Rating: 
Summary: Love these crazy Russians...
Review: Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov...Whoo! Goodness.I read this when it was first published, but I can tell you so many of the small things, the details the accretion of which create breathtaking stories stick with me. Easter Night remains remarkable. The solitary traveler, stepping onto the ferry to cross the river, across which a church is bursting with Easter celebrants...Ward No. 6 could have, in some respects, been a precursor to stories such as One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Girl, Interrupted (the movie in the latter case; the book, of course, is completely different). The widely anthologized Gooseberries is remarkable, while Chekhovs odd sense of humor can be seen in Death of a Clerk (a man dying just like that...because of an imagined bad impression on a fellow theater goer?); as well as Anna on the Neck (portrait of all marriages, high ranking or low?) and Rothchild's Fiddle. I loved it. I've yet to read his plays...
Rating:
Summary: Love these crazy Russians...
Review: Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov...Whoo! Goodness. I read this when it was first published, but I can tell you so many of the small things, the details the accretion of which create breathtaking stories stick with me. Easter Night remains remarkable. The solitary traveler, stepping onto the ferry to cross the river, across which a church is bursting with Easter celebrants...Ward No. 6 could have, in some respects, been a precursor to stories such as One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Girl, Interrupted (the movie in the latter case; the book, of course, is completely different). The widely anthologized Gooseberries is remarkable, while Chekhovs odd sense of humor can be seen in Death of a Clerk (a man dying just like that...because of an imagined bad impression on a fellow theater goer?); as well as Anna on the Neck (portrait of all marriages, high ranking or low?) and Rothchild's Fiddle. I loved it. I've yet to read his plays...
Rating:
Summary: The Best Translation
Review: I chose this selection of stories as a text for a Senior College course because it is frankly the best translation, true to the original, and with helpful endnotes. The collection is comprehensive and representative of the author's stages of writing from the brief and witty to the sensitive and profound. Besides it is a great bargain!
Rating:
Summary: Chekhov's Stories
Review: I think the translators did a great job, here. Pevear and Volokhonsky impressed me so much with their translations of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, that I was very interested to see how they worked with (in my opinion) the third greatest 19th century Russian writer. That alone, should give you an indication of my value (and understanding/lack of understanding) for this kind of literature; that is, Chekhov's stories are not for every reader. My mom read this book and was concerned with why I would read such "bleak, pessimistic" fiction. I see it totally diferent, though. There is an energy and life to Chekhov's prose that offsets the serious themes a good number of these stories realize. It's like Chekhov really wanted to bring joy to the lives of his characters, to his own life, to his fiction, and the style conveys that -- however, there is no doubt Chekhov realized and sympathized with the harsh reality of the Russian people and the lives they lived. I realize most folks that would even be reading this review probably ain't our ordinary beach-readers, you know, so most of this you probably already know. What I can say is: the selection of stories here span Chekhov's whole career, from his humorist early days, to his so-called "Tolstoy" period, to his latter period when he achieved a certain mastery of form. It's cool to see that range of development: from say, an early story like "The Huntsman" to "A Boring Story" to something like "The Lady with the Little Dog." It's like a time-line of his development through his life, and that alone may be what affected me the most regarding this selection. Each story is followed by the month and year it was completed; for example: April 1894 for "The Student," which according to Pevear's introduction was Chekhov's personal favorite. You can see how his core values as a human stayed similar, but his pallete became ever-richer and more complex. And if it interests you, you'll see how he changed as a human through his life and writing. Again, the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation is superb, thoughtful, and realized. Well worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: Good, a little bloodless
Review: I've read part of the Constance Garnett translation, and, as another reviewer mentioned, it's extremely hard going. The Pevear-Volokhonsky translation is much easier to read, but, honestly, it just feels very dry and mechanical a lot of the time. The introduction made it clear that it was his intention to make the writing as spare as possible, but was it really to this extent? I give it five stars anyway because for large sections it isn't readily apparent, and because it's always possible that this is indeed how Chekhov wrote or that the flow of the original is untranslatable (although the introduction also noted that his style is much easier to carry across than that of Dostoevsky or Gogol). This is a bit of speculation, but it's possible that Chekhov is something like Hemingway in translation: the spareness comes across, but the incredibly subtle fluidity which prevents it from turning into some sort of technical manual is lost. Having read a bit of Hemingway in French, I can verify that his style is much harder to translate than it would appear. But that's just speculation, and I'll leave it to you to decide. Despite the aforementioned problem areas, this does seem to be the superior English translation, and, of course, this is Chekhov we're talking about here, so the impressions gained will inevitably be worth a bit of eye-wandering here and there.
Rating:
Summary: Good, a little bloodless
Review: I've read part of the Constance Garnett translation, and, as another reviewer mentioned, it's extremely hard going. The Pevear-Volokhonsky translation is much easier to read, but, honestly, it just feels very dry and mechanical a lot of the time. The introduction made it clear that it was his intention to make the writing as spare as possible, but was it really to this extent? I give it five stars anyway because for large sections it isn't readily apparent, and because it's always possible that this is indeed how Chekhov wrote or that the flow of the original is untranslatable (although the introduction also noted that his style is much easier to carry across than that of Dostoevsky or Gogol). This is a bit of speculation, but it's possible that Chekhov is something like Hemingway in translation: the spareness comes across, but the incredibly subtle fluidity which prevents it from turning into some sort of technical manual is lost. Having read a bit of Hemingway in French, I can verify that his style is much harder to translate than it would appear. But that's just speculation, and I'll leave it to you to decide. Despite the aforementioned problem areas, this does seem to be the superior English translation, and, of course, this is Chekhov we're talking about here, so the impressions gained will inevitably be worth a bit of eye-wandering here and there.
Rating:
Summary: Good selection, great translations
Review: Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have established themselves as the preeminent living translators of Russian into English. Their translations of Dostoyevsky and Gogol are simply unparalleled, and now they have finally gotten around to Chekhov. It's not so bad that they've taken their time with Chekhov, for he has had numerous distinguished translators. Indeed, Constance Garnett is much-maligned (perhaps unfairly) for her many translations at the beginning of the 20th century of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but even her detractors tend to agree that she did good work with Chekhov. (Indeed, until now the best all-around collection of Chekhov stories was The Chekhov Omnibus, edited by Donald Rayfield, who used the Garnett translations, though he did revise them.) But now we have the best. It's not perfect, but if you can have only one collection of Chekhov stories, this is the one to have. The selection covers Chekhov's entire career, and includes such masterpieces as "Ward No. 6", "The Lady with the Little Dog", "Gusev", "The House with the Mezzanine", "In the Ravine", and many others (30 stories total). It is a delight to read Chekhov in these translations, because the translators have stuck close to many of the idiosyncracies of Chekhov's style which most other translators ignore or smooth over. Chekhov's world -- a land of moping aristocrats and disenchanted peasants, of former serfs seeking dignity and everyday workers searching for the meaning of life, of lovers and painters and doctors and thieves -- is unique and haunting, and all of its dry absurdities and bleak terrains are rendered here with care and skill and sensitivity. Reading Chekhov is not easy, for he always wanted his readers to work as hard as he did, but it is endlessly, endlessly rewarding. Of course, Chekhov wrote hundreds and hundreds of stories, so this book provides only a tiny sampling, and any Chekhovian will find favorites missing here (the biggest omission from my point of view is "Dreams" or "Daydreams", which is most readily available in The Portable Chekhov), but the only truly odd omission is of the story "About Love", which is part of a trilogy of stories with "The Man in the Case" and "Gooseberries", both of which are included here. The novellas (over 50 pages) are also omitted, so there is no "Steppe", no "My Life", no "Three Years" or "The Duel". In a note, the translators suggest that they may do a second book of these. The stories are arranged chronologically, and a useful introduction and endnotes are also provided. No better introduction to Chekhov's stories is available. (If you're looking for good translations of the plays, check out those of Carol Rocamora and Paul Schmidt.) In his notebook, Chekhov wrote, "I hope that in the next world I shall be able to look back upon this life and say, 'Those were beautiful dreams.'" Thankfully, we all have the beautiful dreams of his stories.
Rating:
Summary: Good selection, great translations
Review: Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have established themselves as the preeminent living translators of Russian into English. Their translations of Dostoyevsky and Gogol are simply unparalleled, and now they have finally gotten around to Chekhov. It's not so bad that they've taken their time with Chekhov, for he has had numerous distinguished translators. Indeed, Constance Garnett is much-maligned (perhaps unfairly) for her many translations at the beginning of the 20th century of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but even her detractors tend to agree that she did good work with Chekhov. (Indeed, until now the best all-around collection of Chekhov stories was The Chekhov Omnibus, edited by Donald Rayfield, who used the Garnett translations, though he did revise them.) But now we have the best. It's not perfect, but if you can have only one collection of Chekhov stories, this is the one to have. The selection covers Chekhov's entire career, and includes such masterpieces as "Ward No. 6", "The Lady with the Little Dog", "Gusev", "The House with the Mezzanine", "In the Ravine", and many others (30 stories total). It is a delight to read Chekhov in these translations, because the translators have stuck close to many of the idiosyncracies of Chekhov's style which most other translators ignore or smooth over. Chekhov's world -- a land of moping aristocrats and disenchanted peasants, of former serfs seeking dignity and everyday workers searching for the meaning of life, of lovers and painters and doctors and thieves -- is unique and haunting, and all of its dry absurdities and bleak terrains are rendered here with care and skill and sensitivity. Reading Chekhov is not easy, for he always wanted his readers to work as hard as he did, but it is endlessly, endlessly rewarding. Of course, Chekhov wrote hundreds and hundreds of stories, so this book provides only a tiny sampling, and any Chekhovian will find favorites missing here (the biggest omission from my point of view is "Dreams" or "Daydreams", which is most readily available in The Portable Chekhov), but the only truly odd omission is of the story "About Love", which is part of a trilogy of stories with "The Man in the Case" and "Gooseberries", both of which are included here. The novellas (over 50 pages) are also omitted, so there is no "Steppe", no "My Life", no "Three Years" or "The Duel". In a note, the translators suggest that they may do a second book of these. The stories are arranged chronologically, and a useful introduction and endnotes are also provided. No better introduction to Chekhov's stories is available. (If you're looking for good translations of the plays, check out those of Carol Rocamora and Paul Schmidt.) In his notebook, Chekhov wrote, "I hope that in the next world I shall be able to look back upon this life and say, 'Those were beautiful dreams.'" Thankfully, we all have the beautiful dreams of his stories.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best short-story writers
Review: The commonplace has it that short-story is the hardest of all literary genres. It may be true. Reading these works by Chekhov, though, it looks easy. That is precisely thanks to his skills. Chekhov's stories have many different subjects, standpoints and even styles. They range from the satirical, to the socially conscious, to the very intimate, to the sad and tender. One of the less obscure Russian authors, nevertheless Chekhov has that Russian touch of melancholy and nostalgia. He once said that medicine was his legal wife, and literature his mistress. Well, he loved his mistress much. The combination is fortunate, though, because he uses his clinical eye, his experience with suffering, death and the moving situations that come up in that environment, to sharpen his perception of the human soul. No epic overtones here. His stories talk about common people, of different origins and sorts. They don't talk about fantastic or exceptional situations, but about the strange, wonderful or terrible things that happen in everyday life. Some of my favorites: "The kiss", an enigmatic tale about a stolen smack on the lips of a young girl; "The house with the mezaninne", "Enemies", "The lady with the little dog". Summing up, "delicious" is the appropriate word to describe these great stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential Short Story Reading
Review: The short story is a cross between poetry and prose. Its best writers possess the skills of both writing styles. Chekhov was such a writer. His short stories provide a revealing glimpse of pre-Bolshevik-Revolution Russia, which in many ways doesn't seem to have changed much: stark, gray, cold, dysfunctional. He was able to sculpt three-dimensional characters, scene-scapes, and storylines that cause emotional reaction in readers. To read Chekhov is to feel. While I found myself distracted by the Russian character names, the aging writing style, and my ambivalence toward short fiction, it's impossible to read these stories without great appreciation for the man's talent and his contribution to America's understanding of Russian culture and the world of literature in general. This collection is a good way to say, "Yeah, I've read Chekhov." --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.
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