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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
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
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unglaubliches Eintauchen in die Gier und Leidenschaft des Menschen und den Pfad des Süchtigen. Dostoyevsky hat seine eigene Spielsucht reflektiert dargestellt und wie die spielsucht auch in interpersonellen Beziehungen als Manipulation existiert, nicht nur am roulettetisch
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Gambler is the story of a Russian tutor serving a financially struggling family in a German spa town (Roulettenburg). Alexei is an educated, handsome twenty-five-year-old who is madly in love with his employer's niece Polina. Polina is young, pretty, deceptive and self-serving causing Alexai to both love and (at times) hate her. Despite his desperate attempts to have his feelings reciprocated by Polina, she continually shows little care for him, instead being interested in her uncle's (the General) French creditor, De Griers. this angers Alexai due to the Frenchman's pompous attitude. In an attempt to show his devotion to Polina he insults a German aristocrat and his wife. This leads the General, under duress by the German aristocrat, to fire Alexei. The General, a weak and anxious man who is in debt to De Griers and trying to secure a marriage to a young French girl, Mademoiselle Blanche, is waiting for his sick aunt to die so he can inherit her considerable wealth. However, to his surprise, she turns up unannounced in Roulettenburg, extremely angry after intercepting letters from the General enquiring about her death. Grandmother (as she is referred to) immediately begins gambling in the casino with Alexei, who she takes a liking for and after winning on her first day rapidly falls into a spiral of addiction losing every ruble she has within a few days causing despair for the General and his family. Alexei writes a letter to Polina in another desperate attempt to gain her love, and after a trip where he bumps into Mr Astley, a shy English gentlemen who is also in love with Polina, he is shocked to find Polina in his room when he returns. Polina is anxious about her future due to De Griers abandoning her and demanding his debts to the General be paid after realising the General would never receive his inheritance. In a spontaneous act Alexei decides to solve the issue with a trip to the casino where he hopes to win enough to pay off Polina's debts. In the casino, Alexai wins a huge sum of money, twenty thousand francs; however, Polina, who is paranoid after her abandonment by Alexai, decides not to take his money and disappears shortly afterwards. having been spurned by Polina, Alexai is quickly approached by the now estranged mistress of the General, Mademoiselle Blanche who convinces Alexei to join her in Paris. after just a month in Paris, Alexei's money is wasted frivolously by Mademoiselle Blanche, causing him to be left poor once again. After a year, Alexai has become hopelessly addicted to gambling, hoping to once again attain wealth so as to fall into the good graces of Polina, but he never rekindles his previous luck and stays in a destitute state. Mr Astley, who is still in a relationship with Polina bumps into Alexai while he is on his way to the casino. Mr Astley is less warm to Alexei then his previous encounters and warns Alexai to stay away from Polina. Alexai seems to have lost his mind by this point and is fixated on using gambling to eventually 'return from the dead' Mr Astley, in a last gesture of friendship and feeling sorry for Alexei, hands him twenty-five Gulden despite realising he would only waste it. The novel ends with Alexei at a crossroads of choosing between getting a meal and gambling with his remaining money, to which he decides to go to the casino.
this story is one which closely resembles the struggles of its author, Dostoevsky, who himself was a gambling addict who was writing this book in a rush in order to pay off his debts. The book explores the addictive and ultimately destructive nature of gambling. The Grandmother loses her entire fortune, and Alexei, even though having success initially, becomes trapped by that same success as he constantly looks to resurrect his old luck, leading him to lose his place in the world.
The characters are quite unlikeable in my view; almost every character is presented in negative terms, including Alexei who is rash, antagonistic and foolish. The Characters who are presented in the worst light are the French characters. It seems Dostoevsky had a particular dislike for the French people. He describes Frenchman as being 'a conglomeration of common-place, petty, everyday sobriety, making him the most tedious person in the World'. The fact Alexei is unlikeable as a protagonist makes the impact of his demise less tragic and generally makes him hard to root for throughout the novel.
Although I liked the general plot, it often felt like the story was stuck in the same place not really developing in any substantial way, that is until the last third the book, however when the story goes completely off the rails with Alexei going to Paris and then meeting Mr Astley. I have no idea why Alexai would go with Mademoiselle Blanche it didn't really make much sense for me, especially considering they had hardly spoken for the entire novel. It all felt a bit contrived, only being included to make Alexei lose his money as quickly as possible while also giving another verbal bashing to the French people and Paris. The story is also very dialogue-driven, with much of the novel consisting of long conversations between two characters.
The book reads well with dialogue flowing quite easily and the style of writing being quite consistent and compelling. A small issue I've seen others highlight is the use of endnotes for translations. I also found this quite annoying, but the translators explain at the beginning of the novel that this was in keeping with how the Gambler was originally published in Russian, so I suppose they were just trying to keep it as close to the original translation as possible.
Overall, The Gambler is a decent novel with an important message that doesn't feel contrived and develops naturally with the plot. However I found The characters were not the most compelling, and the flow of the novel felt a bit disjointed as well as generally being at times unrealistic.
this story is one which closely resembles the struggles of its author, Dostoevsky, who himself was a gambling addict who was writing this book in a rush in order to pay off his debts. The book explores the addictive and ultimately destructive nature of gambling. The Grandmother loses her entire fortune, and Alexei, even though having success initially, becomes trapped by that same success as he constantly looks to resurrect his old luck, leading him to lose his place in the world.
The characters are quite unlikeable in my view; almost every character is presented in negative terms, including Alexei who is rash, antagonistic and foolish. The Characters who are presented in the worst light are the French characters. It seems Dostoevsky had a particular dislike for the French people. He describes Frenchman as being 'a conglomeration of common-place, petty, everyday sobriety, making him the most tedious person in the World'. The fact Alexei is unlikeable as a protagonist makes the impact of his demise less tragic and generally makes him hard to root for throughout the novel.
Although I liked the general plot, it often felt like the story was stuck in the same place not really developing in any substantial way, that is until the last third the book, however when the story goes completely off the rails with Alexei going to Paris and then meeting Mr Astley. I have no idea why Alexai would go with Mademoiselle Blanche it didn't really make much sense for me, especially considering they had hardly spoken for the entire novel. It all felt a bit contrived, only being included to make Alexei lose his money as quickly as possible while also giving another verbal bashing to the French people and Paris. The story is also very dialogue-driven, with much of the novel consisting of long conversations between two characters.
The book reads well with dialogue flowing quite easily and the style of writing being quite consistent and compelling. A small issue I've seen others highlight is the use of endnotes for translations. I also found this quite annoying, but the translators explain at the beginning of the novel that this was in keeping with how the Gambler was originally published in Russian, so I suppose they were just trying to keep it as close to the original translation as possible.
Overall, The Gambler is a decent novel with an important message that doesn't feel contrived and develops naturally with the plot. However I found The characters were not the most compelling, and the flow of the novel felt a bit disjointed as well as generally being at times unrealistic.
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Роман вполне читаем и в наши дни.
Читал с удовольствие и с интересом.
Сцены с бабушкой великолепно-театральны.
Характеры сочные и достоверные, впрочем не удивительно для Федора Михайловича, который сам не однократно крупно проигрывался в рулетку.
Но у меня почему-то постоянно возникало ощущение, что я читаю Толстого..
Читал с удовольствие и с интересом.
Сцены с бабушкой великолепно-театральны.
Характеры сочные и достоверные, впрочем не удивительно для Федора Михайловича, который сам не однократно крупно проигрывался в рулетку.
Но у меня почему-то постоянно возникало ощущение, что я читаю Толстого..