interesting details about the protagonist, Pyotr. He is the nephew of a colonel’s widow, “the man whose new goloshes were stolen last year“, and a reader of “religious and edifying books” who leads …

#034 The Cook’s Wedding

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Anton wanted to dress appropriately for the holiday.  Our story today contains roughly 1909 words:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/034.html Travis Review: This story is seen through the eyes of Grisha, a “solemn little person of seven.” He watches in horror over a series of days as an arranged marriage of his family’s house cook …

#021 The Marshal’s Widow

Today’s story is a mere 1510 words:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/021.html Travis Review: This story felt like an Irish wake once the men started sneaking off to the cloak room to get a nip of booze in a teetotaler’s house. The result reminded me of The Pogues’ Body of An American, especially how song’s opening somber notes pick …

#014 The Swedish Match

Today’s story is a bit longer at 7481 words.   http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/014.html Travis Review: The Swedish Match is written very much like a classic murder mystery story until Chekhov turns the plot convention on its head. I love the a sixty year old, cantankerous magistrate, Tchubikov, leading a murder investigation while maligning his harder working, more thorough twenty-six year …