From the Amazon web-site:

"Eugene Onegin is the master work of the poet whom Russians regard as the fountainhead of their literature. Set in 1820s Russia, Pushkin's verse novel follows the fates of three men and three women. Engaging, full of suspense, and varied in tone, it also portrays a large cast of other characters and offers the reader many literary, philosophical, and autobiographical digressions, often in a highly satrical vein. Eugene Onegin was Pushkin's own favourite work, and this new translation conveys the literal sense and the poetic music of the original."

Bookring:

BelleMorte, USA
Rico-Verde, Florida,USA
nastenka-d,Porto,Portugal
Zyana,Porto,Portugal
Marcenda,Lisboa,Portugal
p1ng,Lisboa,Portugal
Maria-Nunes,Lisboa,Portugal
QueenSissi,Seia,Portugal
borbolletta,Figueira da Foz,Portugal

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Tuscaloosa

got it today! i have one book before it but after that I'll get right on it. thansk for making me first in line for this! ^_^

+kil+

well, I must say that i really liked this story once I got into it. Although I had a big problem with Pushkin breaking in and randomly talking about himself and his writing. That was really annoying. Also, I still dont understand why Onegin decided to flirt with Olga. The ending was a little abrupt and despite everything I still feel sorry for Onegin. Russian writers, I have discovered, are very good at creating characters that you can despise and also love. Anyway, I am *very* glad that I read this and thank you very much for sending! I'll get it on its way to Rico as soon as I have an addy!

+kil+

RELEASE NOTES:

enjoy!

+kil+

The plot involves thwarted love, unruly passions, and a duel to the death. The real interest, however, is in Pushkin’s characters. Lenski the naïve, lovelorn poet and Onegin the disillusioned fop are bosom friends, demonstrating the attraction of opposites.
Though Lenski and Onegin are compelling in their contrast, the character Tatiana Larin is the most endearing. Mister Beck, in his brief & informative introduction, informs the reader that she is one of Russia’s most adored fictional creations. I recall reading something similar about Natasha Rostov of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. There are certain qualities shared by these two (good natured honesty, a certain purity of spirit) but their differences are more telling. Natasha is charming for her vibrant innocence, her girlish beauty, her natural gift for lightening the atmosphere wherever she goes. Tatiana is a creature of the night, of moonlit reveries, bookish meditations, and dreamy introspection. Her misbegotten love for Onegin is the pulsing life of the book. Misbegotten because Onegin is incapable of love: his character is summed up in the book’s master motto:

Filled with vanity, he had even more of that kind of pride which allows a person, from a—perhaps illusory—sense of superiority, to admit to both his good and bad deeds with the same indifference.

By the book’s end, we wonder if he has overcome this indifference, and if so, whether he stands to gain anything but suffering. In a letter to Tatiana, he writes;

And then I wanted nothing less
Than unrestricted independence,
A freedom I’ve since learned to hate.
…
I left behind all that I treasure,
Confusing fun with liberty;
My God! How foolish can one be!
And I’ve been punished in full measure!

These lines suggest that it isn’t possible to live happily for oneself alone. Happiness, in fact, is always fragile and fleeting in Eugene Onegin. It is born in solitude, or else, in the rare moments when two people manage to bring out the best in each other (though they likely won’t see eye to eye). More often, it seems, heartache and trouble arise when people come together. There is an apt quotation of a certain S. L. Frank in Beck’s introduction.

Aldous Huxley… has rightly observed that although Mozart’s music seems gay, it is in fact sad. The same can be said about the poetry of Pushkin… the explanation is the same in both cases. The artistic expression of sorrow, grief and the tragic is so filled with the light from some quiet, unearthly angelic sense of reconciliation and enlightenment that the content appears joyful.

There is a suppressed comedic tone here, as well as some suppressed rage. Eugene Onegin is a remarkable work. I intend to get a copy for myself. Short, fluid, and edifying, it is the sort of book that one can read profitably many times over .

Got it today! Thanks, Aquina!

When I first opened the book, I thougth: I'll never be able to read a novel in verse. But guess what: it took me just a weekend to read it! I was completly caugth by the story.
It will now go to Zyana. Enjoy it!

RELEASE NOTES:

I received this book a while ago but only today did i remember to journal it. It will be a few more days before I can start reading it because I'm swamped with work and other, seriously delayed, bookrings to get through. My apologies!