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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
manuscripts don’t burn!!!
really loved this! already a huge fan of magical realism, and a very beautifully done sympathy for the devil and what we must do in man’s world. so much to think about on such a rollicking journey. the unbridled joy i felt reading margarita’s part!! the cast of characters was also not too difficult to keep track of, there was a lot of explaining again so you could be like oh that one!
had the most beautiful forward about this novel saying “Trying to explain what makes it transcendent is like explaining what one cherishes about someone with whom one is in love. Yes, she is kind and trustworthy, but that’s not really it.”
really loved this! already a huge fan of magical realism, and a very beautifully done sympathy for the devil and what we must do in man’s world. so much to think about on such a rollicking journey. the unbridled joy i felt reading margarita’s part!! the cast of characters was also not too difficult to keep track of, there was a lot of explaining again so you could be like oh that one!
had the most beautiful forward about this novel saying “Trying to explain what makes it transcendent is like explaining what one cherishes about someone with whom one is in love. Yes, she is kind and trustworthy, but that’s not really it.”
“Meistars un Margarita” man dikti gāja pie sirds, sevišķi tās sadaļas, kurā Volanda svīta uzdarbojās Maskavā, noskaņas ziņā atgādināja Ilfa & Petrova “Divpadsmit krēslus”. Šeit gan visam tāda traģiska pieskaņa Meistara (kurš, cik nojaušu ir pats Bulgakovs) personā, kuru šī idiotiskā sistēma un tās darboņi, par kuru uzjautrinās Volanda blice, ir salauzusi. Tik ļoti, ka viņš ir nodevis mākslu un ņēmis un sadedzinājis savu manuskriptu, kurš par laimi, nedeg. Manuskripts ir Meistara mūža darbs, kurā viņš aprakstījis Poncija Pilāta dzīvi, stāsts par to, kā tad ar to Ješua/Jēzu krustā sišanu bija ‘patiesībā’. Skaistākais šajā visā ir tas, ka Poncija stāsts ir uzrakstīts, kā dokumentāls, bez jebkādām maģiskām piešpricēm, savukārt Maskavas ālēšanās daļa, kurā pilsoņi pilnīgi pārliecināti, ka ne Dieva, ne Velna nav ir pilna maģijas, kas tad visus arī dzen vājprātā. Lielisks, daudzslāņains darbs, kuru, iespējams, lasīšu atkal (kaut gan parasti tā nedaru)
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was very fun and also a great picture of the life of artists in the political climate of early 20th century russia. Really liked it. Sympathy for the devil. Margarita is the man. talking cat was cool
I started by reading a physical copy of this book, but switched to an audiobook due to time constraints and, as someone with only a poor to middling understanding of Russian history, I think I lost a lot of the historical context that would have been explained by the footnotes. If I re-read it, I would not use the audiobook for that reason - even though the narrator of the audiobook does a wonderful job!
That said, even without the historical context I really liked this book. It was wildly imaginative, dark but incredibly humorous, and never boring as the perspective shifts so often. Overall it was a super enjoyable read!
That said, even without the historical context I really liked this book. It was wildly imaginative, dark but incredibly humorous, and never boring as the perspective shifts so often. Overall it was a super enjoyable read!
•”It came time to act. He had to drink the bitter cup of responsibility.”
•”You uttered your words as if you don’t acknowledge shadows, or evil either. Kindly consider the question: what would your good do if evil did not exist, and what would the earth look like if shadows disappeared from it? Shadows are cast by objects and people. Here is the shadow of my sword. Trees and living beings also have shadows. Do you want to skin the whole earth, tearing all the trees and living things off it, because of your fantasy of enjoying bare light?”
•”’Ah, no, no, Messire,’ responded Margarita, who sat side-saddle, arms akimbo, the sharp corner of her train hanging on the ground, ‘allow him, let him whistle. I’m overcome with sadness before the long journey. Isn’t it true, Messire, it’s quite natural even when a person knows that happiness is at the end of the road? Let him make us laugh, I’m afraid it will end in tears, and everything will be spoiled before the journey!””
•”And so, what, is the magazine going to shut down for that? Well, what can be done about it? Man is mortal and, as has rightly been said, unexpectedly mortal. Well, may he rest in peace! Well, so there’ll be another editor, and maybe even more eloquent than the previous one!”
•”And it was strange: for such a practical man as the findirector, the simplest thing would, of course, have been to call the place where Verenukha had gone and find out what had befallen him, yet until ten o’clock at night he had been unable to force himself to do it. At ten, doing outright violence to himself, Rimsky picked up the receiver and here discovered that his telephone was dead.”
•”Love leaped out in front of us like a murderer in an alley leaping out of nowhere, and struck us both at once. As lightning strikes, as a Finnish knife strikes!”
•”How many times have I told you that your basic error consists in underestimating the significance of the human eye. Understand that the tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes - never! A sudden question is put to you, you don’t even flinch, in one second you get hold of yourself and know what you must say to the truth, and you speak quite convincingly, and not a wrinkle on your face moves, but - alas - the truth which the question stirs up from the bottom of your soul leaps momentarily into your eyes, and it’s all over! They see it, and you’re caught!”
•”Sparrows could be heard in the branches of the willows and lindens in the little garden, conducting a merry, excited morning conversation. Margarita got up from the armchair, stretched, and only then felt how broken her body was and how much she wanted to sleep. It is interesting to note that Margarita’s soul was in perfect order. Her thoughts were not scattered, she was quite unshaken by having spent the night supernaturally.”
•”As goes without saying, the most unpleasant, the most scandalous and insoluble of all these cases the case of the theft of the head of the deceased writer Berlioz right from the coffin in the hall of Griboedov’s, carried out in broad daylight. Twelve men conducted the investigation, gathering, as on a knitting- needle the accursed stitches of this complicated case scattered all over Moscow.”
•”’But why don’t you take him with you into the light?’
‘He does not deserve the light, he deserves peace,’ Levi said in a sorrowful voice.”
•”You uttered your words as if you don’t acknowledge shadows, or evil either. Kindly consider the question: what would your good do if evil did not exist, and what would the earth look like if shadows disappeared from it? Shadows are cast by objects and people. Here is the shadow of my sword. Trees and living beings also have shadows. Do you want to skin the whole earth, tearing all the trees and living things off it, because of your fantasy of enjoying bare light?”
•”’Ah, no, no, Messire,’ responded Margarita, who sat side-saddle, arms akimbo, the sharp corner of her train hanging on the ground, ‘allow him, let him whistle. I’m overcome with sadness before the long journey. Isn’t it true, Messire, it’s quite natural even when a person knows that happiness is at the end of the road? Let him make us laugh, I’m afraid it will end in tears, and everything will be spoiled before the journey!””
•”And so, what, is the magazine going to shut down for that? Well, what can be done about it? Man is mortal and, as has rightly been said, unexpectedly mortal. Well, may he rest in peace! Well, so there’ll be another editor, and maybe even more eloquent than the previous one!”
•”And it was strange: for such a practical man as the findirector, the simplest thing would, of course, have been to call the place where Verenukha had gone and find out what had befallen him, yet until ten o’clock at night he had been unable to force himself to do it. At ten, doing outright violence to himself, Rimsky picked up the receiver and here discovered that his telephone was dead.”
•”Love leaped out in front of us like a murderer in an alley leaping out of nowhere, and struck us both at once. As lightning strikes, as a Finnish knife strikes!”
•”How many times have I told you that your basic error consists in underestimating the significance of the human eye. Understand that the tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes - never! A sudden question is put to you, you don’t even flinch, in one second you get hold of yourself and know what you must say to the truth, and you speak quite convincingly, and not a wrinkle on your face moves, but - alas - the truth which the question stirs up from the bottom of your soul leaps momentarily into your eyes, and it’s all over! They see it, and you’re caught!”
•”Sparrows could be heard in the branches of the willows and lindens in the little garden, conducting a merry, excited morning conversation. Margarita got up from the armchair, stretched, and only then felt how broken her body was and how much she wanted to sleep. It is interesting to note that Margarita’s soul was in perfect order. Her thoughts were not scattered, she was quite unshaken by having spent the night supernaturally.”
•”As goes without saying, the most unpleasant, the most scandalous and insoluble of all these cases the case of the theft of the head of the deceased writer Berlioz right from the coffin in the hall of Griboedov’s, carried out in broad daylight. Twelve men conducted the investigation, gathering, as on a knitting- needle the accursed stitches of this complicated case scattered all over Moscow.”
•”’But why don’t you take him with you into the light?’
‘He does not deserve the light, he deserves peace,’ Levi said in a sorrowful voice.”
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A slog. It had its moments. I'm not sorry I read it, and I feel like it's an important book, but I have a hard time understanding how anyone would call it their favorite novel. To each their own.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated