EVE Online review | PC Gamer
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A compelling virtual world that stands the test of time with an incredible 15-year history.
Our Verdict
A compelling virtual world that stands the test of time with an incredible 15-year history.
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We originally reviewed EVE Online in 2003. It has grown and changed so much since then, we decided to review it again. Read more about why we’ve decided to re-review certain games here . Reviewer Brendan Drain is a long-time EVE player, and also heads indie studio Brain And Nerd, which is currently developing a sci-fi strategy game.
Need to Know
What Is It?: Single-shard sci-fi sandbox MMO.
Reviewed On: Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.40GHz, 16Gb RAM, Radeon HD 7870
Price: Limited free to play with optional $14.95/month subscription and microtransactions
Release Date: Out now
Publisher: CCP Games
Developer: CCP Games
Multiplayer: Massively multiplayer
Link: Official site
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☆☆☆☆☆
“It’s not for everyone,” I say as I introduce a friend to EVE Online, hedging my bets on the off-chance that he actually tries the space sandbox MMO. I know that the reality of the day-to-day goings-on in EVE are unlikely to live up to the amazing stories I’ve told him of political intrigue, colossal wars, and record-breaking betrayals. EVE Online is a deeply compelling virtual galaxy in which incredible stories can take place, but only as infrequent punctuation to a more sedate space simulation.
Those epic tales you read are EVE’s highlight reel, and each memorable moment you might be a part of will be separated by long periods of patient preparation.
When it was first released back in 2003, EVE was a largely empty universe with a smattering of players all trying to grab power and smash each other’s heads in with it. PC Gamer’s original review at the time aptly described it as “a desolate wilderness of constellations,” but for some the challenge of taming that wilderness and carving out a chunk of it for themselves was irresistible. The empty world of New Eden was a newly opened book, and those early players were writing the first chapter in each other’s blood.
I was first introduced to EVE in early 2004 and have watched it grow over the years into a complex sandbox with a wide variety of roles and activities to suit different people. Players who enjoy PvP can become pirates or fight for one of the empire faction’s militias, spending their days playing games of cat and mouse with other players through the low-security areas of the galaxy.
They could join one of the warring alliances out in the lawless null-security regions and become part of massive fleet battles, or join a ruthless war corporation looking for weak groups to gank in high-security space.
Putting in the hours
Combat in EVE is so high-stakes that new players frequently experience physical shaking.
PvE-focused players can grind missions to help the NPC-run corporations of EVE fight off pirates and rival organisations and collect bounties in the process, or farm endless streams of NPCs in asteroid belts or cosmic anomalies. Explorers can use scan probes to search space for hidden pirate sites in the hopes of making a big find, or even venture through unstable wormholes into one of the thousands of hidden star systems. Industrialists spend their days hoovering up asteroids all throughout New Eden, manufacturing most of the ships and modules players use, and making profit trading on the fully player-run market.
The one thing all of these activities have in common is that they’re slow and deliberate, with a lot of downtime between moments of action or surprise. Players will spend hours hunting for that elusive kill for an adrenaline high (combat in EVE is so high-stakes that new players frequently experience physical shaking). Or they’ll spend that time farming ISK (the in-game currency) to replace lost ships, analysing markets for opportunities, and designing the perfect ship setups for particular tasks. You could look at this as busywork or grindy gameplay, but it’s all in preparation for those moments of action that matter most.
Every player you talk to will have small emergent stories of battles they were part of or other interesting things they’ve done in the sandbox, but underneath each story is painstaking prep. Grinding up ISK to buy PvP ships is what ultimately enables that chance moment where you bag an amazing kill, or lets you join a fleet battle that makes history. Investing the time to forge social relationships and figure out how the game works is what turns you into the expert people rely on, even into a leader of thousands.
Are the infrequent highs of EVE worth the slow plod of progression and preparation in between? I definitely think so, and I’ll gladly take hours of mining and fiddling with ship setups if it means that one day I’ll have a story to tell.
Starting your space life
EVE may be 15 years old at this point, but the new player experience is practically brand new and starting a character is now quite a polished process. You’ll get plenty of information on each of the four playable races before making your choice, and design the character with EVE’s in-depth body and head sculpting character creator—but keep in mind that this is all largely cosmetic. Any race can train the skills to fly any ship, and your character will only be visible as a small head-shot photo in-game since CCP disappointingly abandoned its ‘walking in stations’ feature.
The tutorial itself gives simple step-by-step instructions and is fully voice acted to keep players engaged throughout, which is a damn sight better than the start I had in 2004.
You’ll also get to take part in a simulated fleet fight with NPCs, which is a nice touch as it gives a good sense of the scale that EVE reaches if you eventually join a player alliance.
The one thing the tutorial can’t guarantee is that you’ll have intrinsic motivation to keep playing when the scripted story ends and the reality of EVE’s slow progression sinks in. Many new players report having an «OK, now what?» moment when they aren’t being told what to do anymore, and some just decide to stop playing. Why is that?
Above: An example of what a major battle looks like in EVE.
The truth is that EVE Online is a fundamentally slow game that requires a considerable time investment to make progress in, and that can make it very boring for new players. Simple tasks such as travelling to a space station and picking up an item require just clicking a few buttons, but can take several minutes to complete, as you watch your ship slowly warp to the station and dock. Long journeys from one corner of the galaxy to another can take so long that doing them manually would melt your brain, though there’s an autopilot feature which will do it all for you (albeit at a reduced speed).
Mining is similarly boring in that you only need to interact with the game once every 15 minutes or so to empty your cargo hold, and it takes several hours of mining for a new player to get enough ore to build a new ship.
While these everyday tasks take a lot of time and are thoroughly unengaging, they play an important role in allowing people to play at a relaxed pace or even run EVE in the background and still make progress. I’m not ashamed to admit that I often spend evenings quietly mining or hauling on one screen while playing Overwatch or watching Netflix on the other, and there’s something compelling about knowing that I’m still being productive in my downtime.
Making these activities more actively engaging might improve the minute-to-minute experience of new players, but EVE would lose something fundamental—the contrast that makes the exciting bits so exciting and the pain of loss so devastating, the slow progress that makes joining a corporation so important and encourages socialization and specialization.
When you do have the time to actively engage with EVE, a faster pace of action can be found in other activities such as combat missions and exploration sites. On the extreme end of the activity scale are PvP and the new Abyssal Deadspace PvE dungeons, both of which require your complete attention as you have to rapidly respond to changing and emergent circumstances.
The UI is now a hodge-podge of windows and other elements designed at different stages of EVE’s lifetime and following different visual styles.
The user interface is another major sticking point for many new players. My housemate once described it as an “unfriendly, scary, complicated calculator,” and he’s really not wrong. EVE’s age is partly to blame for that, as there are now over 15 years of features built on top of each other and it all has to be crammed in somewhere. The UI is now a hodgepodge of windows and other elements designed at different stages of EVE’s lifetime and following different visual styles.
Unifying features such as tooltips, the taskbar, and notifications help add some much-needed cohesion and explorability to the interface, but the rookie help chat channel is still always packed with players asking for help finding the options they want.
New players also often find the realtime skill progression system unfamiliar and limiting, and some of the higher level skills require several months of just waiting to acquire. Skills essentially act as roadblocks between you and the ships and modules you want to use, and there’s no way to actively train them up through normal gameplay as you would in a typical MMO. Rich players can also buy skill injectors from other players to add skill points directly to their characters and skip those realtime roadblocks, a feature that is regarded by some to be a form of pay-to-win gameplay.
Performance and Settings
Anti-aliasing: High, Medium, Low, Disabled
Anisotropic filtering: No setting
FOV: Dynamic (~45 to ~100)
Misc.
gfx options: Post Processing, Shader Quality, Texture Quality, LOD Quality, Shadow Quality, individual visual effects can be toggled.
Remappable controls: Yes
Gamepad support: No
UI scaling: Yes
Though EVE as a game is now 15 years old, the engine has been remastered over time and the graphics have been kept up to date with current standards. I get a solid 60 fps in complex scenes with dozens of ships and objects on an Intel Core i7 3.4GHz system with a Radeon HD 7870 and 16GB RAM with all the graphics settings on maximum except for anti-aliasing, which is set to medium. I’ll occasionally drop to 30 fps in the rare scene with a lot of gas and particle effects. The main performance constraints are server-side, with star systems beginning to lag when hundreds of players gather in the same place unexpectedly. The server will slow to as low as 10% normal speed to counteract the effects of lag, but serious lag and disconnections will still occur in the largest battles involving thousands of players.
The real appeal of EVE Online isn’t in the minute-to-minute play but the things that groups of players can accomplish over time if they work together. Most people who play EVE in the long term aren’t masochists who love the clunky controls and the user interface that looks like it’s straight out of Microsoft Office. They continue play because they’ve become part of a community and feel like they belong to something. MMOs are at their best when played with a tight-knit group of good friends, and EVE does a great job of empowering groups and rewarding cooperation.
A new player will start the game able to fly only his chosen faction’s tech 1 frigates, small and fast ships with limited firepower and defences. Alone, they can realistically only accomplish basic PvE and mining tasks. But they can quickly upgrade to larger ships such as high-damage destroyers designed to kill frigates or tanky cruisers that can take a lot more of a beating, and this isn’t just a linear upgrade path.
Every ship has a purpose in the context of a group, and the lowly tech 1 frigate can play the vital role of PvP tackler after just a few days of skill training and mentoring.
As part of a small gang, the tackler’s role is to get close to enemy ships and hold them in place while the big guns do the killing, using a Warp Disruptor or Warp Scrambler to keep the enemy from warping away and Stasis Webs to physically slow their ship down. Further training allows players to specialise into other PvP fleet roles, flying heavy damage-dealing cruisers, logistics ships that repair friendly ships on the battlefield, or electronic warfare ships that can target-jam enemy ships.
EVE Online is to this day the most fascinating virtual worlds to observe and to read about.
EVE Online’s single most defining feature is its shared single-shard and instanceless universe, which allows groups of practically any size to form. This encourages players to band together for mutual benefit, forming corporations and alliances with shared identities, motivations, and long-term goals.
Large training organisations such as Signal Cartel, EVE University, Pandemic Horde, and Karmafleet regularly recruit new players and offer everything from free ships and advice to structured activities. Even a small independent corporation can build and maintain its own space stations, see success with roaming PvP gangs, and tackle high-end PvE content such as dangerous wormhole anomalies and combat sites.
The bad news here is that EVE Online doesn’t offer much of a compelling hook for the solo player who isn’t interested in joining a corporation and isn’t out to make friends. Lone wolves will typically only be able to engage in repetitive solo PvE play such as combat missions, mining, and trading, can struggle to stay alive outside of high-security space, and will be extremely hard pressed to find PvP fights they can win. EVE Online is a ruthlessly social game that can be difficult to succeed in on your own, which is both its greatest strength and one of its most cited failings.
Making history
EVE Online is to this day one of the most fascinating virtual worlds to observe and to read about. On the largest scales, huge alliances gather thousands of players together into massive fleets and carve up lucrative areas of the galaxy between them, giving rise to politics and warfare that often mirrors the real world in startling detail. There are areas of space controlled by coalitions of American and European alliances, regions annexed by the Russian power blocs, and countless neutral states and vassals paying tithe to far-off lords.
Most new players will give EVE a try after reading some incredible story of a record-breaking war or political betrayal in the sandbox, only to be confronted by a terminally slow game with so much depth you could drown in it. Many do. A combination of more than 15 years of new features and niche gameplay that remains distinct in the MMO genre conspire to make EVE a difficult game for the average person to get into and enjoy.
EVE’s big saving grace is its unparalleled scale and welcoming community, from the training corps that will show new players the ropes to the alliances that will eventually bring them into those history-making battles we’ve all read about.
If you’re in the market for a sci-fi MMO that’s more of a long-term hobby than a passing interest, something that you can become deeply engaged with and find a place to belong in, I highly recommend EVE Online. If you manage to scale the learning cliff and aren’t put off by the indirect controls and disharmonious user interface, you’ll be joining one of the most compelling virtual societies in gaming history and a world in which your actions can have real consequences. Just don’t try to go it alone.
EVE Online: Price Comparison
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EVE Online
A compelling virtual world that stands the test of time with an incredible 15-year history.
Parent reviews for EVE Online
desius
Adult
March 27, 2019
age 18+
The most unethical game I have ever played.
I have over 10 years experience in playing MMOs (massively multiplayer online games), and this game is by far the worst one I have played. There are a lot of cool aspects about the game, namely focused around exploration. However, this game is primarily a PvP game. As a generalization, PvP tends to produce more negative in-game interactions than PvE focused games. Children may not care about this, but parents should. What I feel makes Eve Online particularly bad, is that the game design is absolutely terrible with regards to most new players. Most MMOs frown upon camping other players in PvP. What Eve Online players call «ganking» is actually camping. Ganking in other games, usually involves killing a lower level player and then moving on. Leaving the defeated player alone after one kill.
Eve Online (company name is CCP and is owned by a Korean parent company) has decided that gate camps and station camps are good places for PvP to occur. As an example, you come out of a gate (load screen) to find someone in a carrier (which takes over a year to obtain) and you get complete blown up. You lose your ship and any time or money you have invested in that ship. New players can do nothing to compete one vs. one, and are forced to join corporations. On top of this, players are continually trying to scam or rip off other players. And, young players would not only be prime targets but will also be learning very personally destructive lessons, in-game. In the end, bad game design coupled with bad game ethics means that this is one game to avoid.
1 person found this helpful.
marc-antoineg
Adult
February 26, 2015
age 18+
I’m an EVE player
I’m an EVE player Been playing for a year an a half.
.. For those who got basic knowledge of that game universe, I’ve traveled to Nullsec, spent a year in a wormhole, sent an alt to see the ruins of the EVEgate, flew stealth bombers, participated in combat in fleet of more than 10 players vs even bigger fleets, and more…
This game has A LOT of issues, and CCP, the company, simply does not want to fix them, because of internal politics involving the group of players who turns out to have the most monthly subscription. First of all, this game requires your ingame character to learn skills to operate ships, modules, and such. Those skills can take WEEKS and MONTHS and even a YEAR in real life to train to a decent level. Worst, if you want to make any decent accomplishment in that game, you need to invest many hours EACH DAYS. This isnt the kinds of game you’ll play for half a hour and they get back to whatever you do in real life. Most people I know ingame spend six hours and more, and they barely make a living ingame… Even worst, the ingame bullying is omnipresent, and, once you leave your «rookie system» (the place where you start and get basic tutorial and such), you have no real protection and CCP is closed minded on helping players who fall victims of various in game scams and exploits outside «rookie system».
.. And, most players making a decent living in game are the ones using unofficial add-ons and mods (read: cheats), so it’s a prime exemple of «Crime pays».
Regarding moral values… Well, EVE got a complete universe in it, including EVERYTHING in real life… The Amarr are slave runners, and you will actually get to enslave innocent cilivials. Pirates do stuff pirates do in real life: traffic drugs, hold brothels, old style gladiator combat and such… Those are themes you will encounter, and though most are not graphically reprensented, they are aborded and omnipresent…
So, unless you want to be the proud parent of a bully, avoid this game… I wouldnt even recommend it to an adult, but for various other reasons…
Besides, I’d also like to point out that the montly subscribtion, after over a year, turns out to be a lot of money, and you have to add to this A LOT of purchassing assets on CCP website with real money (Aurum and PLEX) to sell them in game in order to have a capital…
This title has:
Too much violence
Too much swearing
Too much consumerism
1 person found this helpful.
torturedbythecia
Adult
July 18, 2013
age 18+
Not for Teens under any Circumstances
I’ve been a long time gamer. Whereas, face value, this has a well earned «T for Teen» as it is mild in sex, violence, drugs, etc., the rules of the game, being non-existent, encourage players to be terrible to one another.
For those worried about «consumerism,» this is not the game to allow youth to play, because it involves nothing but. There are not really NPC missions to pursue of any substance, other than attacking a few pirate ships. The main part of the game is gaining large fleets and taking on other fleets.
What is of most concern for parents is the behavior between players encouraged by CCP, the games parent company. CCP freely has created an environment where gang warfare, extortion, harassment, spying, theft, stalking, and manipulation of other players is not only freely allowed, but is actively encouraged.
Added to this, new players may find that one poorly composed sentence may make other players believe that you are some other player who has committed some heinous in game crime, like the theft of $16000 worth of merchandise from a corp or otherwise.
Privacy is of utmost importance, as all corporations demand access to other players’ wallets and transaction histories to see if that player is a spy for another group. As CCP allows scamming, this can make your child a target for scams or theft due to the fact that CCP openly streams to third party software any information which a player provides. And, given that all corporations you join require you to give them an access code to your «online API» which allows them to view your wallet and market transactions, your child’s in-game financial situation will be available for any player who wants to see it, regardless of his personal ethos regarding theft and con-artistry.
The game is good for those who like openly hostile environments and spy games, but if you’re not entering the game with a large group of people you know, it is unlikely that anyone will trust you and everyone will be suspicious of you.
I bought a six month subscription, thinking the game was extremely fun and complex after several days on trial. I played for about three weeks before I finally decided I didn’t want to spend money on hanging out with some of the worst people the internet has to offer.
CCP takes a very low look at harassment, for example, when the heads of one of the major alliances publicly gave out chat logs of a player who had admitted he was suicidal, gave out the player’s name, and then encouraged other players to continue to destroy his ship as much as possible:
CCP gave him a 30 day suspension. Whereas I believe with the particular player, being extremely high profile, this was probably acceptable as he learned how swiftly he can get punished and he payed the harassed player an inordinate amount of cash, it is one of the many examples as to why this game is not for teens.
It should always be known that all in game money has an out of game component, game time may be purchased from CCP and sold in game for in-game money.
One of the biggest heists of other players’ stuff has amounted to $16,000. Several players infiltrated a players’ corp, lured her to a remote region of space in her most expensive ship. They subsequently attacked and destroyed her ship and then stole everything from the corporation, a grand total of $16,000 worth of in-game items and money.
These are just a few examples how singular players will be and can be massively victimized by groups engaging in massively unethical behavior at any moment.
Please Google «Eve Online Suicidal Player» before deciding if you want your teen learning real life criminal and gang harassment skills and practicing them on real people.
This title has:
Too much violence
Too much swearing
Too much consumerism
1 person found this helpful.
OldManJoe
Adult
November 26, 2019
age 12+
An open video game.
Im an EVE veteran and have played actively for about 7 years. Throughout all of this, ive gotten a pretty good idea of the game and hope that I can help as much as possible.
I have two kids a boy (14) and a girl (17), my daugher never really picked up the game but my son recently gave up his Fortnite craze and started to play a «big boy game» with his Pops. Let me tell you that I heavily monitor my childrens internet use. My son can’t play Call of Duty or any game with excessive violence.
EVE is not a game parents should be worried about. It’s wholesome and teached the value of common sense and thinking things through. You work for the things you have in this game,and if you make a dumb mistake, you can lose it. But as far as the game being bad? Totally clean, some parents may not like the idea that you have the option to blow up other players ships. Do keep in mind though that it is actually impossible to «kill» in this game. Blowing up their ship leaves them in an emergency pod which the defeated player must navigate to a nearby space station and pick up a new ship.
I recently talked to a parent about this game. My son told her son about it and wanted to start playing it, the mother watched some Youtube video about the «Fountain War» which is a real in-game war that happened in the game involving hundreds of players, and the «Judgement Day Heist». These involve players that spend countless months, even years, planning some sort of heist or attack. While these things are possible, they are extremely rare and are by no means the «point» of the game. The game revolves around farming money, and buying ships.
While every decision is left up to the parent in the end, this parent happily plays EVE with his son before he goes to bed, and love that hes picked up such a great game.
This title has:
Great messages
Father_Biscuit
Adult
November 23, 2019
age 12+
A double edged sword
EVE online is a very wholesome game, I love that my 14 year old son enjoys intergalactic economies and asteroid mining instead of meaningless shooting and bloodshed like most of his peers.
A common misconception is that once a person starts to play they will play only EVE, think about only EVE, and speak about only EVE. Thats simply not true. I’ve played EVE for about 9 years, and typically only play 3-4 hours every week.
EVE is just like every other game out there, it doesn’t DEMAND that you pour countless hours, as a matter of fact it requires you to let things sit for hours even days . There are people addicted to this game, yes, but you’ll find that in any video game.
Hope I was able to help.
This title has:
Great messages
jorvis
Adult
June 15, 2018
age 12+
Amazing learning and social opportunity if parents are engaged
We are responsible (and often over-protective) parents to our four kids. Ours don’t play first-person shooters, etc. Reading the other adult reviews of Eve Online on here would probably sway me to not let them play it either.
I happened to have played this game over 10 years and it has given me a pretty solid perspective of its pros and cons. In many cases, its pros could also be its cons depending on the player.
First, the game is probably too complex to play or even interest anyone under 12. There is a lot of hierarchical dependency tracking in order to build and use different things and ships which would probably get frustrating before that age to try to follow. This is also one of the best things about the game. Most that my kids play provide no sense of real accomplishment or loss, along with all the lessons involved in both. In Eve though it can take weeks, months or even years to train and get resources for different levels of ships and equipment. When you enter a battle in your ship, losing it means LOSING IT. You don’t reset afterwards back in that ship to try again. This can provide real drama, anxiety and excitement because the player actually has something at stake if they take a risk.
This is a great area for parents to come in and talk with their kids about this stuff in a way that’s fun for them. They learn to guide their decisions based on whether it’s worth possibly losing that shiny new ship they’ve worked weeks for. The parents need to be there for the emotional backing if things are lost as well.
It’s also not all about battles with other real players. The game has many different tracks players can go on including exploration, mining asteroids for minerals, and running missions against computer-generated bad guys. The game area is HUGE, with hundreds of star systems, and divided into high and low security space.
The main risk of the game is in the chat channels. In the corner of your display is a small chat window, which allows for chatting with other players. There is always a ‘local’ channel where players that are all in the same system can talk with each other, but it’s common to also have a chat tab open with people in your corporation. Here, a ‘corp’ is equivalent to a clan you’ve decided to join.
These can be 4 or 5 friends who also play or larger ones with 100s of players that are well-organized. Here parents need to be involved. You can only be in one corporation and it takes a series of steps to change it, so parents should be involved in choosing which (and if) their kid joins a corp to see what the other players are like. This is no different than controlling what sort of people your kids are around in every day life. This should absolutely not deter you from letting them play — over the years this has given me great friends all across the globe. We now chat about our family lives, swap parenting stories, mail books to each other and grab lunch if we’re ever in the same cities.
Like so many things with kids, Eve is a great thing for them to play with engaged parents. If you’re the sort whose kid has a computer in their room and can play for hours/days alone and with no supervision, it’s probably not a good idea.
«On the eve» a summary of Turgenev’s novel — read the retelling online
10 min.
Ivan Turgenev
3.9
Average rating: 3.9
Total ratings received: 469.
Updated October 12, 2022
About
Turgenev’s novel «On the Eve» was written in 1860. In the work, the author introduced a completely new hero of his time — smart, active, purposeful, capable of decisive action. However, the fate of the hero turned out to be tragic, and thus Turgenev emphasized that Russia was not ready for such people, for radical changes.
For the best preparation for the literature lesson, we recommend reading the online summary of «The Eve» on our website. You can check your knowledge with a special test.
The material was prepared jointly with the teacher of the highest category Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature — 27 years.
Place and time of action
The events of the novel take place in 1853 in Russia, not far from the city of Kuntsevo, in Tsaritsyn, and also in Venice.
Main characters
- Elena Stakhova is a twenty-year-old girl, a noblewoman, smart, decisive, straightforward, capable of self-sacrifice.
- Dmitry Insarov — a young patriot, democrat, a man of revolutionary views, Elena’s husband.
Other characters
- Nikolai Artemyevich Stakhov – Elena’s father, a selfish, narcissistic man who has been living with another woman for a long time.
- Anna Vasilievna Stakhova — Elena’s mother, a very kind, compassionate woman who often felt sad and complained about life.
- Pavel Shubin — a young, promising sculptor, in love with Elena, rude, uncouth.
- Andrey Bersenev — an aspiring philosopher, candidate of Moscow University, an intelligent, subtle young man.
- Zoya is a young German woman, Elena’s friend, a pretty blonde with a beautiful voice.
Summary
Chapters 1-5
On the banks of the Moskva River «on one of the hottest summer days of 1853»
two young people were relaxing. One of them, Aleksey Bersenev, graduated from the university and promised to make a brilliant career as a scientist. His friend, Pavel Shubin, was an aspiring sculptor. Friends were arguing about love, about nature, about what role a person plays in it.
After the death of his mother, Pavel Shubin lived in the family of his second cousin, Anna Vasilievna Stakhova. The woman was not happily married. Her husband, Nikolai Artemyevich, married her for money and soon became friends with a German widow.
“Her heart was very loving and soft”
, and once Anna Vasilievna even gave Pavel money for a trip to Italy, but he went to Little Russia. Pavel was in love with Anna Vasilievna’s daughter, Elena, but this did not stop him from flirting with her friend Zoya sometimes. Elena did not reciprocate Paul, with whom she had nothing in common.
A smart and deep girl appreciated Bersenev. Communicating with him, she felt that «something tender, fair, good either poured into her heart, or grew in it»
.
Chapters 6-10
In Elena’s entire appearance there was «something nervous, electric, something impulsive and hurried, in a word, something that could not please everyone, that even repelled others»
. She was a direct, determined girl who did not forgive lies, did not tolerate weakness and stupidity. It is not surprising that she liked Bersenev.
Alexei went to Moscow to buy books and invite Insarov to his dacha. He was a young man, a Bulgarian, very intelligent and educated. His views were very close to Bersenev.
When Aleksey returned to the dacha, he met with Elena. The girl began to ask him about his studies at the university, about his comrades. Bersenev spoke about his friend Dmitry Insarov. The fate of the young Bulgarian was very sad. At the age of eight he was left an orphan.
His mother was «kidnapped and killed by a Turkish aga»
, and his father, who tried to take revenge, was shot. The boy was raised by his own aunt, who lived in Kyiv. When Insarov was twenty years old, he «wished to return to his homeland»
, where he traveled all over the cities, re-learned his native language. He came to Moscow «with the intention of becoming completely educated, getting closer to the Russians»
in order to later fight for the independence of his country. Insarov would be a proud man, but at the same time childishly sincere and defenseless. This story shook Elena deeply.
Chapters 11-14
Two days later, Insarov, «as promised, came to Bersenev with his luggage»
. He occupied one room, for which he paid Bersenev. He was very low on funds, but he was not going to live at anyone’s expense. The next day, Insarov got up at dawn and set to work: «he studied Russian history, law, and political economy, translated Bulgarian songs and chronicles, collected materials on the Eastern question, compiled Russian grammar for Bulgarians, Bulgarian for Russians»
.
Soon Shubin appeared, who, in a cheeky manner, met Insarov, and offered to go to «a nasty little tavern»
.
In the evening the company went to the Stakhovs. Elena expected more from meeting Insarov. She immediately liked him, but something “didn’t get along with the image that formed in her head from Bersenev’s stories”
. She painted him as an exalted hero, but he turned out to be a simple man.
Insarov rarely visited the Stakhovs. Once he visited Elena, and the girl asked how much he loves his homeland. The young man perked up and began to talk with enthusiasm about Bulgaria, about the hated Turkish yoke. Elena looked with different eyes at Insarov, who from then on began to visit her more and more often.
Chapters 15–20
One day Anna Vasilievna decided to have an extraordinary picnic in Tsaritsyno. After grandiose preparations, the whole company went on vacation. Approaching the Tsaritsyn ponds, all «unanimously wanted to ride on the water»
.
They began to sing, and Zoya sang best of all. Her clear voice attracted the attention of vacationing Germans, who very emotionally expressed their delight to her. After the boat trip, everyone enjoyed lunch on the grass. On the way back, the same tipsy Germans pestered the women. They demanded from Elena and Zoe «kiss»
. Insarov did not tolerate such rudeness and threw the main ringleader into the pond.
In the evening Elena poured out her emotions to the diary. She could not figure out which of the three young people she liked best. In each of them she saw flaws. However, Elena was forced to admit to herself that she was in love with Insarov.
Elena was deeply shocked by the news of Insarov’s departure. Bersenev explained to her that the young Bulgarian did not want «to satisfy his personal feelings to change his business and his duty»
, and that does not need «Russian love»
. Insarov was supposed to come to the Stakhovs to say goodbye, but he never came.
Unable to wait for him, Elena herself went to Bersenev’s dacha. She met Insarov and confessed her love. The young man explained that he was too poor and could not live in Russia. Elena agreed to any sacrifice for the sake of her beloved.
Chapters 21–25
Elena completed her diary and was ready to end her past. She was afraid of the unknown, but soon she0069 «calmed down a bit and got used to her new position» . Elena was expecting Insarov’s arrival from Moscow, but her father unexpectedly arrived instead. Nikolai Artemyevich believed that it was time for his daughter «to leave the society of various artists, schoolchildren and some Montenegrins and become like everyone else»
, that is, to get married. In addition, he also found a suitable groom — a young official from a noble family. That same evening, Elena was introduced to Yegor Kurnatovsky, her father’s protégé. Elena wrote to Insarov about this meeting.
The Stakhovs moved to Moscow, and Kurnatovsky began to visit them regularly.
Zoya liked him very much, and young people found many common topics for conversation. Insarov told Elena that the situation in Bulgaria had deteriorated and he had to return to his homeland. Elena wanted to go with him as his wife. Dmitry said that “need money, a passport”
. He paid a visit to the Stakhovs, but was coldly received by the father of the family. From strong experiences, he collapsed in a fever. Bersenev began to take care of the sick. He promised Elena that he would send her notes about the groom’s health.
Chapters 26–29
For eight days Insarov was between life and death. All this time, Elena could not think of anything but the well-being of a loved one. She prayed earnestly for his salvation, and breathed a sigh of relief when the danger was over. However, «Insarov’s strength recovered slowly, and the doctor spoke of a deep and general shock to the whole organism»
. When Elena visited him, he «suffocated from this closeness, from these touches, from this happiness»
.
The lovers talked for a long time, made plans for the future, swore eternal love to each other. That day they became really close.
Meanwhile, Elena’s father was extremely annoyed that Kurnatovsky was in no hurry to propose. Once, in the presence of a lackey, he complained to Shubin that Elena was always disappearing somewhere. Later, the footman told him the address of the house that Elena visited so often.
Chapters 30-35
Meanwhile, Turkey declared war on Russia, and «letters received by Insarov persistently called him to his homeland»
. He was still very weak, but “his soul caught fire; he no longer thought about the disease. Elena was expecting an unpleasant explanation with her parents. Her father began to reproach her for the lack of morality and moral principles. In response, Elena admitted that she secretly married Dmitry Insarov. This news knocked down the father: he could not believe that
«the daughter of the columned nobleman Nikolai Stakhov married a tramp, a commoner»
.
In anger, he began to threaten his daughter with a monastery, hard labor, deprivation of inheritance.
Shubin, having learned about the planned departure of Elena to Bulgaria, was shocked by her courage. This distant country to many «seemed to be something like the Siberian tundra»
. For the same reason, Anna Vasilievna was also in deep sadness. When looking at her unfortunate mother, Elena felt «deep, endless pity, similar to remorse»
. She cried, begged to forgive and accept her fate.
On the day of departure, three friends gathered at the Insarovs. Each of them felt that at this moment there was a farewell to their common past. When the couple were already getting into the wagon, Elena’s father ran out of breath and hung the icon around her neck.
Insarov did not feel at all well: he «had a short, dry cough almost incessantly, and his sunken eyes shone with a strange gleam»
. The spouses waited out the aggravation of his illness in Vienna, where they spent two months.
Then they settled in Venice and began to wait for the appearance of the ship to Bulgaria. All this time, Elena felt vague anxiety, she was tormented by the realization that happiness had to be paid for.
One night Elena woke up from the cry of her husband, who said goodbye to her in death throes. She called for help, and the doctor who arrived declared Insarov’s death «from an aneurysm associated with lung disorder»
. Elena asked Captain Rendich, who was supposed to deliver them to Bulgaria, to take her husband’s body to his homeland. Rendich agreed, but he did not know when he could bring Elena back. To his surprise, she refused to return. Elena wrote a letter to her parents, in which she said goodbye to them forever. She explained that she wanted to continue the work of her beloved husband and serve Bulgaria as best she could.
For five years, Stakhov tried to find his daughter, but could not get on her trail. No one ever found out whether «is she still alive, is she hiding somewhere, or has the little game of life ended, her slight fermentation has ended, and the turn of death has come»
.
And what is the result?
Elena Stakhova — after the death of Insarov, she remains to live in Bulgaria and continue her husband’s work, serving his country.
Dmitry Insarov — a long wait to return to his homeland undermines his strength, the disease worsens, and he dies, saying goodbye to his beloved wife.
Nikolay Artemyevich Stakhov — after Elena’s departure, he has been unsuccessfully trying to find her for five years.
Conclusion
The tragic end of the love of the main characters was predetermined from the very beginning. It is not at all easy to combine a great deed with personal emotions and experiences. The happiness of the lovers was short-lived, but it left a deep mark on the lives of the heroes of the novel.
After reading the brief retelling of «On the Eve», we recommend reading the work in its full version.
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Summary Turgenev The day before for the reader’s diary, read a brief retelling online
Text for the reader’s diary
Turgenev’s novel takes place at the end of the nineteenth century, on the eve of revolutions. The main characters are young and dreamy. Elena breaks out of the rotten environment of her parents, against all odds, marries Dmitry. Abroad, a revolutionary dies, but she is ready to continue helping the unfortunate.
The main idea of Turgenev’s story On the Eve
A novel about a new generation of people. In the finale, the question is asked, they say, will there be real people in Russia who are ready to improve life … the answer is given in the novel.
Read summary Turgenev On the eve
It all starts with a conversation between two friends. Andrei Bersenev yearns in the face of Nature, and Pyotr Shubin rejoices in life, advises to believe in Love. Without this feeling, everything is cold in the outside world. That’s just Shubin stands for the enjoyment of love, and Bersenev — for sacrifice. Conversation is defining in the novel.
Shubin is a distant relative of the Strakhovs. Daughter Elena blossoms there. Peter is not averse to hitting on her, as well as on her companion. All this is funny to Elena, it is more important for her to help the unfortunate. Andrei is also her admirer, but with his admiration for Insarov, he aroused in her an interest in a revolutionary with an amazing fate: her mother was stolen, her father was shot, he himself walked half of Europe. And his goal coincided with the desire of Elena.
A girl falls in love with «impregnable» Dmitry. Realizing that her parents would never accept this commoner, but prepared for her the fate of the rich wife of the right person.
They themselves once made a choice in favor of profit. However, they are not very happy with their fate, but they believe that «it should be so.» Despite them, Elena practically chooses the fate of the Decembrist.
She is secretly married to Dmitry, preparing to leave for him — to Bulgaria. Her parents, especially her father, are outraged by her self-will, even deprive her of her inheritance. Still, she does not regret her choice, even when Insarov dies. She is going to go to the sisters of mercy, but the trace of her is lost. However, there is no doubt that she will remain true to her ideals.
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Read the summary The day before. Brief summary. For a reader’s diary, take 5-6 sentences
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