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stellamcvey's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The way the sentences grow and grow and grow before crashing into one another makes this an almost violent read. The pace only seems to increase until the relief of a full stop - and then you realise there is yet another one to come, a new formulation of deep tension that will be stretched beyond breaking point. It’s fantastic.
mattpatston's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
artemisadam's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Really didn’t like this.‘I can appreciate the research that went into it, but I didn’t enjoy reading it, I found a lot of bits to be dull, and some of the writing too matter of fact to make up for the dullness… maybe this is a failure of the translation, but I finished this slightly frustrated
copiousw's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
emmamd's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
amigo_reads's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
faintgirl's review against another edition
3.0
Now, it's probably a bit of a crime to take on Summer in Baden-Baden before having read any Dostoyevsky, or indeed knowing little about his life, but Baden-Baden does stand alone. Written by Leonid Tsypkin, a Jew who's self professed fascination with Dostoyevsky he admits is a little morbid, it consists of Tsypkin's musings over Dostoyevsky's final summer (I think), gambling away his and his wife's small earnings, and the return to St Petersburg, which Tsypkin is currently making himself, where D. dies with a bible in his hands. It's a real chronicle of descent, of a man methodical yet obsessed, who's love for one devoted woman is not enough to save him from himself. It's occasionally comical (the story of Anna Grigor'evna begging on the street from her own husband is a lovely but sad picture), but it's also a bit repetitive, as every day in Baden-Baden looks much like the last. But then, that's addiction, that's the loss of a life to an imagined pattern. I enjoyed this more than I thought, knowing so little about the subject, but it didn't stand out as exceptional.
graco's review against another edition
4.25
Tsypkin splices his own auto-fictional wintry journey chasing Dostoevsky's memory in Leningrad with Dostoevsky's own journey with his new wife to Baden Baden centuries earlier. Written in long descriptive paragraph/page long sentences with chapters. References several of Dostoevsky's works while exploring his tumultuous relationship with gambling and his wife as well as Tsypkin's struggle loving Dostoevsky, an open anti-semite, as a Jew.
kismazsola's review against another edition
I am sure, this is a masterpiece, only it has found me in no good time. And besides that I'm not really familar with Russian literature, which is sad indeed, but I guess it would have helped a lot in appreciating this book. For now I don't feel the strength to finish it... :(
sarapalooza's review against another edition
3.0
This book has a style unlike anything I’ve encountered. Although because of this style, the read is a bit challenging. For all that, it is immersive though, once one gets into the flow. A unique imagination of Dostoevsky’s time abroad and the end of his life told by a huge devotee of his work.