About this title: Despite his obvious talents and natural abilities, Pechorin is restless and bored. Travelling from the civilised world of society drawing rooms, to the wilds of the Southern Caucasus, he embarks upon a quest for motivation and stimulation. But rather than finding the impetus he so craves, he instead becomes increasingly alienated from those around him. Sickened by the condition of his times, he chooses to reject a life of morality. This study of a man - and a society - in crisis was to become one of the most important books of its time 'I...have read this novel several times, young and old, ...
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780140441765ISBN:014044176X
Description: A good reading copy only. May have underlining or highlighting throughout. Book has tanning or browning due to normal aging process. -, Mass Market PaperBack, Good / read more
Description: Very good. Very minimal damage to the cover (no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks), in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, minimal to no highlighting/under. read more
"However well-written, I found it hard to enjoy this story of decadence and indifference. Pechorin, whose story is the focus of the book, is a bored aristocrat who toys with other people like a cat with a wounded mouse. He is as self-destructive as he is destructive of others. But it is hard to feel anything form him but the same indifference he feels for others. Strangely, his games became as tedious to me as to him. Is that the point--that we can become indifferent to suffering as easily as he does? I don't know."
I find the manipulative trait of Pechorin appalling but this is what you get when you grow up accustomed to the wealth and eventually -- inevitably -- boredom. He chooses to take advantage of anything and anyone whenever he pleases, to satisfy his fleeting wants. This is how he's lived his life.
But this is not just about Pechorin. The structure of the book was well-crafted. The writing style was fine in the Nabokov translation. It wasn't easy to read, but it was appropriate for the story. Hence my two stars."
"The adventures of one Grigory Pechorin, soldier. He is a somewhat dashing, somewhat Byronic antihero, often bored when he achieves his goals. He's not really that nice, yet people find themselves drawn to him. Could fit these times as well as those Lermontov was writing in. Definitely worth reading if you like Byronic antiheroes."
"Good quick read, has young rich aristocrats fighting duels and such and that's always funny. One of the first modern Russian writers, he kind of set the bar so to speak for Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and Turgenev and all the other hundreds of Russian writers after that. It all comes back to this book. Not really, but he was influencial and is kind of overlooked, bummer. An interesting fact about Lermontov is that he died fighting a duel at a rather young age. How cool is that?"
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
