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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I heard this described as “the Russian Nicholas Nickleby” but to me that’s inaccurate, it’s the Russian Pickwick Papers if anything, but not nearly as refined. Very funny in places, but it has strange narrative quirks which seem to echo Don Quixote, parts of the manuscript missing, and so forth. But it has not the charm of either Dickens or Cervantes.
I usually brace myself for a descent into madness and mania that so often occurs in Russian literature, and there are certainly plenty of eccentrics in this novel. But apparently the author, Gogol went mad from trying to perfectly encapsulate the Russian character in his novels.
Somewhat enjoyable, but not for me a great work. 5/10
I usually brace myself for a descent into madness and mania that so often occurs in Russian literature, and there are certainly plenty of eccentrics in this novel. But apparently the author, Gogol went mad from trying to perfectly encapsulate the Russian character in his novels.
Somewhat enjoyable, but not for me a great work. 5/10
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn't know this book was not completed when I began reading it, but I'm glad I read it. A lot of the writer's asides still feel as timely today as they do when they were written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Very humorous. Loses stars for blatant antisemitism, and for the many extended patriotic monologues. There are also a lot of parts of the manuscript missing (or never written maybe), so the plot is not particularly clear.
Quite enjoyed Nozdrev, he’s the worst!
Quite enjoyed Nozdrev, he’s the worst!
The plot concerns Chikikov, a con man who travels rural Russia with his two servants, intent on buying “dead souls”. In those days, Russian landowners owned not only the land, but also the peasants living on that land, the serfs, or “muzhiks”. Between censuses, the serfs who died were still “on the books”, and the landowners had to pay taxes on them, even though they were dead. Chichikov gets the idea to get the landowners to transfer title to these dead serfs to him. The landowners now can skip the taxes on them, and Chikikov gets…what? You have to get pretty far into the book to find out.
This book works on a few levels. First, as a satire, which sometimes devolves into absurd slapstick which is very Seinfeld-esque. Second, as a travelogue. Kind of a window into Russian culture of the 1820s-30s. How did the people live? What did they wear and eat? How did government work? What outside influences were there? Third, as moral instruction. This is an unfinished epic, you should be aware. Gogol meant for it to contain three parts. The first was finished. The second was partially finished. The third wasn’t even begun, except in the idea stage. Chichikov’s story would have been a moral journey as well as a physical one. He was meant to learn and grow into a better person by the end of the third part. Still, in the second part you see a few characters who were meant to have an influence of Chichikov, and they spout sermons on morality and the value of work, and how estates and their serfs should be managed. I was put in the mind of Levin from Anna Karenina and how he learned to live with the land, and Raskolnikov’s conversion at the end of Crime and Punishment. Gogol was a big influence on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
Kind of a shaggy dog of a book, in its unfinished form, but worth reading.
This book works on a few levels. First, as a satire, which sometimes devolves into absurd slapstick which is very Seinfeld-esque. Second, as a travelogue. Kind of a window into Russian culture of the 1820s-30s. How did the people live? What did they wear and eat? How did government work? What outside influences were there? Third, as moral instruction. This is an unfinished epic, you should be aware. Gogol meant for it to contain three parts. The first was finished. The second was partially finished. The third wasn’t even begun, except in the idea stage. Chichikov’s story would have been a moral journey as well as a physical one. He was meant to learn and grow into a better person by the end of the third part. Still, in the second part you see a few characters who were meant to have an influence of Chichikov, and they spout sermons on morality and the value of work, and how estates and their serfs should be managed. I was put in the mind of Levin from Anna Karenina and how he learned to live with the land, and Raskolnikov’s conversion at the end of Crime and Punishment. Gogol was a big influence on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
Kind of a shaggy dog of a book, in its unfinished form, but worth reading.
It took me way to long to get through this one for how good it was! Strange. Unpredictable. Hilarious. There are so many characters (of course, it's a Russian novel) but Gogol did such a good job of making them all distinct from each other. I didn't realize that a decent amount of the manuscript is missing. That was the only disappointing aspect of the book.
i thought this dude would be carting around literal dead serfs to sell but its just on paper. LAME!
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What an unexpectedly hilarious road trip story gone wrong !! Actually wild how many of the best Russian idioms and quips come from this book! So many swirling grotesque characters, so much gossip, oh so many dead souls.
challenging
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i liked it-ish… i did NOT like the translation (i read the dj hogarth project gutenberg translation) and felt like it was a bit humorless/dry at times and very poorly paced, but i really was into the story and i liked the ending a lot!