This review is written with
a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede
all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing
without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at
WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Friend of the Family
Series:
(The Russians)
Author: Fyodor
Dostoyevsky
Translator: Garnett
Rating:
3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fiction
Pages:
190
Words: 60K
From Wikipedia:
Sergey Alexandrovich, the narrator, is summoned from St. Petersburg to the estate of his uncle, Colonel Yegor Ilyich Rostanev, and finds that a middle-aged charlatan named Foma Fomich Opiskin has swindled the nobles around him into believing that he is virtuous despite behavior that is passive-aggressive, selfish, and spiteful. Foma obliges the servants to learn French, and gets furious when they are caught dancing the kamarinskaya.
Uncle Yegor asks Sergey to marry the poor young girl Nastenka. It turns out Uncle Yegor is in love with her himself, but Foma wants him to marry the wealthy Tatyana Ivanova instead. Tatyana has several other suitors, including Mizinchikov, who confides in Sergey about his plans to elope with her.
The next morning Tatyana has eloped, not with Mizinchikov but with Obnoskin, who acted under the influence of his mother. After a pursuit Tatyana returns voluntarily. At Stepanchikovo Foma Fomich is furious because Uncle Yegor has been caught red-handed during an assignation in the garden with Nastenka. Foma leaves, but falls into a ditch. The inhabitants beg him to come back. A general reconciliation follows after Foma, manipulating as ever, gives his blessing to a marriage between Uncle Yegor and Nastenka.
This has an alternate title, The Village of Stepanchikovo, but I decided to go with the more western friendly title. Because there is no way I am EVER going to remember a title with Stepanchikovo in the title. 5 flipping syllables folks, for one word. While the title I chose has only 6 syllables in the entire title. Maybe if I was russian Stepanchikovo (I copy/pasted the alternate title from wikipedia and even now have to look at that to figure out to spell the blasted name) would roll off my tongue and be as easy to remember as, say, Quarryville, but I am not russian and so it doesn’t roll off my tongue and it is not as easy to remember as Quarryville.
This was supposed to be an amusing, ironic and biting read. We’re supposed to laugh at the idiocy of Foma ruling the roosts even though he is just a guest and a very poor guest at that. We’re supposed to chuckle at the poor Uncle who is over run by his mother, Foma (the “friend” in the title) and pretty much everyone.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find it particularly amusing. The Uncle and the Nephew (the narrator) are both spineless men who won’t stand up to anyone about anything. While the book is supposed to be showcasing Foma as a caricature, I really found the portrayal of the uncle and nephew more enlightening and rather sad. I wanted to shake both of them by the neck several times and by the end just wanted the story to end. Even though the uncle gets his way about getting married to the girl he loves, Foma still manipulates everything so he gets to stay in the house until he dies. What a free loader!
Speaking of the uncle and marriage. He’s in his mid-40’s I think (it’s kind of tough to tell but since his mother is still alive and he has a nephew in his 20’s, that seems right) and several times he’s just presented as this super old guy, even though Foma is older than him and his mother is still alive. And then he marries the poor governess, who is 17. They wuuuuuuv each other. But I just don’t see how that kind of age difference works out except in exceptional cases. I’m in my mid-40’s and know some teenagers and I’d sooner marry a grandma than one of them. No offense to them, but the generation gap feels very large every time I interact with them. For example. I was talking with some of them about movies and one of the girls brought up the movie Call of the Wild. I asked if it was based on the book by Jack London. None of them knew who Jack London was. Then I asked who was in the movie. Another girl named Actor X, who was in Movie/tv show Y. I had no idea who they were talking about. Once home I googled it. Flipping Harrison Ford was in the cast and that didn’t cross their radar at all. They don’t know who Han Solo is. They don’t know who Indiana Jones is.
I realize that with technology, generation gaps happen quicker and closer together now. Maybe back in Russia in the 1800’s it wasn’t the same, but Fathers and Sons explores that very issue and shows it WAS a real issue for them just as it is for me today. So that was a niggle in the back of my mind.
I can see why this isn’t famous like some of Dostoyevsky’s other works but it was a valuable read in terms of broadening my horizons and become more familiar with his works. We’ll see if I even remember anything about this story in 5 years though, hahahahhaa (when I’m senile!)
★★★✬☆
No comments:
Post a Comment