#186 The Petchenyeg

Find today’s 4279 word story http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/186.html Travis  The Petchenyeg is a humorous story about an obtuse, obnoxious man who doesn’t know how offensive he is. While Chekhov makes Zhmuhin absurd with his stupid questions and opinions, readers also witness the effects that the ignorant and arrogant man has had on his sons and wife. I don’t know that …

#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 …

#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 …

#183 An Artist’s Story

Find today’s 7280 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/183.html Travis review: This long short story is told from the first person point of view from an artist who believes in not lending a helping hand to the poor as it is an exercise in futility. Simultaneously, Chekhov shows this young, upper class artist spending his days doing nothing …

#182 Ariadne

Find today’s 10,545 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/182.html Travis review: Ariadne is a gorgeous woman who wants and consumes like a fire. Her family denied her nothing and even when it meant stripping lodge roofs of iron so she could get the horse wanted. Shamohin tells the narrator (who happens to be a writer) about how …

#181 The Murder

Find today’s 12,412 word short story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/181.html Travis review: This is a story about the deadly consequences of religious fanaticism. Although Matvey had been getting on his cousins’ nerves by his criticism of their unique style of worship,  it is his act of putting oil into a bowl of potatoes during a fast that became the …

#180 Anna On The Neck

Find today’s 5288 word story here:  http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/180.html Travis review: Anna on the Neck is a Cinderella story of a woman blossoming and realizing the power of youth and beauty that she possesses. I like the efficiency and completeness of this story. Chekhov starts off with a couple boarding the train just after getting married, but …

#179 Whitebrow

Here is the link to the 2261 word story: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/179.html Travis rating  Chekhov traces the story of a hungry she-wolf hunting for nourishing food during an unseasonably cold March. This isn’t the first time Chekhov given us an animal’s POV. He did in at least two other instances with Kashtanka and in Who Was To …

#178 The Helpmate

Find today’s 2585 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/178.html Travis review: This is a relatively straight forward story about a doctor, worn out with consumption and worry, who believes his wife is cheating on him and finds evidence of it written in English. The best part of the story is when the wife appears and later when the doctor, …

#177 Three Years

Find today’s 35,540 word novella here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/177.html Travis review: This is a long story. Through 17 chapters this downbeat low-key drama takes place over the course of three years, but it felt like ten or more. There are many good moments as the story tracks the marriage of wealthy merchant heir to a girl he’d seen …