Bazarov annoyed me right from the start. I liked the way Turgenev wrote him, into the position of seeming not to notice the hypocrisy of his beliefs until the Odintsova sequence played itself out.

Some of it made me curious. Ie: when Bazarov comments that a botanist wouldn't study every birch tree, so why should one study every human to find the inevitably absent differences -- is Turgenev truly behind the idea that a scientist can learn all he knows about birch from one tree? Because that's not at all accurate, and I found myself trusting that the author knew that a scientist would indeed study multiple examples of the same tree to learn. It gave me an interesting perspective on Bazarov, at any rate. That type of thing happened to me several times, and another example is the "enigmatic eye" story, and Bazarov's assertion that that was simply romanticism and rot (referencing the anatomy of the eyeball). I have to admit that I enjoyed his uncomfortable evolution during the times with Odintsova. Particularly the section where he thinks about her "proud lips," "intelligent eyes," and wanting her to "look upon him with tenderness." Nice.

Odintsova also bothered me. I tend to want to give her the benefit of the doubt (seems she was preconditioned in her opinion of men, which makes sense, given her age/experience), but I dislike women who trap men. I think my benefit of the doubt is due to not being able to decide whether she knew what she actually felt. Maybe her own revelation was something like Bazarov's - she didn't see it coming, because she'd previously cared about nothing and "was going nowhere."

I liked the resolution, though I'm not glad B killed himself. I was not surprised, but it seemed a little too... easy. I was annoyed that because his stance came up against a wall, he decided to leave. Or, well, if it is correct that his end was his choice. Seemed so, to me.