You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is one of the funniest books I have read. I was cracking up all over the place. Probably dragged on a bit too long, there is one point where he basically talks about classical paintings/porn and why people will always be excited by those pictures when they're in a library full of boring, dull books and have the option to pull out a scandalous book of photos.
Ingeniously funny, cracked me up, too bad the ending is missing
Ingeniously funny, cracked me up, too bad the ending is missing
I'm vaguely reminded of CMOT Dibbler from Discworld. This is high praise.
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-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:
Yes
This was a reread after 15 years. First I read it when I was in highschool and it was in Croatian. That time I was so enthralled by it that it immediately became my favorite book of all time. Now after reading it in English after so many years I can say it still is one of the best books I've read. I started reading a Volokhonsky/Pevear translation but switched to Guilbert Guerney after reading a review here on SG. I would also recommend GG translation, it was so flowy and it felt a bit more natural, also less posh.
Dead Souls is truly a chronicle of Gogol's time and his masterpiece despite being unfinished. I will be definitely coming back to it and maybe I will have a more comprehensive review after future rereads.
Dead Souls is truly a chronicle of Gogol's time and his masterpiece despite being unfinished. I will be definitely coming back to it and maybe I will have a more comprehensive review after future rereads.
dark
reflective
slow-paced
You don't often find this much humor in 19th-century Russian lit, but Gogol is the master of it. Witty political condemnation of the Russian infrastructure, in which the main character collects "dead souls" or the people who have died since the last census, in a mad scheme.
challenging
funny
mysterious
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
Gogol's masterpiece of 19th century Russian literature is actually only the first part of a planned three part epic "poem" of the life of Chichikov -- a charming and crafty mid-level bureaucrat with a eye to raise himself up in Russian society. We meet Chichikov as the rest of a small village meets him: a substantial looking stranger who quickly charms us by doing and saying exactly what we would want him to do or say. As we spend more time with our hero, we begin to travel out to property owners in the area where Chichikov offers to purchase "dead souls" -- that is, peasants on the property owners rolls who have died, but not yet been reported as dead to the authorities. This all seems very mysterious to both the reader and a portion of the property owners, but we still can't help liking that Chichikov. Along the way, Gogol hilariously satirizes Russian society, with each visit forming almost a stand-alone story of a different type of provincial Russian. As you might expect, it is possible to be *too* charming, and this weird plan eventually backfires and sets Chichikov and his two servants back out on the road.
After the first part of his masterwork was published, Gogol set to work on the second part (wherein our hero is taught a lesson) and looked forward to the third (a Christian redemption), but struggled with his writing. He burnt an early version of the manuscript, wrote another one, and then fell in with a priest who ordered him to burn the sinful pages. Gogol did and died soon after as a result of extreme fasting. The editor of this volume puts together a partial second and third part of the work from earlier drafts and notes -- they are rough, but do give you an idea of the arc of the story.
While Gogol came to a tragic end, Chichikov can live happily ever after (pre-downfall and pre-redemption), stuck at the end of part 1 of the masterpiece, riding off into the sunset with his lists of dead souls.
After the first part of his masterwork was published, Gogol set to work on the second part (wherein our hero is taught a lesson) and looked forward to the third (a Christian redemption), but struggled with his writing. He burnt an early version of the manuscript, wrote another one, and then fell in with a priest who ordered him to burn the sinful pages. Gogol did and died soon after as a result of extreme fasting. The editor of this volume puts together a partial second and third part of the work from earlier drafts and notes -- they are rough, but do give you an idea of the arc of the story.
While Gogol came to a tragic end, Chichikov can live happily ever after (pre-downfall and pre-redemption), stuck at the end of part 1 of the masterpiece, riding off into the sunset with his lists of dead souls.