A Hero of Our Time. Mikhail Lermontov. 2009.

The first major Russian novel, A Hero of Our Time was both lauded and reviled upon publication.its hero, twenty-five- year- old Pecorino, is a beautiful and magnetic but nihilistic young army officer, bored by life and indifferent to his many sexual conquests. Chronicling his unforgettable adventures in the Caucasus involving brigands, smugglers, soldiers, rivals and lovers, this classic tale of alienation influenced Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Chekhov. And holds up a mirror not only to Lermontov’s rime but also to our own.