wodehousing

given to me by my mom in the summer of 2008

Narrated by the character Alexei, a tutor to a wealthy Russian general, this book is mildly inspired by the own author’s experiences with gambling. Alexei is madly in love with Polina, the general’s daughter, and will do anything she tells him to, in actions of servility and love. One day, she asks him to take some of her money and gamble it at the local casino. From this first experience, he becomes addicted to gambling.
So, as you might’ve guessed, it’s a book about gambling. However, I was expecting a lot more addiction and vices, and less small talk about financial woes. Some of the characters weren’t very well-developed, and I couldn’t even understand what the relationship between some of them was. This was my first contact with Russian literature, and while I didn’t completely hate it, I didn’t love it either.
Read from May 21st to May 23rd, 2010.