The narrator of this book, the "author" of the diary is a man anticipating death within a week. Chulkaturin is alone - only an old woman caring for him - facing death without family or friends. He begins writing a diary, an accounting of his life. What begins as a biography beginning with his childhood, becomes the narration of a single event, an event he believes illustrates beyond all doubt that he is a "superfluous man". This event is a one-sided love for a girl just becoming a woman. In this story Turgenev presents us with alienation - 1850's Russian style. For those of us raised on existential alienation, this book is an excellent reminder that alienation is a far more universal literary theme - a theme well executed in this book.