Reviews

Şeytanî by Mikhail Bulgakov

kaja_01's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

mirrortower's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense fast-paced

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

3.0

shannon_jayne1's review against another edition

challenging dark funny fast-paced

2.75

Thoroughly enjoyed ‘Master and Margarita’ so I thought I’d read some of Bulgakov’s other works. Definitely a mixed experience. I really enjoyed the absurdity of ‘Diabolad’ and saw the humour and satire in it. However, my experience of ‘A Chinese Tale’ was bleak- it’s only 11 pages long and it felt never-ending.

mayam330's review against another edition

adventurous challenging lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

roni9pepper's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

3.5

ancab's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

maryska's review against another edition

4.0

Povídky:
Zápisky na manžetách
Osudná vejce
Diaboliáda
Dům č. 13
Mrtvé duše (film. scénář)

cazzyfmw's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

hygrpfrt's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

mysimas's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

1.5

I read a bilingual Czech-Russian edition containing three stories — Diaboliad, House Nr. 13 and Chichikov’s Journey (the last two are direct translations of the Czech titles as I’m too lazy to look up the actual English titles). Anyway, I’ve been meaning for the longest time to read Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, but after this collection my enthusiasm’s waned considerably. Diaboliad started perfect — it was funny, it was absurd but not outside the realm of possibility, the criticism of bureaucracy was obvious and fun — and then the author went completely off his rocker and the story turned into a kind of Run, Lola, Run, except crazier. The other two stories I found plain boring, though I suppose Chichikov might be potentially interesting to those who’d actually read Gogol. Overall I did not have a good time and wouldn’t recommend this to anyone.