Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Mistrz i Małgorzata by Mikhail Bulgakov

14 reviews

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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medium-paced
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No

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adventurous challenging dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

A thought-provoking story, especially after reading the author's history in the translator's introduction. It took a few chapters for me to get invested. As soon as the titular characters, Master and Margarita, showed up I didn't want to put the book down. It could have been done without the use of slurs, and the use of black people has nothing but slaves/objects to the story.

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark medium-paced

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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adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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challenging dark funny mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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dark slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I really enjoyed this book, especially the first half. However, there were some racist and sexist comments made. I feel this was due to the book’s age, but it was still present. 

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