Srikanth's Reviews > A Hero of Our Time

This is a short and sweet novel describing four episodes of an antihero, Pechorin, who is intelligent, a veritable lady killer and disinterested in everything. He only does anything because he is bored and wants to throw a tantrum on somebody. He does get bored very quickly. Although the character is very unlikable the book is very delightful. The narrative sequences of the Caucasus mountains take us to the clean air, gorgeous vistas of the mountains, even in translation. The book does not also dwell too much on the psychology and philosophy like Dostoyevsky. The author just mentions them, muses them on a bit and then goes on to the next outrage perpetrated by the protagonist.

Definitely, a good read which I will recommend to everybody.

It is a bit of a coincidence that the last three novels that I read have the same kind of character - a very charming, rich, intelligent person who nevertheless is an outsider and has a tragic end - Pechorin in this novel, Stavrogin in Demons and Dick Diver in Tender is the Night. Is Don Draper in Mad Men based on this type?