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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
wonderful classic stories full of wit, intrigue, humor and horror
This book is beyond words. It made me laugh and it made me nod in approval. I got acquainted with characters so lively and real, and who can be still found out there in others, nearly 200 hundred years later. I wish SO MUCH he had had a chance to finish the other two volumes that he planned... But I guess it just wasn't meant to be.
Of all the unfinished works in world literature, Dead Souls might be the most tragic. This book is brimming with genuinely funny centuries-old humor, wildly evocative descriptive language and incredibly-written characters at each turn. You can really see the influence the blueprint for so many self-referential books in it (if on a winters night a traveller… came to mind for me). And yet, despite the fact that the narrator even name drops the two unfinished next parts in the text, Dead Souls does not feel incomplete, but works as a perfectly-contained novel itself. I don’t just strongly recommend but actually demand that you read the Guerney translation revised by Fusso. Gogol isn’t Chekhov or Tolstoy, he did not write prose that is easy to translate into English. So this translation has accomplished something really Herculean in bringing across so much culturally specific material in a way that English-language readers can really appreciate [or at least I assume as a non-Russian speaker :) ]
Thought-provoking, interesting, and amusing. I hate that the second book is lost forever, and almost wish I had ended it all after volume one instead of making my way through the scraps of volume 2.
So full of great character sketches and funny lines. One of the great con man novels.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
great book, but can get slightly boring at times. otherwise a 5 star with its unique humor and modern style
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dont feel like going back since left It. Great book but will catch up later. So for now, It Is Do Not Finished.