This collection contains several of Chekhov's most dreary, long, long stories. By dreary I mean depressing to the point of despair. Except for some of his early anecdotes, none of Chekhov's stories are very cheery or amusing to begin with and I truly admire and like reading Chekhov, but this collection of stories can make anyone already down in the dumps end up contemplating suicide. For mental health reasons I strongly suggest reading some Gogol short stories in between reading each of these tales.

Contents: The Party, A Woman's Kingdom, My Life: A Provincial's Story, An Unpleasant Business, A Nervous Breakdown ( )