The Forged Coupon

The Forged Coupon – Leo Tolstoy

In this novella, a father’s mean decision denying an allowance pushes a teenager to commit a petty crime with a schoolmate. The effects of the theft include felony, murder, imprisonment, and suffering. Another outcome, however, is the salvation of souls. Evil begets greater evil, but redemption remains a possibility because we all have an innate goodness that we can tap if not distracted by the demands of a fickle world.

I recommend this tale to readers who would like to practice Tolstoy before they take up Anna Karenin. For one, the themes are similar because Tolstoy deals with forbearance, the ineffectiveness of passing judgment, and the futility of money and material success as keys to contentment or the genuinely Christian life. Not only are the themes gigantic, but the sweep seems to cover most of European Russia and his time scale is almost a decade in this little story. Similar is the wide array of characters. They range from schoolboys to crooked priests to officious functionaries to cops on the take to simple-hearted widows. This gives needed practice in keeping the names of the characters straight, which is a challenge when reading Tolstoy’s works.

So, read this and if you find it floats your literary boat, there’s always Anna Karenin, the greatest novel of all time up there with All the King's Men and The Tale of Genji