And now, a book review of "Лавр" in English

Газета 401

Follow this link for the full text of the New Yorker review.

This review, "Holy Foolery," considers the English translation of the book whose Russian-language review we will consider tomorrow.

"Holy Foolery" is not an easy essay to read, even for native English speakers, and we don't expect you to master it overnight. For our first discussion, please take your paper copies and mark the words and phrases that are interesting or difficult. Here are some basic question we want to apply to both the Russian and English reviews of the novel over our next two or three classes:

1. What are the special characteristics of a book review?
2. Based on these reviews, what is the theme or plot of this novel? How is it organized?
3. What are three unusual features of this novel?
4. What important questions of life might be touched on by this novel?
5. (If you have not already read it) ... Are you interested in reading this novel? Why or why not?