Zinaida, however, though we never get the novel from her point of view, I felt much closer to. I can't blame Turgenev since we have to consider when the novel was written, but still it's an element of human nature that is important. Had this been a slightly more modern novel - say written in the 1910's or 20's - there might have been a needed sexual undercurrent that is sorely missing here. I understand he was well bred and that his manners contrast beautifully with the situation of his love, but even when he was most mad, in the garden at midnight, I never really felt like I was with him. Not because I didn't share any of his experiences - what young man hasn't - but there was a strange formality in him that seemed at odds with his age. I have to admit to not feeling as close to Vladimir as I would have liked. The novel speaks to a greater need for people to live, at all costs and at any price, no matter the amount of pain it inflicts. The final image of the novel, of the old lady in rags and dying on a hard floor with a sack under her head as she fights to stay alive despite a lifetime of misery gives the novel a greater perspective than just a young man sadly in love with a woman he won't have.
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