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A review by kyscg
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
"cowardice is the most terrible of vices"
when I first started reading this, I didn't really know about how the book is a well-acclaimed in literary circles for its satirical take on Soviet life. Coming from finishing the Gulag Archipelago, I wanted some light fiction, and I wow, my choice could not have been more ironic. With that in mind, I struggled with the writing initially, reading the first chapter four times before I got comfortable with the style.
It is not the most accessible of prose, but there is a switch midway when everything beings to click and then reading becomes effortless. The Pontius Pilate arc is simply wonderful, I can't say enough about this, I would love to read that as a standalone novel. There is a shooting scene between a cat hanging from a chandelier and the police, which is written so well that I wanted to copy down the words carefully.
Obviously, the Soviet satire pops up very quickly, and my P&V translation already had a lot of footnotes to nudge me along that direction. The secret police, the sudden disappearances, unexplained misfortunes, the insistence on documentation, the blatant corruption, the slow moving bureaucracy, "manuscripts don't burn" among others.
Sometimes things don't make sense, but I don't think they take away anything from the overall story. But you want to impatiently get over some obviously unnecessary fantastical elements or descriptions. I, for one, didn't really get what the whole thing with the ball was. I haven't read Goethe's Faust, so I couldn't really appreciate that angle, but I gather that it has something to do with making a deal with the devil. Also, this should've had a better title, that focused on Woland, neither the Master nor Margarita are particularly impressive in my opinion.
I would not recommend reading this book like a critic/lit-major would, but rather, read it like a child would, a fairytale from the shelf of the school library.
when I first started reading this, I didn't really know about how the book is a well-acclaimed in literary circles for its satirical take on Soviet life. Coming from finishing the Gulag Archipelago, I wanted some light fiction, and I wow, my choice could not have been more ironic. With that in mind, I struggled with the writing initially, reading the first chapter four times before I got comfortable with the style.
It is not the most accessible of prose, but there is a switch midway when everything beings to click and then reading becomes effortless. The Pontius Pilate arc is simply wonderful, I can't say enough about this, I would love to read that as a standalone novel. There is a shooting scene between a cat hanging from a chandelier and the police, which is written so well that I wanted to copy down the words carefully.
Obviously, the Soviet satire pops up very quickly, and my P&V translation already had a lot of footnotes to nudge me along that direction. The secret police, the sudden disappearances, unexplained misfortunes, the insistence on documentation, the blatant corruption, the slow moving bureaucracy, "manuscripts don't burn" among others.
Sometimes things don't make sense, but I don't think they take away anything from the overall story. But you want to impatiently get over some obviously unnecessary fantastical elements or descriptions. I, for one, didn't really get what the whole thing with the ball was. I haven't read Goethe's Faust, so I couldn't really appreciate that angle, but I gather that it has something to do with making a deal with the devil. Also, this should've had a better title, that focused on Woland, neither the Master nor Margarita are particularly impressive in my opinion.
I would not recommend reading this book like a critic/lit-major would, but rather, read it like a child would, a fairytale from the shelf of the school library.