Reviews for The Middle Years

The average rating for The Middle Years based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-08-06 00:00:00 Martin Sladek I enjoyed all of Chekhov's stories in this book but his short story The Duel is the best. Set in the seaside town of Caucasus (interestingly, as I write this, in 2012, one is highly discouraged by the U.S. government from visiting this area, which is a shame, because it is, from Chekhov's description, quite beautiful), it is centered on a small group of people but primarily on Ivan Layevsky, a self absorbed and selfish 28 year old minor bureaucrat, who ran off with another man's wife and is living with her in what fellow townspeople think of as 'living in sin'. When the story begins, their love affair has started to wane, and Ivan is looking for a way out. There IS a duel in the story but I think for the most part the dueling referred to in the title is metaphorical: dueling, or conflicting, emotions, ideas, and principles. Great story, with vivid characters. I've only read Chekhov's plays before and had no idea his short stories were so well written. Highly recommend!

Review # 2 was written on 2015-09-21 00:00:00 Russell Yates I had always wanted to read Chekhov. However, I hate to admit that if not for the tag 'Contemporary Anton Chekhov' on Alice Munro, I wouldn't have started this book yet. All of a sudden, I wanted to read a Munro, then the meticulous me ended up landing here. Halfway into the book, I thought I would point out a few stories which are much reads. I ended up liking almost all the stories :) I haven't read enough short stories or enough Chekhov to share my thoughts on the name 'Master of Short Stories'. The thing I liked most about this collection was, all the characters are relatable. Their thoughts, confused ideas, dreams, sorrows, everything! Can't wait to start the next collection.