30 Comments
Feb 27, 2023Liked by Terry Freedman

I knew there was a reason I was saving this post for Monday, when the bleak clouds wouldn't part and the week ahead seemed, well, bleak. Not anymore! I laughed. Out loud, no less. And then the sun came out. More such reviews, please. The choose-your-own-adventure moment was genius.

On a serious note, I've always put off reading any Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. This weighing it at only 70 pages might be a good place to start though, especially now I have the plot summary in my head.

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Hi Nathan. Thanks. I hadn't thought of it quite as a choose-your-own-adventure story but you're right. In that case maybe you would enjoy reading my review of The Comfort of Strangers: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/review-the-comfort-of-strangers-238

I, too, need to spend more time with Russian authors. The short stories are a good way in. The hardest thing is trying to remember who all the different characters are, especially as the same person might have more than one name. A good place to start is Chekhov, especially a famous one of his, Lady with lapdog.

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Feb 27, 2023Liked by Terry Freedman

Chekhov has been on my list for a long time, especially because he's referenced so much by Murakami and was seemingly an influence for him.

It's good to have a place to start though, so thanks. I'll add yet another book to my wishlist :P (But seriously, thank you.)

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It's available as a pdf online. It's not too long

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Most celebrate Russian novelists are. I think commend you to one who had something ti say about the penal justice system. I have my doubts about Chaucer. I think it is hokum.

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You mean like Dostoevsky? Chaucer was very satirical (including against the Church). Also very funny. The Miller's Tale in particular is hilarious, in a schoolboy humour/Brian Rix farce kind of way!

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That’s what I mean. Toch screen keeps me

awake at night. What jinx next either too responsive or not at all. Yes I was alluding to Dostoevsky and all the other bad boys of Russian lit - the girls might have had something going bout they kept quiet about it. I think Chaucer is supposed to be accorded some due respect but it took an American poet to illuminate it appropriately.

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You're not supposed to use touch screens at night! Which American poet? I hadn't heard of that!! Chaucer was English: I know my rights.

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T S Elliot of course ‘Murder in the Cathedral’.

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Oh ok. Well he doesn't count because he became British, didn't he? 🧐

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That should read ‘celebrated’, obviously. Lots of typos - touch screen is not very good this morning.

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Don't worry about it, Marple. My toch screen has a mind of its own.

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Does sound brilliant.

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Indeed. I fear my send-up of it doesn't quite do it justice 🤣

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Maybe we can all stage a come back of ‘The Critics’.

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That rigns a vague bell. What was or is it? A TV programme?

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They were featured in Viz and hilariously lampoon the ‘chattering classes’ obviously it’s fairly well taking aim at an open barn door but who cares - that never stopped no one.

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LOL. Barn doors are good things to aim for 😂

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Hard to miss. I think that’s the idea.

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Feb 26, 2023Liked by Terry Freedman

One word: excellent.

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Thanks very much, Bryan. I have a question: WHY do you think it's excellent? I'm not fishing for compliments, I am always interested in what exactly people like or don't like something I;'ve written. It helps me improve I think. Thanks

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Feb 28, 2023Liked by Terry Freedman

Hi, Terry - It's excellent because of its precision. Straight, to the point - and laced with your trademark humour. I'm not a fan of Tolstoy (I can date the origin of my distaste to 1986 when I had to present 'The Death of Ivan Ilych' to my junior year (Year 12) English class), but this makes me want to read the story nevertheless. I also like your accompanying photo and the Beethovan clip is great. So, in all an excellent multimedia presentation!

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Thanks Bryan. I can understand your antipathy towards Tolstoy given that experience. I was out off reading Dickens by being given Oliver Twist as a prize when I was 10 years old.

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That was definitely better than me having to read it. Thanks!

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LOL. Certainly a lot shorter, if that's what you mean! 🤣

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"...is exactly what the narrator of this story chooses, condemning the rest of us to a 70 page diatribe by someone who is clearly unhinged."

Well, Terry, once I'd picked myself up off the floor (where I'd landed, laughing, having read the above) I made the effort to put my sensible hat on again to read this post properly! I've never read any Tolstoy but now I'm almost - almost, Terry - tempted.

Thank you for the link to the wonderful Anne-Sophie Mutter performance of the sonata itself - such a complicated piece, pretty equal in effort for both violinist and pianist - that makes perfect sense, and so in listening to it I have gained an understanding of where Tolstoy might have been coming from!

A great post, Terry - I'll be thinking about this for a while.

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Thanks very much, Rebecca. We covered this story in a course I did called Greatest Russian Short Stories at the City Lit ,you know the place where I'm running a course that you haven't signed up to, that place. Anyway, I sent it to the tutor and he said he laughed out loud at that bit! 🤣

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🤣 #turningthescrew 😉

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😂

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