First Love

In my quest to read 100 classics, I recently read First Love by Ivan Turgenev. This is a novella - thanks for the breather! - about a teen boy who falls in love with his neighbor, a young woman 5 years his elder.

I had to laugh at this one, because the boy really didn’t understand what was happening when he went into the courtyard at 1 in the morning hoping to see his love interest, but instead saw his father sneaking into the neighbor’s house…

Oh, well, it wasn’t too bad of a read, but I would have to say, it was written from the point of view of the wrong person! The teen boy did nothing throughout the story!

In contrast, the young woman (of royal descent) had a tryst with an older married man, most likely got pregnant, and somehow managed to marry well despite this scandal.

Or, what about the father, who snuck out to see a girl half his age, got caught, and had to move to a big city to spare his wife the embarrassment of town gossip.

Or even the wife, who is betrayed and must deal with feelings of unworthiness, aging, town gossip, and having to stay married to a man who may or may not still love her.

Any of these points of view would have been more interesting for the story, instead of the 16 year old boy who simply watches it all go down.