Chekhov Shorts: The Requiem
January 27, 2010 by Rob
Filed under Checkin Off the Chekhov Shorts, Short Story Reviews
Title: The Requiem
Date Read: 26th January 2010
Word Count: 1989
Briefly: Shopkeeper Andrey Andreyitch is waiting for the church to empty at the end of Sunday mass, when he notices an angry Father Grigory beckoning him over. It’s about a note that Andrey handed in before mass, asking for prayers to be given to his recently deceased daughter. It seems the note contains a word that maddens the Father greatly, and it’s a word which would even be ‘unseemly to utter in the street’, let alone the church.
Afterthoughts: I really, really liked this story. It’s main principle is greatly outdated in today’s modern age i.e. that it is highly immoral to be employed as an actress, but the story turns out to be more of a contemplation on a man’s failure as a father, rather than anything else. Really good stuff!
Notable Quote: The shopkeeper looked at Father Grigory’s red and wrathful face, and only then realized that the twitching eyebrows and beckoning finger might refer to him. He started, left the railing, and hesitatingly walked towards the altar, tramping with his heavy goloshes.
Rating: 
*Story read as part of my Checkin’ Off The Chekhov Shorts reading challenge.
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Rob, a self-confessed bibliophile, is without any hope of rehabilitation. He gets unnaturally excited over anything book-shaped, and if book sniffing were a crime then he would have been locked up years ago (which wouldn't bother him in the slightest provided his cell were lined with books)
