#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 …

#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 …

#093 A Work of Art

You can find today’s 1585 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/093.html Travis Review: Today’s comic tale is similar to the journey of an American fruitcake. Specifically, it’s a gift to give that nobody wants and so it passed for another to another. In every situation, it is funny how the work of art is forced upon the recipient and …

#090 Excellent People

Find today’s 4049 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/090.html Travis Review I didn’t care for this story. It was long and uninteresting, following the lives of a reclusive literary critic and his sister as they go through their routines and then their fight about non-resistance to evil and the worthless of reviewing old literature. (I guess we’re …

#037 Old Age

Find today’s 2,200 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/037.html Travis Review: Another title could have been “Men Who Had Behaved Badly.” Uzelkov is an architect returning to his hometown after an 18-year absence. He finds much of the town has changed and he has almost been forgotten about. What is interesting is the man who does remember him, …