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    Youth
    Youth
    Youth
    Ebook58 pages47 minutes

    Youth

    By Isaac Asimov

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Two young boys find some very unusual new pets in this short story from a Grand Master of Science Fiction.

    Tagging along while his astronomer father visits an industrialist at his vast estate, young Slim is lucky enough to make fast friends with the industrialist’s son, Red, who has recently caught some very strange animals on the property.
     
    The animals seem intelligent enough, and Red recruits Slim to help him train the odd creatures to do circus tricks. But the boys are about to discover their playthings aren’t exactly animals—and they’ve allowed themselves to be caught for a reason . . .
     
    Youth is a riveting tale from the author of countless classics, including I, Robot and the Foundation Trilogy, which won the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series.
     
    This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateMay 2, 2017
    ISBN9781504045346
    Author

    Isaac Asimov

    Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the founder of robot ethics, the world’s most prolific author of fiction and non-fiction. The Good Doctor’s fiction has been enjoyed by millions for more than half a century.

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    Reviews for Youth

    3.5/5

    81 ratings13 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A tender, sensitive book, and partly autobiographical - but only partly.

      Tolstoy had a difficult childhood, and at this time in his life, after seeing the Crimean War, and having been through so much - a difficult childhood, with both parents dying young, we see both the intense frustration he has with the world, but also his sensitivity and goodness - his ability to understand people, which so colors the rest of his work. It is partly his own life shown here, but also the childhood he wished he had. He paints these innocent scenes so well that one can recognize their own self in it - or is that just me, with my delusions of grandeur of being like him in some way?

      In any case, a very good book. Recommended for Tolstoy fans, as well as anyone reminiscing about childhood.
    • 4/5
      Though not called a "memoir," Tolstoy's trilogy [Childhood, Boyhood, Youth] is based on himself. It is his first published work and it is a joy to read. The boy, Nikolai Irten'ev, retells his childhood from about the age of eight to seventeen. It is not, however, the 'boy' telling the story, but his older, more mature (about 24 - Tolstoy's age when he wrote it) self who narrates with such astuteness and clarity the feelings of young boy angry at his tutor, the shame he feels when a complimentary poem he writes for his grandmother's name-day feels like a falsehood, and the contradictory thoughts and feelings of an adolescent who is vain, snobbish and self-involved, yet sensitive and easily offended. The tone of the narrative is so well-balanced, that the reader comes to truly like Nikolai, despite his sometimes inane and thoughtless actions, because of the insight of his narrator-self. One would have liked the story to continue to the point where we see this more empathetic and insightful Irten'ev come into being. In some ways, the narrative reminds me of Turgenev's novella "First Love," also the story of an adolescent retold from the perspective of a much older, wiser man. While Turgenev's story is a masterpiece as well, there is something so honest and unforced (the power of a great artist) about Tolstoy's early work that makes it refreshing to read.Another wonderful thing about these novellas is the description of how the Russian landed classes lived, how they interacted with their peers and with their subordinates, how they interacted with the opposite sex, what was thought 'comme il faut' and how important propriety was to this society. There is something a little 'Jane Austenish' about it.
    • 3/5
      This purports to be fiction but supposedly it is autobiographical. One can see why Tolstoy would not hold it forth as autobiography, since the narrator is an annoying and unlikeable person, who does stupid and gauche things repeatedly. But one can see that Tolstoy is an able writer, even in this early work, published in 1852 and 1856. I cannot say I enjoyed it greatly, but after finishing it I was glad to have read it and felt the time spent reading it was worthwhile
    • 4/5
      This short story first appeared in Space Science Fiction in May 1952. It's currently available through Project Gutenberg. I confess, I guessed the reveal fairly early on in the story, but it didn't take away from the fun of it one bit. In the story, two kids have found a couple of very small animals that they plan to keep and feed and use as their ticket into working for the circus. Their fathers are waiting for a space ship with very small aliens to land so they can initiate business between their two peoples. I think you can see where this is heading. The kids make the connection before the adults, naturally. Like Ray Bradbury, Asimov values and idealizes boyhood mischief and so forth. That shines through in the way that the Industrialist treats his son who tells his wife at one point to stop chivvying the boy after he's told to get rid of his animals, understanding that once told, he will do it. (Side note: I love the word "chivvying.") This is a great little story. Look it up and enjoy!
    • 5/5
      It's the first time for me, read Asimov's work. I never know that I'll ended up liking it so much.
    • 5/5
      Amazed, didn’t expect at all the ending. I really enjoyed it.
    • 5/5
      Another phenomenal story by Asimov! Very well written short story with an ending that makes you think. Just the way all science fiction stories should be!
    • 3/5
      This was the first Isaac Asimov piece of writing I’ve read. It was entertaining enough and the surprise ending was clever.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Difficult to rate as I read a sickly-sweet Finnish translation, so I'll give it a three as it clearly can't be quite as bad as it seemed. In any case this early Tolstoy work was originally published part by part with the third publication combining _Childhood_ and _Boyhood_ with _Youth_, the final part. _Youth_ is by far the strongest work in this trilogy, the only part that made me think this really is Tolstoy. The two earlier parts, which made me gag and retch and angry enough to want to slap Tolstoy, appear to have more clarity and taste in the Maude translation this edition refers to, but I doubt even a good translation can completely negate the general dullness of them.
    • 3/5
      Classic Asimov short story - he subtly has you thinking what he wants you to think so he can surprise you with a twist at the end. Fun, quick read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Classic Asimov: a story filled with great ideas, executed in a competent - but not much better - fashion.
    • 3/5
      Nice twist at end but cover would give it away.
    • 3/5
      Cute story for its Genre.

    Book preview

    Youth - Isaac Asimov

    Asimov_Youth.jpgsignup

    Youth

    Isaac Asimov

    logo2

    Red and Slim found the two strange little animals the morning after they heard the thunder sounds. They knew that they could never show their new pets to their parents.

    I

    THERE WAS A SPATTER OF pebbles against the window and the youngster stirred in his sleep. Another, and he was awake.

    He sat up stiffly in bed. Seconds passed while he interpreted his strange surroundings. He wasn’t in his own home, of course. This was out in the country. It was colder than it should be and there was green at the window.

    Slim!

    The call was a hoarse, urgent whisper, and the youngster bounded to the open window.

    Slim wasn’t his real name, but the new friend he had met the day before had needed only one look at his slight figure to say, You’re Slim. He added, I’m Red.

    Red wasn’t his real name, either, but its appropriateness was obvious. They were friends instantly with the quick unquestioning friendship of young ones not yet quite in adolescence, before even the first stains of adulthood began to make their appearance.

    Slim cried, Hi, Red! and waved cheerfully, still blinking the sleep out of himself.

    Red kept to his croaking whisper, Quiet! You want to wake somebody?

    Slim noticed all at once that the sun scarcely topped the low hills in the east, that the shadows were long and soft, and that the grass was wet.

    Slim said, more softly, What’s the matter?

    Red only waved for him to come out.

    Slim dressed quickly, gladly confining his morning wash to the momentary sprinkle of a little lukewarm water. He let the air dry the exposed portions of his body as he ran out, while bare skin grew wet against the dewy grass.

    Red said, You’ve got to be quiet. If Mom wakes up or Dad or your Dad or even any of the hands then it’ll be ‘Come on in or you’ll catch your death of cold.’

    He mimicked voice and tone faithfully, so that Slim laughed and thought that there had never been so funny a fellow as Red.

    Slim said, eagerly, Do you come out here every day like this, Red? Real early? It’s like the whole world is just yours, isn’t it, Red? No one else around and all like that. He felt proud at being allowed entrance into this private world.

    Red stared at him sidelong. He said carelessly, I’ve been up for hours. Didn’t you hear it last night?

    Hear what?

    Thunder.

    Was there a thunderstorm? Slim never slept through a thunderstorm.

    "I guess not. But there was thunder. I heard it, and then I went to the window and it

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