Eyes are opened

"Why, he is not intelligent, Mother. Merciful heavens, do understand, Mother, he is stupid!"—protestations of Nadya Ivanovna to her mother, Nina, after she realizes she does not like her fiancé, Andrei Andreyich. This is from Anton Chekhov's "Betrothed," the last story in the NYRB collection, "Peasants and Other Stories."(Related reading: my trip to Solidaridad Bookstore, where I got my copy.) I love reading the Russians: they often sound like Pinoy soap-operas!

It's too assuming and pretentious of me, but I hold a familiar connection to Chekhov: he was both a doctor and a writer. Took me a while, to be honest, to like Chekhov, but I'm resolved to read as much of his works as I can.