Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

41 reviews

jinglelocks's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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kmhst25's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

1.5

While the first sections are extremely promising, the book ultimately devolves into male fantasies and fever dreams. I don't know how anyone can take this novel seriously. For example:
  • There is one main female character, and she is naked for more than half of all of her appearances.
  • There is one secondary female character, and she is naked for all of her appearances. 
  • In fact, most of the background women in the book are also naked. Female nudity is basically a theme. Theoretically, a lot of it can be explained by the association of witches with nudity, but there are so many non-witch naked women floating around that that explanation proves flimsy.
  • The "Master" is a man who writes one novel that his (barely fleshed out) lover reveres so much that she only calls him Master from then on, and he adopts the name as his own. (He still calls her by her name though, and her defining characteristics are that she's beautiful and that she's devoted to him.) If anyone asks him who he is, he only says, "I'm the Master." The Master conveniently shares several traits and life experiences with the author of this book.
  • Later in the novel, it becomes clear that some of the chapters that we have been reading are actually excerpts from the Master's brillaint masterpiece. So not only is he similar to the book's author, but the book's author decides that he is also qualified to write the Master's genius work.

Need I go on?

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_quinnsreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0


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aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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tsunami935's review against another edition

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

5.0

Certified banger. Went so hard the Soviet Union censored it.

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paradicsomleves's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-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

5.0


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myaharris's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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elessahr's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

4.5


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tamara_joy's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Truly bizarre.

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sunn_bleach's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A spectacular addition to my "where'd the funny parts go?" heuristic in books chock-full of hilarity that become all the more poignant toward the end where the humor falls away and the true heart of the book comes forth. My Eastern European friends say it was never funny to begin with; the early Soviet happenings are simply too close to home.

I finished this half a year ago and am still thinking about it. This could be a 5-star book in time. Impossible not to recommend to anyone even remotely interested in fantasy/magical realism, religious fiction, and Russian/USSR fiction.

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