Wednesday, June 26, 2002

Book Review: The Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy


‘The Cossacks’
By Leo Tolstoy

‘The Cossacks’ is a wonderful story of a young man who has seen the ‘best’ of the times and has volunteered himself out of a cozy rich life. Having lived carefree high society life for years, Olenin decides to give it up and goes to live the harsh life of a military man in the region of Cossacks. There he discovers his peace of mind and a balance that he was looking for. But things were not to remain just like that. He falls in love and finds himself in conflict with keeping his love or to maintain his friendship with a young Cossack man called Lukashka. He ends his stay by making it a journey and discovers the other side of human faces in the end.

Minutest details are captured so well in this novel, be it geographical or human psychology, that I don’t think any other author will be able to match Tolstoy in this area. It has been an enlightening read.

- [Rahul Tiwary]

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