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runekeon's review against another edition
5.0
Very interesting not very entertaining and yet I want to read or listen to it again. Almost started over right after I finished listening but don’t think I would get more out of it yet.
bcrosser's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.25
mondyboy's review against another edition
For half the novella, a cynical, miserable man rants about people failing to act in their self-interest. In the second half, the wretched man provides an example to prove his case: his younger self’s awful, self-indulgent, spiteful actions. What’s depressing about this book is that it hasn’t aged one bit. The narrator’s rambling polemic, critiquing the Enlightenment and the prevailing view that rational men will always act for the greater good, feels all too relevant when there’s a better-than-decent chance that a fool like Trump might win a second term. The second half is Curb Your Enthusiasm levels of cringe where a younger version of our narrator, against common sense and self-interest, wastes the little money he has to attend a dinner amongst people he hates and who hate him just so he can act like a complete and utter arse. And then, to top it all off, he’s a prick to a lovely prostitute named Liza. It’s funny and discomfiting and so very sad as the narrator self-destructs at a rapid rate of knots (I did love his sour man-servant). I have no idea whether any writer before Dostoevsky predicted incels, but this is horribly prophetic stuff, and the fact as a society, we’re still circling the same toxic square is desperately sad. Glad I read it, though.
harryykellyy's review against another edition
2.0
it’s just a man ranting. the point of the book probably went over my head tbh.
keneiloe's review against another edition
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
Marvellous
levendir1021's review against another edition
1.0
I’ve been debating my rating of this book for a very long time. But in the end, I decided to settle on the one star, let me explain.
I am forever an optimist, this book is the complete opposite of that. This is probably why I absolutely hated it.
The book is divided into two parts. A shorter one in which the narrator talks about his thoughts, philosophies, etc. in form of a monologue and stream of consciousness. It's all over the place.
In the second part, he tells us about a few things that have happened in his life, his thought process during them and then just… ends.
There is definitely something genius about Dostoevsky managing to craft such an unlikeable, horrible protagonist. This might be a very excellent study on human nature and that is where I want to give this book credit. It’s not meant to be a fun read and I have read such books before and still managed to get a lot out of it.
Not this one though.
And I really, really tried.
The protagonist of this book is pathetic. He is the vilest and self-centred, sorry for himself person I think I have EVER read about. And every time I thought that maybe he was on to something he immediately was thinking of or doing something that roused all kinds of negative emotions in me. And you know what, maybe that was the point of this book because what did fascinate me was how incredibly self-aware the protagonist seemed to be and how some character responded to the protagonist in a way that I thought about responding.
However, that did not manage to save this short story in the slightest. The protagonist claims himself to be very smart, yet I can't see that to be the case at any point in the story and considers himself better than everyone while having achieved basically nothing and being socially outcast. He treats everyone around him horribly yet somehow expects people not to do the same with him. His anger and superiority complex is present on almost every page; he is literally the worst.
I understand that he is stuck, hasn’t managed to find his place in the world. And again, this is most likely an amazing character study, however, the never-ending contradictions, the pure malice and stupidity that this character shows didn’t manage to do that for me at all.
I would have DNFed this if it was not for my book club but I think that is enough Dostoyevsky for me.
I am forever an optimist, this book is the complete opposite of that. This is probably why I absolutely hated it.
The book is divided into two parts. A shorter one in which the narrator talks about his thoughts, philosophies, etc. in form of a monologue and stream of consciousness. It's all over the place.
In the second part, he tells us about a few things that have happened in his life, his thought process during them and then just… ends.
There is definitely something genius about Dostoevsky managing to craft such an unlikeable, horrible protagonist. This might be a very excellent study on human nature and that is where I want to give this book credit. It’s not meant to be a fun read and I have read such books before and still managed to get a lot out of it.
Not this one though.
And I really, really tried.
The protagonist of this book is pathetic. He is the vilest and self-centred, sorry for himself person I think I have EVER read about. And every time I thought that maybe he was on to something he immediately was thinking of or doing something that roused all kinds of negative emotions in me. And you know what, maybe that was the point of this book because what did fascinate me was how incredibly self-aware the protagonist seemed to be and how some character responded to the protagonist in a way that I thought about responding.
However, that did not manage to save this short story in the slightest. The protagonist claims himself to be very smart, yet I can't see that to be the case at any point in the story and considers himself better than everyone while having achieved basically nothing and being socially outcast. He treats everyone around him horribly yet somehow expects people not to do the same with him. His anger and superiority complex is present on almost every page; he is literally the worst.
I understand that he is stuck, hasn’t managed to find his place in the world. And again, this is most likely an amazing character study, however, the never-ending contradictions, the pure malice and stupidity that this character shows didn’t manage to do that for me at all.
I would have DNFed this if it was not for my book club but I think that is enough Dostoyevsky for me.
steven_nobody's review against another edition
5.0
I read through this twice. Underground is a masterpiece of misanthropy.