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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
I had very high hopes for Gogol because he came highly praised and recommended by people who have read him. But, sadly I did not get it.
It is obvious the reason why he's buying dead souls but it is kept like a secret, and then its too wordy and repetitive, so I skimmed through the whole book
This book put me in a reading slump
It is obvious the reason why he's buying dead souls but it is kept like a secret, and then its too wordy and repetitive, so I skimmed through the whole book
This book put me in a reading slump
The first volume is a gem!
Gogol describes such intricacies of Russian culture, people, the littlest of things be it an inn, a barouche, an estate, a village, a character’s looks or their clothes. They are described in a way that they can be vividly imagined. Even the expressions and emotions are written so that the reader can deeply feel what the characters are feeling. The satire is extremely good. The casual way of describing bribery, wrong doings and bureaucracy hits the hardest.
Second volume looses its charm
In the second part our protagonist seems way different from where we started in the first part. Sudden changes in behaviour and trying to do something good doesn’t make sense. It seems that protagonist struggles constantly on deciding what to do with his life. The abrupt change of heart of the governor to forgive Chichikov also didn’t sit well with me. But but but after all, Gogol has written it and the way everything was described again was amazing!
It would have been a gift to the literary world if Gogol were able to finish the trilogy, like he had planned.
I enjoyed reading the first volume a lot more than the second one.
Gogol describes such intricacies of Russian culture, people, the littlest of things be it an inn, a barouche, an estate, a village, a character’s looks or their clothes. They are described in a way that they can be vividly imagined. Even the expressions and emotions are written so that the reader can deeply feel what the characters are feeling. The satire is extremely good. The casual way of describing bribery, wrong doings and bureaucracy hits the hardest.
Second volume looses its charm
In the second part our protagonist seems way different from where we started in the first part. Sudden changes in behaviour and trying to do something good doesn’t make sense. It seems that protagonist struggles constantly on deciding what to do with his life. The abrupt change of heart of the governor to forgive Chichikov also didn’t sit well with me. But but but after all, Gogol has written it and the way everything was described again was amazing!
It would have been a gift to the literary world if Gogol were able to finish the trilogy, like he had planned.
I enjoyed reading the first volume a lot more than the second one.
3,5⭐️
Herrlich spritzige Satire
Gott und Teufel beehren uns gefühlt in jedem 3. Satz
Alle korrupt, lügen bis sich die Balken biegen, viel Geschleime und beeindruckende Anpassungsfähig, Dekadenz, Müßiggang und harte Knute, alles am Start. Frauen scheinen nur für die Optik und zum Nachkommen gebären sinnvoll zu sein. Taugen ja nicht mal als Tote Seelen. Da ist es um so amüsanter, dass ausgerechnet die Weibsbilder unseren Betrüger ans Messer liefern.
Mir hat tatsächlich die zweite Hälfte deutlich besser gefallen, auch der unvollständige und nicht überarbeitete 2. Teil.
Die erste Hälfte hätte aus meiner Sicht ordentlich gekürzt werden können. Da war durchbeißen angesagt.
Stellenweise ist mir der Humor zu klamaukig.
Störend bzw. gewöhnungsbedürftig die Selbstreflektionen des Autors über das eigene Schreiben, was der Leser nun denken möge und die direkte Ansprache des Lesers.
Herrlich spritzige Satire
Gott und Teufel beehren uns gefühlt in jedem 3. Satz
Alle korrupt, lügen bis sich die Balken biegen, viel Geschleime und beeindruckende Anpassungsfähig, Dekadenz, Müßiggang und harte Knute, alles am Start. Frauen scheinen nur für die Optik und zum Nachkommen gebären sinnvoll zu sein. Taugen ja nicht mal als Tote Seelen. Da ist es um so amüsanter, dass ausgerechnet die Weibsbilder unseren Betrüger ans Messer liefern.
Mir hat tatsächlich die zweite Hälfte deutlich besser gefallen, auch der unvollständige und nicht überarbeitete 2. Teil.
Die erste Hälfte hätte aus meiner Sicht ordentlich gekürzt werden können. Da war durchbeißen angesagt.
Stellenweise ist mir der Humor zu klamaukig.
Störend bzw. gewöhnungsbedürftig die Selbstreflektionen des Autors über das eigene Schreiben, was der Leser nun denken möge und die direkte Ansprache des Lesers.
adventurous
funny
reflective
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
Gogol is a very strange writer, and from what I've read about him in Nabokov's book, he was a very strange man as well. He is funny as hell, but underneath the surface of his work runs a subversive vein of mysticism. On the surface, Dead Souls is biting and cynical, but it's without recrimination. There is no hatred, and very little sorrow. Gogol observes the absurdity of human conduct from an angle skewed just enough that the result is on the surface hilarious, no matter how dark the source of this absurdity might be.
2nd Read: I knew what to expect this time, or at least not to expect a plot, and read it as the "poem" that Gogol entitled it. It works better that way, as satire cast in poetic terms. Focusing on the imagery helped me glimpse the multiple levels of meaning at play here, none of which are exactly obvious.
2nd Read: I knew what to expect this time, or at least not to expect a plot, and read it as the "poem" that Gogol entitled it. It works better that way, as satire cast in poetic terms. Focusing on the imagery helped me glimpse the multiple levels of meaning at play here, none of which are exactly obvious.
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
funny
A great book that includes fantastic, over-the-top characters of which Dickens would have been proud. Each supporting character is an amazing stereotype of some ideal or flaw of the time and the main character is a flawed anti-hero that one can't help but like. A great and unique example of Russian literature that is much less dark and much more whimsical than most other books of the genre.
funny
reflective
slow-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
Disappointed to find the book unfinished. The story is slow and in places difficult to follow but it is very well translated. It is political satire and you get the sense of it woven throughout the story some of it a little difficult to grasp without a good understanding of the period and history.