A review by datmangotho
White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky

5.0

Sometimes you find a character in a story that resonates with you so soundly that the words on the page sound like words you could have written yourself, and you feel warm and seen, then you realize the story they're part of was written over a hundred years ago and it hits you: there is no unique situation. You are not alone. You are a part of the human race. The worries I have in my life are a mere copy of the worries of a middle-aged man in Russia in 1848. <3

As someone who grew up with social anxiety, reading the White Nights short story specifically felt like someone scraping the insides of my teenage tear-stained diary and shaping it into a sweet Russian story. The feelings of longing and desire are all the same; how comforting it was to see myself in such a different setting.

The ending is a bit less warm, but also comforting in the way that it shows how reality is sometimes.