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I enjoyed this for its character portrayal much more than for the plot line. In the second half of the story, there is a piquant twist that does add some intrigue. The characters are amusing and the swipes at different cultural tendencies are fun.

The main character is telling the story. He is Russian, fifty-two years old and looking back thirty years when he had fallen in love with an Italian woman in Frankfurt. The year was 1840. Except, he then became head-over-heels infatuated with a Russian woman. The question is who will he marry, if any?!

The writing is descriptive. A sky, moonless, but with sparkling yellow, white, red and blue stars. Have you never seen such a sky? Think carefully, of course you have! Turgenev captures the feel of infatuation wonderfully. One character is phlegmatic. He is married to a woman who is flirtatious, exuberant and boundlessly free. They make a bet.

In that the Russian is looking back and remembering and telling us what happened, large portions are told. This is a drawback.

There is humor, of the satirical sort. There are snide remarks about German food and regimental behavior. French language and gastronomy are on the other hand characterized as being sophisticated. Italians are emotional, frivolous. One chuckles at the cultural innuendoes.

The audiobook is very well narrated by Neville Jason. He does dramatize, which I don't usually like. Yet he so well captures the characters' personalities that listening is like going to ta theater performance. It’s just plain fun!