Cary Brecher’s Reviews > Great Russian Short Stories > Status Update

“Lazarus” by Leonid Andreyev. 5/5. Brutal and perfect and frightening and revelatory. So good.

“The Outrage - A True Story” by Aleksandr I. Kuprin. 5/5. The word selection of the translation is ineffable. Helps that I love the ideology.

"Twenty-Six Men and a Girl" by Maxim Gorky. 3/5. Love the way Gorky subtly maintained the atmosphere of disgusting oppression the men face even as the actual plot isn't focused on it.

“The White Mother” by Fyodor Sologub. 1/5. Boring, maybe would make more sense coming from an Orthodox perspective but seemed insubstantial to me.

“The Lady With the Toy Dog” by Chekhov. 4/5. Great story. Moving and profound and tender.

The Signal by Vsevolod M. Garshin. 3/5 - Really does well in creating and investigating the world it operates in, yet the most major achievement here is easily the character of Vasily. Perhaps the most fascinating character in this whole collection thus far and pound-for-pound in all the literature I've read. Elevates the entire story on a level most similar to a great acting performance making a mid movie a favorite

How Much Land Does A Man Need? by Tolstoy. Asks a simple question, gives you a straightforward answer. 4/5

read the third story "The District Doctor" by Turgenev. i think i understand what it was attempting to do but it just didnt connect for me. strong prose and sense of pace. 2 stars

Finished “The Overcoat” by Gogol. solid entry in the annals of ghost stories with the added significance of an examination of russian bureacracy as the key theme. 3/5