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Rating: 
Summary: Moral High Ground
Review: This is a collection of 9 short stories by Tolstoy, written at various stages of his life. Four are army tales set in the Caucasus, of which "The Raid" and "A Prisoner of the Caucasus" (which is really an escape story) are the best. The other five stories are moral tales, almost parables, and are mostly better written and more tightly plotted than the army stories. The tale "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" is a little gem, a warning against greed and materialism. The other moral stories are all deeply Christian, and depending on how you are fixed religiously could either be highly enjoyable or seem overdone. The best that can be said of them from a neutral point of view is that the message each one carries is fundamentally humane. In all, this is a good collection. Some of the stories are weaker than the others, but that happens in the vast majority of short story collections. This is better than most. G Rodgers
Rating:
Summary: Moral High Ground
Review: This is a collection of 9 short stories by Tolstoy, written at various stages of his life. Four are army tales set in the Caucasus, of which "The Raid" and "A Prisoner of the Caucasus" (which is really an escape story) are the best. The other five stories are moral tales, almost parables, and are mostly better written and more tightly plotted than the army stories. The tale "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" is a little gem, a warning against greed and materialism. The other moral stories are all deeply Christian, and depending on how you are fixed religiously could either be highly enjoyable or seem overdone. The best that can be said of them from a neutral point of view is that the message each one carries is fundamentally humane. In all, this is a good collection. Some of the stories are weaker than the others, but that happens in the vast majority of short story collections. This is better than most. G Rodgers
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This is a great book of short stories with an unabashed Christian moral slant. Very entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This is a great book of short stories with an unabashed Christian moral slant. Very entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Tolstoy Sampler.
Review: Tolstoy wrote some remarkable short fiction. There is, for example, the detached observer of war and its effect. The early stories based on his military experience in the Caucasus "The Raid," "The Woodfelling," and "The Prisoner of the Caucasus" are examples of this aspect of Tolstoy's craft. Tolstoy anticipated authors such as Stephen Crane and Ernest Hemingway in his unglamorous portrait of war. Tolstoy's slice of life sketches have little blood and thunder. The writing speaks more of futility than of glory or Mother Russia. Except for wasteful, impersonal death, men at war do not progress; their only goal is survival. Then there is the spiritual side of Tolstoy's art. Simple parables patterned on the Gospels in their truth and biblical purity. The title piece speaks of a landowner's greed and its result. "Where Love Is, God Is," and "What Men Live By" are examples of the later Tolstoy and his spiritual views. Although Tolstoy was grounded in Chritianity, Russian Orthodoxy and organized religions left him cold. Tolstoy was more mystic than cleric. His spiritual views rejected dogma and flowed from springs of human compassion. Love inevitably provokes action. Feed the hungry, comfort the sick, and care for widows and orphans. Then we find God among us. This collection of stories has an insightful introduction by editor and biographer A. N. Wilson. It's a good cross sample of Tolstoy's short fiction. ;-)
Rating:
Summary: Tolstoy Sampler.
Review: Tolstoy wrote some remarkable short fiction. There is, for example, the detached observer of war and its effect. The early stories based on his military experience in the Caucasus "The Raid," "The Woodfelling," and "The Prisoner of the Caucasus" are examples of this aspect of Tolstoy's craft. Tolstoy anticipated authors such as Stephen Crane and Ernest Hemingway in his unglamorous portrait of war. Tolstoy's slice of life sketches have little blood and thunder. The writing speaks more of futility than of glory or Mother Russia. Except for wasteful, impersonal death, men at war do not progress; their only goal is survival. Then there is the spiritual side of Tolstoy's art. Simple parables patterned on the Gospels in their truth and biblical purity. The title piece speaks of a landowner's greed and its result. "Where Love Is, God Is," and "What Men Live By" are examples of the later Tolstoy and his spiritual views. Although Tolstoy was grounded in Chritianity, Russian Orthodoxy and organized religions left him cold. Tolstoy was more mystic than cleric. His spiritual views rejected dogma and flowed from springs of human compassion. Love inevitably provokes action. Feed the hungry, comfort the sick, and care for widows and orphans. Then we find God among us. This collection of stories has an insightful introduction by editor and biographer A. N. Wilson. It's a good cross sample of Tolstoy's short fiction. ;-)
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