Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

34 reviews

elessahr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Mental illness, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death

tamara_joy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Truly bizarre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Gore

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Body horror, Child death, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Police brutality, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Blood, Alcohol, and Religious bigotry

sunn_bleach's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Animal cruelty and Child death

ms_sarah621's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Okay, I have been putting this one off for years because Russian classics intimidate me. But, I regret doing so! This was phenomenal. The story itself was wildly entertaining and had me just blowing through certain chapters. Then, when you take a moment to analyze the story and relate it to the point of history when it was being written, it just makes it so much better. It says so much about the secret police, dictatorship, and the ways we define good and evil. I am left with a lot to think about. Also, the way it’s written and the storytelling makes the book feel more accessible. Some fear the language and background knowledge used for classics, but I didn’t experience that with this book. Now, you’re wondering why I’m not giving this five stars since I seemed to have loved it. Well, this book has two parts, and part one is beautiful. *chefs kiss* However, part two was extremely fantastical and difficult to follow at times. The entertaining bits were stripped away, and it started to feel more and more incoherent. I was enjoying Woland going around Moscow driving everyone to madness and the secret police being at a loss of what to do. It was crazy to see how everyone was affected and their reactions. Then, in the second half, I believe it focused on good and evil much more. I lost the feeling that I had in part one. I feel that part two could have been cut down and integrated into the plot of part one more. I understand that part two is important and is the reason for the book title itself, but it just didn’t go well with me and was difficult to get through. This can just be a case of my reading preferences, but, overall, I really enjoyed this book. Would definitely recommend to classic lovers or someone interested in trying out some Russian literature. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Death

jaimemt_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

This is a very unique book.  I recommend reading Gogol before attempting this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Violence, Death, and Confinement

lisztaffe's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Violence, Ableism, Racism, Xenophobia, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Gore, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Torture

emmi_lee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Misogyny and Gun violence

Minor: Classism, Blood, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

applesodaperson's review against another edition

challenging funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This book was honestly such a struggle to get through, but I still really enjoyed it, and am glad I finished it. Personally, I just have a really hard time with Russian literature in general. The way it is written, and the fact that every character has life three names, means it takes me a lot of brain power to read. But I will say, this book was easier to read then some other Russian lit I have read. About this book in particular, I thought it was super fun and random and whimsical, and my favorite part was Margarita becoming a witch and just destroying some guy's apartment. Speaking of Margarita though, I am confused as to why her name is in the title, when she really wasn't in the book all that much. She was just a side character, as much as Ivan Homeless was. And "The Master" part of the title isn't really even referring to Satan, the main instigator of the book, but to her lover who wrote the book about Pontius Pilate. And that's another thing, I enjoyed the biblical narrative, but I still don't quite understand what its significance to the story was. Despite being pretty confused by this book, I still did enjoy it.
Read from the Provo library.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

rchatterjee188's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Gaslighting

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Classism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Slavery, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Violence

sas_lk's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

3.0

I honestly just did not care. At first it was fine, then i enjoyed it for like 2 chapters, and then I just wanted it to end. I was bored. I got so confused about which character was which, and did not bother trying to understand because I was bored. Just felt meh...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Mental illness

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Racial slurs