Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev is a novella about love, lust and betrayal. It opens with the elderly Dmitry Sanin remembering his past and contemplating his
failure to secure love, marriage and children in his life.

As a young man in 1840, Sanin arrives in Frankfurt where he meets and falls in love with Gemma Roselli. Although Gemma is engaged to another, Sanin pursues her. They eventually admit to loving each other and go on to become engaged. He declares himself deliriously happy and decides to sell his Russian estate to fund his marriage to Gemma. He then meets a wealthy young married woman, the seductive Maria. He allows himself to fall for her charms and though feeling remorseful he decides to follow Maria and leave Gemma.

The story sharply defines the idea of love versus the concept of lust. Love is meant to be the ideal, but Sanin turned toward lust and ended up losing everything. Although Spring Torrents is meant to be autobiographical I still found it difficult to have much sympathy for Sanin. He didn’t have the strength of character to resist Maria, who was obviously toying with him. The author does give the story a sense of closure by having Sanin write to Gemma in later life and in turn receives her forgiveness. ( )

An impressive work. Most people who know Turgenev’s name know him for one work: Fathers and Sons. The “story” is a conventional story of a young man and young woman falling in love—though it should be noted that much of the action takes place in Frankfurt. (It is also worth noting that substantial biographical element in the story.) Soon enough, however, the story follows a tangent that turns out not to be a tangent and most readers, I suspect, will begin to have the tiniest inkling that something isn’t altogether “right.” (Maybe it would be somewhat more accurate to say “the tiniest inkling that something horrific might be on the horizon.”) I won’t say more but Turgenev tells his story brilliantly. Even though the shocker isn’t really a shocker, what happens has terrific impact. Definitely recommended. ( )

I liked listening to this audiobook. Even though it was an English version, it still had that Russian style. Not sure how to describe that, but if you've read (some) Russian classics, I think you know what I mean.
This book reminded me of A hero of our Time a bit. Young love, first love, the foolishness of duelling. How does this first love turn out? Well you'll have to read the book to find out :-) ( )

I listened to this book because it is on the 1001 list and because the LT 1001 group chose it for a monthly read. It took a few months for me to finish it mostly because I was too busy to sit down and listen to this. In the interests of truth I didn't find it a particularly gripping tale. I knew almost from the beginning how the romance was going to end and it was just a matter of confirming it.

A young Russian man, Dimitry Sanin, is returning to St. Petersburg by way of Frankfurt after spending the winter in Italy. He chances upon a confectioner's shop run by an Italian family. Due to certain circumstances he misses his coach to St. Petersburg and starts spending time with the Italian family. The young lady of the family, Gemma, is the principal attraction and it comes to pass that Sanin fights a duel for her. Soon thereafter he professes his love for her and asks her to marry him. Gemma accepts although she is already engaged. In order to provide for Gemma Sanin decides to sell his Russian estate. He chances to meet an old school friend who suggests that his wife, Maria Nikolaevna, would be prepared to buy it. So Dimitry travels to Wiesbaden with the school friend and meets the wife. Maria Nikolaevna plays with him and then seduces him. Sanin travels to Paris with Maria and her husband and abandons Gemma. Years later he finds a cross that Gemma had given him when he left Franfurt for Wiesbaden and he is moved to find Gemma in order to salve his conscience.

Apparently there are autobiographical elements to this book which makes me feel rather sorry for Turgenev but not sorry enough to give my review more than 3 stars. ( )

While Ivan Turgenev's "Spring Torrents" was a decent book, it really wasn't spectacular enough to deserve a place on the 1,001 list (which is why I read it.)

The novel tells the story of Dmitry Sanin, a Russian landowner who travels to Frankfurt and immediately falls in love with Gemma, whose family owns a candy shop. Antics ensue, which are fairly predictable.

I found the characters relatively interesting but didn't find much that was very special about this book. ( )