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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
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.
slow-paced
This book is awful. First of all it’s not complete. Secondly the characters talk too much and there isn’t enough action. Thirdly I think you have to be Russian and living in 1800s to understand it. There was one scene that was funny. But this book was hard to get into and hard to keep my attention.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol follows Tchitchikov who hatches a brilliant plan to get rich quickly. The entire book is about Tchitchikov traveling through Russia trying to reach his goal. He meets a wide range of people during his travels. Some of the people he meets are virtuous and they try to guide him to the right path. Tchitchikov's major character flaw is that he never understands that hard, honest work is the only way to properly go about life. He ultimately puts his life's energy into an underhanded, dishonest endeavor. One line that sums up Tchitchikov and pretty much the entire book for me was "If only such will and perseverance were devoted to a good object". He essentially loses his own soul due to his failure to follow a straight path through life.
Where I thought this novel was lacking is that Gogol spent so much time in the plot and storyline trying to make his point that it began to wear on me. His writing style did have some bright moments though. He provided some wonderful scenery and descriptions that I did enjoy.
Recommended only if you like 19th century Russian lit like Dostoevsky or Tolstoy.
Happy reading everyone!
Where I thought this novel was lacking is that Gogol spent so much time in the plot and storyline trying to make his point that it began to wear on me. His writing style did have some bright moments though. He provided some wonderful scenery and descriptions that I did enjoy.
Recommended only if you like 19th century Russian lit like Dostoevsky or Tolstoy.
Happy reading everyone!