Hi everyone! Guess what I was finally able to finish in the last few days? … *drumroll*… “The Captain’s Daughter” by Alexander Pushkin!
I know it has been a while since I had promised you a review but for a number of reasons I wasn’t able to finish the book up until now.
The book itself it’s not long at all, you can easily read it in just a few days, and as I said in one of my previous posts, the reason why I wasn’t able to finish it was that I wasn’t actually reading it, I read the first chapter and then I stopped. By the way the version I’ve read was the Italian translated one.
As for the story, I wasn’t expecting how engaging and captivating it could be, I swear that in some parts I just couldn’t wait to turn the page and find out what was going to happen. I was deeply invested in those characters, which was something I wasn’t expecting since it’s just a short book.
This is a historical novel, set during Pugachev’s Rebellion against Catherine II of Russia, during the second part of the 18th Century. The main character, Pyotr Andreyich Grinyov, is a noble young man who gets sent to the army by his father in order to strengthen his character. During his service, he meets Masha, the daughter of Captain Ivan Mironov, the commanding officer at Fort Belogorsky, which is the place where he is serving. The two fall in love and their love story is the main theme of the whole story. Things get complicated when the rebel Pugachev and his army of Cossacks attack the Fort and manage to kill Masha’s parents in the process.
I won’t reveal the ending, if you are interested I strongly advise you to read it, because I found it to be a very interesting and compelling reading. I learned a little bit more about Russian history, and in the book edition I got there’s also another historical novel, also by Pushkin, called: “History of Pugachev” which I’m currently reading now. It is a less romanticized and more historical description of the events that led to the Pugachev’s Rebellion.
This was also my first book by Russian writer Alexander Pushkin. I was curious to find out whether I would like his style or not, and I have to say that I really, really like it. I know he is considered one of the greatest in Russian literature, like in Italy we have Dante, in England there’s Shakespeare and in Russia there’s Pushkin, so I know he was one of the big ones. I have to say that I’m truly enjoying my journey through Russian Literature, I have yet to find one book that I did not like at all. They are all unique, mysterious and deep in my opinion and I can’t wait to read more.
Right now I’m reading “History of Pugachev” and a novel by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, an Italian author, which is called “Teutoburgo”, I don’t know how the title is going to be translated in English, I guess: “Teuterburg”. After this, I have got three other books by Russian writers, “The Queen of Spades” also by Pushkin, “The Overcoat” and “The Nose” by Gogol and “Day of the Oprichnik” by Vladimir Sorokin. I’m very looking forward to reading all of them, if you have any suggestions please let me know in the comments below, and also if you want to share your thoughts and opinions about Pushkin please do.
As always, here is my favorite quote of the book:
“Young man! If my notes should fall into your hands, remember that the best and most enduring changes are those which stem from an improvement in moral behavior, without any violent upheaval.” Alexander Pushkin
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