Customer Reviews

Fathers and Sons

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This review will cover both the audio book and my impression of the novel.

The narrator was George Guidall. He had a pleasant voice and was easy to understand and listen to. He didn't do the types of characterizations that I learned to like in other readers. Thus, when different characters were speaking, you couldn't tell them apart by the way he spoke. In the case of this novel, it wasn't very important, since the dialog is clearly spelled out who was speaking. I would say that this reader was acceptable, but not outstanding.

The novel itself was very interesting mainly on account of the character of Bazarov, who is a nihilist. It gave me a good feel for what a nihilist really thinks. In this case, Bazarov has many good characteristics along with his strange beliefs and is well liked by the majority of the characters.

I thought that Turgenev did a good job of exploring this character and his relationships with others and the changes that occurred within himself. The other main characters were his best friend and both of their fathers. The generational differences were fascinating and the way that the fathers were so open minded with the new ways their sons were thinking was interesting to me.

It gave me a good glimpse into 19th century Russia. If I look at the author's peers, I still like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky better, but he is still worth reading.