"But if Irina was quiet, she was quiet the way a heated skillet is quiet – in the moments before you drop in the fat." Pushkin, a gentle-spirited Russian peasant with poetry in his soul and cabbage soup in his stomach is happy with his simple life, working the land whilst marvelling at nature's glory. From the safety of his rural idyll, he bears witness to both the collapse of the monarchy and the rise of Bolshevism with quiet consideration; such seismic shifts were hardly likely to affect hi

I believe I could read Amor Towles grocery list and find it wonderful. One seldom falls in love with a short-story character, just not enough time, but I have fallen for Pushkin, and I know his good heart will serve him well, no matter what line he finds himself in.My thanks to Laysee and Cheri for this one. Paying it forward:https://granta.com/the-line/

Amor Towles is a literary treasure, a brilliant story teller. He can make you fall in love with a rich Russian count or a poor Russian peasant as I did in this story. He can take you to places and times and you almost feel as if you are there. This is a beautiful short story about a good man and fans of Towles should not miss it. Thanks to Cheri, Sara and Laysee. I love how these wonderful short stories are passed along. Here’s the link: https://granta.com/the-line/

Master of the written word, author Amor Towles, brings us a short but beautiful story about Pushkin, a simple farmer, a lover of the land, who is forced to move to Moscow by his overbearing wife, and sad though he is to leave the only life he’s ever known, he soon discovers that standing in lines, queuing with others desperate for a loaf of bread, or a ration of sugar, brings new meaning to his life.Delightful protagonist, charming storyline, loved it!Thanks Angela M for the link. If you want to...

2 " I know you all love this dude" stars !! Third Most Fun Review Written in 2021 Award Gosh this was my first taste of Mr. Towles work and I know I am supposed to be charmed but quite frankly I would have preferred standing in a fourteen hour line to get a chance at seeing Britney Spears comeback tour. (I adore my Brit !) Enjoy this everybody as I can see why many of you love it. (I unapologetically didn't)

A wonderful short story of a humble peasant, Pushkin, who, while standing in line for daily products in the newly-emerging Soviet Russia, manages to retain dignity. The idea of 'getting things done' through finding the right lines is one of the symbols of socialism, at least at the basic level, for those who lived through those days. Again, a big thank-you to Connie who shared the link, and to Mr Towles's and Granta's generosity.Enjoy this little gem!https://granta.com/the-line/

"For to serve the ones we love and receive their approval in return, need life be any more complicated than that?"I met our hero, Pushkin, during the last days of the Tsar. His life in a small village was so satisfactory that he was without want of anything more. His wife Irina, however, was a cat of a different color. The bright lights and big city called and she, being a woman of strong determination, would have what she desired. Moscow, though alien to Pushkin, folded him into the lives of th...

“If we have learned nothing else… at least we have learned to stand in line.”Said in 1946 in “A Gentleman in Moscow”.One of the criticisms sometimes levelled at Towles’ novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, is that the Bolshevik revolution is only seen by a “former person”, from his very gilded cage.One of the things I disliked about Towles’ short story A Whimsy in the World was its magical unrealism.This short story is between the two in terms of realism and, written after A Gentleman in Moscow, but st...

In another search for more short stories by Amor Towles, I ran across this one, The Line, published by Granta.A story about a peasant named Pushkin and his wife, living in a small village in the early 1900’s. With no children, and only a small cottage and a few acres to farm, she wants more than days spent tilling the soil, harvesting crops ’moving back and forth across the land like a shuttle through a loom.’ They’d lived a simple life there, and Pushkin was so content, he couldn’t imagine want...

You can find a myriad of superb quotes up and down Goodread members' reviews. Here's another. ‘No one pushes a monarch over a cliff to celebrate the way things were,’ proclaimed Irina. ‘Once and for all, the time has come for Russians to lay the foundations of the future – shoulder to shoulder and stone by stone!’Why settle for one liners, though, when you can read the entire forty pages here, for free.https://granta.com/the-line/ Share the love! Pushkin is as loveably unique as Count Rostov.

The time has come.link: sourceA strange anxiety often surrounds me when I pick up any new author or book, the anxiety is all more pronounced when the author is somewhat founding his feet into the literary realm, for you may be pleasantly surprised or utterly dissatisfied but the most peculiar feeling arises from your literary buds when you don’t know how to react, for you are not sure about it- whether you enjoy it or not, and, often, it takes to sink in as you are being forced, pleasantly, of c...

In just 40 pages Amor Towles manages to create a complete and very satisfying short story including a character you just have to love. Pushkin is a Russian peasant who is happy spending his days tilling the fields until his wife finds politics and moves him to where it is all happening, Moscow. Just like another of this author's famous characters, Count Rostov, Pushkin is able to make the very best out of limiting circumstances. Who else could make so very much out of spending time in a queue?Th...

A nearly perfect short story in every way. I haven't seen this mentioned in any other reviews, but at one point Pushkin picks up a discarded paperback on the street. It is in English, which he can't read, but he is enamored of the picture on the cover, tears it off and keeps it in his pocket to look at over and over. The picture is described in detail, and is in every way the cover on the front of Rules of Civility. It is the mid 20's, which is the time period of the story, though the book was p...

5 🛂 🛂 🛂 🛂 🛂“Not a sigh of exasperation, you understand, but a sigh of such sentimental satisfaction that [s]he marked the passage with a star.”And four others quickly followed.At the end of this one I feel like one of the characters—doing my part, sharing the link, multiplying the goodness. No need to stand in line for this one. Read it free here:https://granta.com/the-line/

After reading phenomenal reviews praising the writing of Amor Towles, I thought of testing the waters with this delightfully different take on the challenges of living in Communist Russia. In the early part of the 19th century, a childless couple, Irina and Pushkin, migrate from rural Russia to Moscow and embrace this drastic alteration in situation as well as they can. Pushkin is a gentle, guileless man whose heart is brimming with goodwill and contentment and no amount of misery can steal this...

“By the grace of God, another line!” “For to serve the ones we love and receive their approval in return, need life be any more complicated than that?” 🥖🥖🥖🥖

Russia. Early 1900s. Pushkin and Irina are a childless peasant couple. They till the fields and lead a simple life blessed with ‘the holy sleep of the countryside.’ Whereas Pushkin is content, Irina is restless and convinced that ‘the time has come’ to seek a better future. And yet, I, the reader, was quite enamored of their hallowed, quiet existence (which Towles captured beautifully), that like Pushkin, I felt a bit wistful about them leaving it all behind. Is it a good idea? How will they ada...

4★“But if Irina was quiet, she was quiet the way a heated skillet is quiet – in the moments before you drop in the fat.”This is a fable-like short story about an agreeable fellow named Pushkin and his wife Irina. “During the last days of the last tsar, there lived a peasant named Pushkin in a small village one hundred miles from Moscow. Though Pushkin and his wife, Irina, had not been blessed with children, they had been blessed with a cozy two-room cottage and a few acres that they farmed with

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.this is the SIXTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who li...

Wonderful story!