Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - White Nights

The Setup: White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky - and O.N. Shartse as the translator - is a poignant and reflective novella that delves deep into the emotional themes of loneliness, unrequited love, and the longing for human connection. Set in St. Petersburg, the story unfolds over four nights and a morning, following the narrator, an unnamed dreamer who lives a solitary life detached from the bustling city around him.

The dreamer's life turns when he encounters a young woman named Nastenka, who also grapples with her loneliness and heartache. As they share their stories, a deep emotional connection develops between them. The dreamer falls quickly in love with Nastenka, but his feelings are not reciprocated, as she dives into the story about another man who has promised to return to her.

The novella delves into the dreamer's inner world, capturing his intense emotions and the fleeting nature of happiness. Dostoevsky masterfully portrays the pain of unfulfilled desires and the bittersweet reality of dreams that never come to fruition. This classical book resonates with the typical human condition and experience of love and connection, making it an engaging read for many.

What I Liked: This unnamed dreamer and Nastenka were certified YAPPERS and I was HERE for it. They delved on and on and on about the intricacies of loneliness and heartache. The dialogue felt real. This wasn't a classic with incredibly poetic prose 100% of the time (although it sure did include it), but the conversation between the two characters felt raw, helping you better understand their emotions and feelings. I was interested in their stories and what they were willing to share in this incredibly short novella. Overall, the lovely quotes and the yearning from the unnamed dreamer were profound and will stick with me. While this has some misogyny peppered throughout, likely because of the time, I did enjoy Nastenka's character and her complicated feelings with the man she was waiting for and the unnamed dreamer.

What Could've Been Better: This was a bit of a challenging read for me—there were lengthy sentences, and the language was so different from my usual reading. It felt a bit too short to develop that deep connection to the characters and the plot. That wasn't the point, but something was still missing for me. It's funny to fall in love in four days, too, but that's irrelevant, so I digress...

Overall, this book hit the spot and will stick with me for some time. Dostoevsky has a unique and heartfelt way of capturing the human experience.

Content Warnings

chainsawheartbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

“What shall I have to dream of when I have been so happy in reality beside you!”

As with all classics this took me a little while to get into, mainly because of the phrasing and writing, but my god this is a classic!

Hopeful and heartbreaking are the only two words that spring to mind.

This book, although only 70-ish pages, was a rollercoaster of emotions; I was so happy, full of warmth and hope, only to then became so distraught with a gut-wrenching pity in a matter of seconds, by just a few simple words.

It’s easy to see how many tragedies this has probably inspired, and I’m so glad, albeit utterly shattered, that I was recommended it.

Content Warnings

hayleyvem's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful sad medium-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

2.5

Content Warnings

thesvnthsense's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional fast-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

3.25

Content Warnings

lizetteratura's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad 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

1.5

1.5 ⭐

DISCLAIMER!! THIS IS JUST MY OPINION!!

I am struggling to find the words to describe how much I....disliked this story and did not, at any point, feel anything for these characters.

The story follows the main character, the narrator, who is a young man from Saint Petersburg who has suffered from extreme loneliness his whole life. One day, on a stroll through the streets of the city, he encounters and falls in love with a young woman, but the love is unrequited since she misses the man she loves, with whom she is ultimately reunited.
Our narrator is a lonely guy with few acquaintances, except for his housekeeper, Matrona. He is sensitive and philosophical (read pathetic and manipulative), looking for feminine admiration, but struggles with feeling isolated. (In other words, he's weird and has never felt a woman's touch.) He's an idealist who believes Nastenka, the young woman he meets and falls in love with in a day?, is the perfect woman he's been searching for his entire life. Nastenka is, similarly to our narrator, an emotional, whimsical, and idealistic young lady. Throughout the story, she is constantly torn between feelings, unable to let go of her lover, whose return she is waiting for. However, she worries that he will never return to her. From there on, the narrator gaslights Nastenka into "being in love with him," and she thinks she loves him, but she doesn't because she's already in love with another. Therefore, under the guise of her confounded feelings, she professes love to the narrator, which in a way leads him on, then forgets about him the instant she reunites with her sweetheart and marries him. A mess. Anyways....

I disliked the portrayal of both characters; I found them so whiney and obnoxious that I couldn't wait for the story to end. Not in any moment did I feel or gather any sympathy or other similar emotions for them or the predicament from which they are suffering. You can blame that on either me being a hater to the core or on Dostoyevsky's writing, which I also didn't enjoy much. Also, before I get jumped, I know that one of the points of the story is the rejection of idealism and "living in one's head", but I just don't like the way it's done!

The 0.5 star is thanks to the only thing that I enjoyed, which was the truly sorrowful words that portrayed loneliness beautifully. The language is beautiful, and there are some particular quotes that sound better without knowing the context of the whole story, but that is about it.

Content Warnings

riverofhorton's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

2.0

White Nights
I read this after someone posted about it on TikTok, saying he thought he understood love, then he read this.

This was not about love. This was about abuse masquerading as love, with its stalking, paedophilia, coercion, love bombing and gaslighting. Women are consistently infantilised, regardless of their age, treated as objects to be sold, who are nought but over-emotional wrecks.

The female lead did have a couple of funny quips, but they were few and far between.

Bobok
I don't even know where to start with this. More misogyny, and paedophilia here, I'm afraid. As well as an unusual premise. It could see a similar idea being used for something else and it turning out good, but this just didn't do it.

Content Warnings

zauet's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

saturnsreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-paced

2.5

Content Warnings

More...