Found The Twelve Chairs in translation online: New to me. Thank you for expanding my reading universe. What a promising beginning:
...it seemed as though the town's inhabitants were born solely to get a haircut, freshen up with some Vegetal, and then promptly expire.
There is something in the tone of this story that reminds me of Gogol, a longtime favorite.
I'm looking forward to reading this, although the format will be challenging.
Have a great New Year, @qwerrie
oh! yes, the satire is quite comparable to Gogol's style. the same mockery of the country's inhabitants, just a hundred years later; morals have changed, but they remain .... pretty laughable! good luck with grok-ing that novel, in my opinion it is pretty rewarding.
NB. this is a classic film adaptation where the casting has hit the mark very precisely. if you ever need visuals to match them to the test, they're A+ here: