Reviews

[SPOILERS ALERT]

I will only talk about White Nights for now. I have yet to read Bobok.

This novel might be short, but it explores many human behaviours, and existential questions, and provides a deep psychological insight on romantic love.

As an introduction to this review-ish text, here are some quotes that I felt deeply :

"I am a dreamer; I have so little life that I regard such moments as this one, now, to be so rare that I can't help repeating these moments in my dreams. I will dream of you all night, for an entire week, all year long."
"But how have you lived if there is no story?"
"Where are your dreams? How quickly do the years fly by! What have you done with your years? Did you live or not?"
"Because all that I have lost, all this, it was all nothing, a stupid, round zero - it was merely a dream!"

I resonate with this, and I can think about many people that do too. I remember moments of my life in which reality wasn't as interesting as my dreams. I call them scenarios. I would be excited to go to bed, so that I could have an hour or more of me making up my ideal lives. Sometimes I would even escape to these scenarios during the day; while walking down the street, etc. I really lived exquisite adventures, romances, and careers.

And so did the narrator. He is secluded from society and lonely; so he dreams of human connections and romance. He lived his entire life this way; the main character of his scenarios. But escapism is obviously toxic. And Dostoevsky shows it through the narrator's realization of the insignificance of his real life : Escapism only leads to disappointment.

"You are growing into manhood, you are outgrowing your former ideals: they are being smashed to dust, to bits and pieces; and if there is no other life, then you must build it from these bits and pieces."

This made sense for me, as a 26-year-old young adult. I see my twenties as a constant reincarnation. You deconstruct your old self to shape the person you are, over and over again. I am not the person that was 10 years ago. Neither am I the person I was last year or last week. New ideals, knowledge and experiences shape and change us. Now, is this what Dostoevsky had in mind ? I don't know, but this is how I understood it.

"And even though it was not better then, nevertheless, you somehow feel that it was easier, that you lived more comfortably, that there wasn't this black brooding that troubles you now."

Today is always worse than yesterday. How easy it is for us, with the passing of time, to forget our sorrows. You remember how you felt, on paper. But you don't feel how you felt. And so, today can only be worse. I struggled with severe depression for many years. And I know that 2017-2022 were the worst years of my life. But when I feel lonely, I miss my early twenties, and I think of those years with a fondness-like feeling, despite the ugly times I went through.

"It's always the old days with Grandmother! She was young in the old days, and the sun was warmer in the old days, and cream didn't go sour so quickly in the old days - it's always the old days!"

This reminded me of my parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents, and it made me smile.

Now, let's actually talk about the book as a whole :

The main focus of White Nights is the unrequited love of the narrator for Nastenka and her long-distance relationship with her fiancé. Both suffer their situations.

Through them, the author showcases how we tend to set too high expectations for our own sake. Nastenka continues to hope for her fiancé to come for her, regardless of his absence. Which upsets her more and more every night. While the narrator falls deeper in love with her. Even when she reminds him that he shall not fall for her. Even when she speaks of him as a brother and a dear friend. And even when all they talk about is her fiancé. He suffers her love for another, but still expects her to change her mind and fall for him. From Dostoevsky's point of view, this proneness to desire things outside our grasp seems to only lead to disappointment and disillusion.

This novel also provides a critical look on romance's importance in our culture. The narrator overly romanticizes love; it's perfect and unattainable, and it's what he feels for Nastenka, because she's the first woman he has a human connection with. He feels strong emotions for her. And most importantly, after being heartbroken, he returns to his old ways. Years pass by, and the only important moments of his life seem to be the time he spent in Nastenka's company ; four nights. He cannot move on. This fleeting romantic interest shaped his whole life. The narrator being nameless makes it easy for us to inject ourselves into the story. And through the narrator, the author reflects how we tend to place romance at the centre of our lives. For better or for worse.

"My God! A whole minute of bliss! Is that really so little for the whole of a man's life."

In case it is not clear, I loved this story. It was short and interesting. It made me reflect on my own habits. As always, Dostoevsky never misses an opportunity to make me contemplate my life. I am amazed at how relatable, and relevant his work still is, to this day.

More context: It is said that he wrote the book at 27, when he was living in Saint-Petersburg himself. His inspiration was, allegedly, his own introspection. Approximatively a year after writing this book, he lived a very traumatic experience: a near-execution. I heard many times that his writing improved a lot after this experience. And that the books he wrote before are not worth reading. So I was not expecting to enjoy White Nights as much as I did.

I yapped more than the MC. Thank you for reading.

betiiii's review

Go to review page

adventurous sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

avengersing's review

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The reason I picked this book up was because I read a tweet, “You think you know about love and then you read White Nights by Dostoevsky.”

I read the Penguin’s black and white edition. It combines the two short stories, White Nights and Bobok. It is translated from Russian by Ronald Meyer.

Now let’s start with the review.

It was such a beautiful read, ah! How it made my heartache! Empathy flowing through my body, with blood! How it soothed me! How can you not love Dostoevsky? It talks about yearning, and unrequited love while exploring the theme of what it means 'to love and be loved'.

Two lonely people, lonely for different reasons meet and share beautiful ‘white nights’ together embracing each other, listening, and soothing each other.

There are so many of my, new-found, favourite quotes.

lhisalisa21's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

planetakarina's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

0.5

More...