Reviews

THE OVERCOAT BY NIKOLAI GOGOL

A story about this titular councillor Akakiy Akakievitch Bashmatchkin, a government clerk whose primary work was to copy. (They did not have photocopying machines then!), mainly letters and other important documents. A simple man who was an introvert, with no special needs or requirements, he enjoyed his job thoroughly and even refuses his promotion. He was the butt of everybody’s joke in the office. He sported this frayed overcoat which had become so threadbare that even the tailor refuses to mend it and he is forced to buy another overcoat. He earns a meagre sum with which he cannot afford one. Here is where the story builds up.

The overcoat is symbolic of capitalism? Wants? Desires? Greed? The overcoat affects him psychologically too. From nobody he becomes somebody

It mocks the system prevailing at that time.

I felt awfully bad for Akakiy and sometimes even we are faced by such people who wouldn’t cooperate or help.

Vladimir Nabokov called it “The greatest Russian short story ever written” (Source: Wikipedia)

It is a very relatable story with twist in the tale.

An easy read must read!

frvncesco's review against another edition

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5.0

Shit started becoming like horror at the end almost kind of spooky but also very sad :(. Reminded me a bit a bit of Ikiru.

novaturientexplorer's review against another edition

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5.0

Decided to read this because of The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.

I love the dry humor (a bit hard to pick up at first, because I thought Russian literature was supposed to be depressing. And it is depressing but at least it's also funny.) A good intro to Russian literature in my opinion.

anca_m's review against another edition

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5.0

Read it right before I saw the play (which, was, by the way, excellent, as the plays at the theater from Oradea usually are..).
I finally outran my prejudice that Russians are hard to read and slightly boring.. This story was amazing! And I never thought I'd say that about a Russian one. Looking forward to reading more of Gogol's writing.

jemsizzleton's review against another edition

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5.0

How have I missed Gogol all this time? This story feels like a sturdy little classic and does one of my favorite things, which I also aspire to do, and that is take a playful approach to an otherwise dark premise. It had some totally darling feels to it, which is a weird way to describe a story, but I am doing it and mean it as a compliment. I picked this up because of it being referenced so many times in The Namesake. This isn’t really a book, so I will pick up the book of stories in November where I see a potential Russian-lit month being kicked off by this story. Characters have a sweet Nabokov-meets-Dickens-y vibe that I liked. I also thought of “Bartleby the Scrivener” toward the beginning, though that took a turn another way and while that could be someone’s term-paper, that is the end of that comparison for me as I haven’t read that in at least a decade (maybe it is time!).There are moments of humor that border on being slapstick, and judge me if you want, those were my faves! This is a pretty flaky review, but i was practically happy dancing while reading it . Plot and theme stuff is pretty simple and played straightforward, and also totally works. Any story where a ghost sneezes snuff is right up my alley.