Active Users:696 Time:22/03/2026 10:43:41 AM
Re: I didn't think Odintsova trapped him. Camilla Send a noteboard - 18/10/2010 11:31:40 PM
Odintsova also bothered me. I tend to want to give her the benefit of the doubt (seems she was preconditioned in her opinion of men, which makes sense, given her age/experience), but I dislike women who trap men. I think my benefit of the doubt is due to not being able to decide whether she knew what she actually felt. Maybe her own revelation was something like Bazarov's - she didn't see it coming, because she'd previously cared about nothing and "was going nowhere." She does later mention that talking/being with him is like walking the edge of a precipice, so maybe that comment is meant to be more about her having no idea how to deal with her own feelings than about Bazarov's personality.

I interpreted it as her being curious at what could be, but getting afraid and turning cold to hide her own feelings, not daring to surrender to them. After all, despite her age and presence as a mature, experienced woman, she's never been in love before - and perhaps her age and general mentality are exactly why she doesn't dare to anymore, now.

Like Camilla, I'm not sure what to make of her sudden supposed attraction to Arkady, though. It felt wrong to me, and kind of like a weak point in the novel - like it's just intended to force things to come to a head one way or the other between Arkady and Katya. Discounting that possibility and assuming it really does fit, I can only conclude it's an even subtler part of the tragedy of Odintsova's failure to give in to her feelings for Bazarov - it's cruel, certainly, but on some level it makes sense.

I liked the resolution, though I'm not glad B killed himself. I was not surprised, but it seemed a little too... easy. I was annoyed that because his stance came up against a wall, he decided to leave. Or, well, if it is correct that his end was his choice. Seemed so, to me. At any rate, jumping into the autopsy was a rash decision.

I don't think I'd call it suicide, either (as in, like Tom, unlike you and Camilla obviously), but he certainly didn't seem to mind it so much once it had happened.


Nice, we now have a 50/50 split down gender lines. Interesting, interesting.
*MySmiley*
structured procrastinator
Reply to message
Russian Book Club: Fathers and Sons by Turgenev. - 17/10/2010 01:39:16 AM 1056 Views
Bazarov - 17/10/2010 02:12:03 PM 878 Views
never mind *NM* - 17/10/2010 02:15:16 PM 364 Views
The novel is very interested in inter-generational issues. - 17/10/2010 05:28:29 PM 774 Views
Re: The novel is very interested in inter-generational issues. - 17/10/2010 11:59:37 PM 858 Views
oh, and - 17/10/2010 06:42:38 PM 767 Views
Re: oh, and - 18/10/2010 12:09:10 AM 745 Views
I like the way you said that - 19/10/2010 05:31:05 AM 785 Views
Re: I like the way you said that - 19/10/2010 09:24:00 AM 738 Views
I had pretty much the same reaction as you. - 22/10/2010 07:05:37 PM 814 Views
Arkady - 17/10/2010 02:15:54 PM 729 Views
Well, that makes sense - 17/10/2010 05:12:09 PM 730 Views
Re: Well, that makes sense - 18/10/2010 12:04:05 AM 738 Views
According to a footnote in my (Dutch) copy... - 18/10/2010 10:55:22 PM 767 Views
Ясень and ясный - 18/10/2010 11:41:24 PM 747 Views
See, I liked Arkady - 17/10/2010 06:08:57 PM 667 Views
Re: See, I liked Arkady - 18/10/2010 12:13:49 AM 708 Views
hm. - 18/10/2010 01:06:44 AM 813 Views
Re: hm. - 18/10/2010 11:46:23 AM 964 Views
Re: hm. - 19/10/2010 05:38:02 AM 763 Views
Re: See, I liked Arkady - 18/10/2010 10:51:59 PM 715 Views
Re: Arkady - 22/10/2010 07:09:14 PM 757 Views
Oh...Rebekah, I was going to mention that I saw your post only much later because I was very drunk. - 17/10/2010 05:13:41 PM 757 Views
Heh, no worries. - 18/10/2010 11:07:00 AM 690 Views
Good book. - 17/10/2010 06:37:16 PM 782 Views
Agreed. - 18/10/2010 11:55:11 AM 853 Views
Re: Agreed. - 19/10/2010 06:02:18 AM 777 Views
Re: Agreed. - 19/10/2010 09:26:25 AM 685 Views
I didn't think Odintsova trapped him. - 18/10/2010 11:03:37 PM 745 Views
Re: I didn't think Odintsova trapped him. - 18/10/2010 11:31:40 PM 817 Views
Re: I didn't think Odintsova trapped him. - 19/10/2010 05:13:26 AM 748 Views
I think you might be overanalyzing the birch tree statement. - 18/10/2010 11:45:12 PM 727 Views
I disagree - 19/10/2010 05:27:07 AM 773 Views
I loved it. Great book. - 18/10/2010 10:49:27 PM 702 Views
Re: I loved it. Great book. - 18/10/2010 11:33:42 PM 687 Views
I think it's very relevant. It's also unusually un-Russian. - 18/10/2010 11:54:03 PM 675 Views
Yeah... the Russian nobility at the time seems to have been kind of un-Russian, really. - 20/10/2010 04:03:34 PM 751 Views
It felt very Russian to me as well - 20/10/2010 04:12:50 PM 681 Views
I really wish I'd bought a properly annotated version. - 22/10/2010 07:07:16 PM 781 Views
The answer to that is to just read a great book on Nineteenth Century Russian history. - 22/10/2010 10:55:06 PM 755 Views
Can you recommend one? - 22/10/2010 10:55:56 PM 1037 Views
"One" is where it starts to get harder. - 23/10/2010 01:45:03 AM 771 Views
Nikolai and Pavel - I love them. - 22/10/2010 07:14:11 PM 859 Views
Perhaps it's Pavel's "The Chap"-ish nature that makes the novel seem less Russian to me. - 22/10/2010 10:53:56 PM 823 Views
Ah, that's a good point. - 22/10/2010 10:54:56 PM 693 Views
The women - 22/10/2010 07:18:45 PM 793 Views

Reply to Message