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3.94 AVERAGE

challenging dark funny informative reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

mikuish's review

4.25
dark informative slow-paced
dark reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

After reading Notes From Underground, I have always been excited to read more Dostoevsky. Though I haven't yet read what I've seen frequently argued as his masterpiece (Brothers Karamazov) most the books from Dostoevsky have been kind of disappointing.

What keeps this book afloat for me is the knowledge of its context. In parts them being his own smuggled out prison notes forgives a lot of its dryness. But not always. It does accomplish its goal of establishing a snap-shot of prison existence but rarely any life. Notable exceptions were the chapter on the various pets and animals in and around the prison and the psychoanalysis given to the prisoners in the chapters about the prison authorities and their in-prison punishments and labor.

My Tier List So Far: Notes From Underground > Crime and Punishment > The Gambler > Notes From a Dead House >>> The Idiot

Didn’t finish. Plan to read later
dark informative reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
informative reflective medium-paced

cosmiccloudbird's review

3.5
dark informative reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

breadandmushrooms's review

3.75
dark emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Some parts of this book were gripping and filled with a real intuitive insight but others dragged to the point where I didn’t pick up the book because I knew it’d put me to sleep. It was a good book to read during quarantine, but I don’t know if it’s a book I’d ever read again.