#193 A Doctor’s Visit

Find today’s 4529 word short story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/193.html Travis review: It today’s story Korolyov, a doctor from Moscow, comes out to a small factory town to look at an ailing heiress. He rides into town with extreme prejudice and irritation. He sees the peasant class workers leading drunken, pointless lives. Korolyov hates the factory’s owner’s …

#191 About Love

Find today’s 3886 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/191.html Travis review: So this is the third story featuring Ivan Iavnovitch and Burkin and the second with Alehin. The story picks up the following day from Gooseberries. When Alehin tells his story it helps answer the curious details in Gooseberries, like why Alehin was so filthy and in desperate …

#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 …

#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 …

#172 Rothschild’s Fiddle

Please find today’s 4,117 word story here http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/172.html Travis review: Today’s story has antisemitism, misogyny, complete misanthropy and in the end regret. Yakov Ivanov embodies self-loathing at it’s worst. He is a miserly, miserable undertaker. Chekhov sets the tone with this great opening line:  “The town was a little one, worse than a village, and …

#166 Ward No. 6

Find today’s 21,694 word novella here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/166.html Travis review: This novella is told in 29 chapters. The first chapters is told in 2nd person almost like a voice guided tour. “Next you come into a big, spacious room which fills up the whole lodge except for the entry.” We quickly discover that Ward No. 6 is …

#153 The Devil and The Shoemaker

Find today’s 2662 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/153.html Today’s fantasy story is quite funny. We have a poor cobbler who feels persecuted by the weight of his poverty and constant humiliation. At first Fydor comes off like a cantankerous, petty fool, but when he walks out on the street he is teased by the public. “Students, officers, …

#137 The Old House (A Story told by a Houseowner)

Find today’s 2424 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/137.html Travis review: In today’s story, Chekhov tells a tale of misfortune through the voice of a landlord. It could be summarized as the slow downfall of a family after the mother’s death. This story stood out to me for it’s writing style. Long, blocky paragraphs with summaries and foreshadowing. …

#055 A Nightmare

Find today’s 5553 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/055.html Travis Review: Today’s story has a similar Chekhov theme of people misunderstanding each other. In this case it is between Kunin, a well off and ambitious permanent Rural Board member and a shabby, young priest in the district. This story is only seen through Kunin’s eyes as he judges …

#020 Oysters

Find today’s 1568 word classic here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/020.html  Travis Review: Story number 20 is a classic. I read it over 15 years ago and even though I knew what was going happen, it still packed a punch. Stories like this are why I love Chekhov’s works. So many elements are at play here: physically and emotional …