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 …
Please find today’s 16,216 word novelette story here http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/171.html Travis review: Anna Akimovna is a frustrating character. Because she is in a unique position of power and resources, she can change several of the situations that upset her. Anna is filled with insecurities and although she is aware of people cheating her and taking bribes at the expense of her …
Today’s 12,823 word long short story can be found here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/170.htmlhttp://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/170.html Travis review: This story is told in 9 chapters. It’s interesting that this rare supernatural tale about a “chosen one” not unlike popular culture’s archetypes Neo from The Matrix or Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker. Looking deeper into religious culture Moses, Jesus and Mohammed (who …
You can find today’s 4670 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/169.html Travis review Chekhov works an interesting four character strategy in this story. (I’m not including the fifth wheel Rita since she provides cynical commentary without participation in the antics.) There are two men and two women. Olga, a nun, and Colonel Yagitch are from an older …
Find today’s 30,510 word novella here http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/168.html Travis review: This story feels like a 19th century French bildungsroman with Chekhov’s touch. In 18 chapters we follow a would-be revolutionary hampered with consumption who takes on the job of a manservant for the son of a hated government official. He watches as his master who has means and intelligence, …
Find today’s 5,034 word short story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/167.html Travis review: This story is a bit disappointing considering the expectations that come with a title like “Terror.” On the surface, this could be seen as a tale about two close, intellectual friends who have chosen different career paths and the stronger one takes the weaker man’s wife. …
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 …
Find the 7618 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/165.html Travis review: Chekhov starts this story with an immediate dilemma: aristocrat Pyotr Mihalitch’s younger sister, Zina, has run away to live with their neighbor Vlassitch, a married man. Pytor feels obligated to do something as his mother is bed-stricken with shame, yet conflict is not in his nature. …
Please find today’s 3964 word story here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/164.html Travis review: In today’s short story, Chekhov contrasts two characters who are extreme opposites working on a ferry barge in Siberia… which is a step away from being in the lowest rung of hell. The Tatar represents innocence and virtue compared to the world weary cynicism and cruelty of Canny. As Siberia is …
Today’s 1154 word story is here: http://www.chekhovshorts.com/stories/163.html Travis review: After reading several long, character intensive stories, today’s tale is a bit of a letdown. I was happy with the low word count as I read this in a few minutes. Unfortunately not much happens. A 16 year old girl, still feeling the effects from a powerful …