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angelinanajel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Notes from the Underground is a dark and depressing book, but it is also a powerful and profound one. It is a masterpiece of existential literature, as it explores the themes of alienation, freedom, responsibility, and meaning. It also provides a remarkable portrayal of a complex and conflicted character, who represents the human condition in its most extreme and tragic form.
The book is not easy to read as it is quite confronting, but it is also hard to forget. I found it really relatable, as I could identify with some of the Underground Man’s thoughts and feelings. I think that anyone who has ever felt lonely, misunderstood, or unhappy can relate to this book. It is a book that challenges us to confront ourselves, to question our assumptions, and to seek our own truth. It is a book that I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in philosophy, psychology, or literature.
The book is not easy to read as it is quite confronting, but it is also hard to forget. I found it really relatable, as I could identify with some of the Underground Man’s thoughts and feelings. I think that anyone who has ever felt lonely, misunderstood, or unhappy can relate to this book. It is a book that challenges us to confront ourselves, to question our assumptions, and to seek our own truth. It is a book that I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in philosophy, psychology, or literature.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Confinement, and Cursing
Minor: Toxic friendship and Sexual content
i_write_on_occasion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A reflection of a character with a fascinating mind. Some parts are dated and a bit uncomfortable, but I am able to look past them
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Mental illness
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol
ak97x's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, War, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Violence, Terminal illness, and Self harm
Minor: Sexual content
julianh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
gailbird's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I don’t really know what to say about Notes from Underground. I’ve read it twice now. It was my first taste of the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky and it made me want to read more by him. Although it is in translation, I like Dostoyevsky’s style that comes through. A bitterly funny, self-deprecating introduction to the narrator and his life sets us in the class-driven system of civil life in Russia of the mid-1800s; however the feelings and ideas portrayed don’t seem at all outdated or unique to the time period, but applicable to any time, no matter how supposedly “modern” it is, and any system of government, no matter how supposedly idealogically opposed to the feudal Russia of this time it is.
The narrator quickly lapses into dark musings on life and the psychology of morality, setting up for the incidents that he stumbles through later. The first third of the book is quite a rambling of philosophies, general descriptions of the man’s mode of life, and his isolation in his hatred for not only the greater part of humanity but also for himself. While it is slow, it is thought-provoking and gives a necessary backdrop for the sequence of events following. Basically, reading it is like getting a view of this guy’s view into his own head.
It’s unsettling, and not always because of how bizarre and perverse it is, because there is that too, but because of how eerily familiar it is. There is something about Dostoyevsky’s writing that seems to be able to elucidate things I didn’t know I knew, or felt. Being so lonely that you impose yourself on people you know don’t care enough about you to include you in their lives, but you go anyway and pretend that you aren’t aware of how little you mean to them, just to have someone to talk to. Being at an event with other people and not being able to speak a word, because the longer you let the silence go, the harder it is to insert yourself. Finding someone you relate to unexpectedly, only to realise that you can’t let the intimacy continue because you’ll lose some critical, malignant part of yourself that you have nursed for years. Doing or saying the one thing that you know will hurt them, drive them away, because you know them… because they are you. The underground dweller finds himself in all these situations, seeing his own fraudulence and posturing even while he enacts it, commenting on it sarcastically to himself, and the reader. His self-awareness is even more disheartening because it doesn’t stop him from doing these destructive things, calling into question whether there is the possibility of change or growth at all, or if some things are just inevitable.
It’s a short book (novella actually) but it feels heavy to read, not because of the writing style, but because of the concepts about humanity, society, psychology, and sin. All things common to Dostoyevsky, and what I will be looking forward to more of when I finally read Crime and Punishment.
It’s unsettling, and not always because of how bizarre and perverse it is, because there is that too, but because of how eerily familiar it is. There is something about Dostoyevsky’s writing that seems to be able to elucidate things I didn’t know I knew, or felt. Being so lonely that you impose yourself on people you know don’t care enough about you to include you in their lives, but you go anyway and pretend that you aren’t aware of how little you mean to them, just to have someone to talk to. Being at an event with other people and not being able to speak a word, because the longer you let the silence go, the harder it is to insert yourself. Finding someone you relate to unexpectedly, only to realise that you can’t let the intimacy continue because you’ll lose some critical, malignant part of yourself that you have nursed for years. Doing or saying the one thing that you know will hurt them, drive them away, because you know them… because they are you. The underground dweller finds himself in all these situations, seeing his own fraudulence and posturing even while he enacts it, commenting on it sarcastically to himself, and the reader. His self-awareness is even more disheartening because it doesn’t stop him from doing these destructive things, calling into question whether there is the possibility of change or growth at all, or if some things are just inevitable.
It’s a short book (novella actually) but it feels heavy to read, not because of the writing style, but because of the concepts about humanity, society, psychology, and sin. All things common to Dostoyevsky, and what I will be looking forward to more of when I finally read Crime and Punishment.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content, Classism, Bullying, and Alcohol
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