Reviews

I don't know how it is, but I've never encountered anyone else quite as capable of rendering inner dialogue as vividly and realistically as Dostoevsky.

His characters have great opinions of themselves, some vague awareness of their defects, occasional embarrassment - they're dreamers exploring possibilities and imagining themselves loved and capable, but falling under self-delusion, correcting themselves again and again, trying to maintain their moral high ground even when they fall piteously.

This volume contains six stories.

"A Bad Business" is the tale of a general who believes himself to be a man of the people, a friend of the little man (he is, in fact, quite full of himself). But his good intentions fall short of realization, and instead of being beloved as a benefactor, he manages to destroy the wedding (and perhaps the life) of a poor man under his command. It's a wonderful story, containing so much tension between the desire to be someone and the actual results of one's actions; the quiet seething of people of lower classes who can't retaliate openly; the entitlement of the upper classes.

"Conversations in a Graveyard (Bobok)" is about a man, possibly mad, who falls asleep in a graveyard and hears the dead wake up and start talking about this and that - only superficial things. In fact, the main character remarks to himself that it's quite unexpected, where one can get their information on Russian society. It's fun, and funny.

"A Meek Creature" is a sad story about a forty year-old pawnbroker who marries a sixteen year-old woman and. For reasons he never understands, she kills herself. From the outside, one can speculate, but it's never resolved: she married him when constrained by poverty; he blew hot and cold; she may have perceived him as threatening; she might have felt guilt for a number of reasons. Who knows, who knows...

"The Crocodile" is a satire - a man gets swallowed whole by a crocodile, and this is now a potentially geopolitical event of great import. It might also affect the economy of Russia.

"The Heavenly Christmas Tree" is a story that reminds me of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl": a little boy whose mother dies runs out on Christmas and sees revelers, but is turned away from everywhere, finally dying of the cold.

"The Peasant Marey" is a short story about remembering a kind-hearted peasant from the author's autobiography. Not much happens, but it somehow manages to still be memorable.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

oldmansimms's review

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4.0

A new translation of six stories by Fyodor Dostoevsky (four longish, two quite short) from late in his career. Several of the stories are quite clearly satirical, and even divorced of any cultural context were pretty funny. But I couldn't shake the impression that if I were living in St. Petersburg in 1876 they would have been hilarious. Worth reading to experience a more-lighthearted Dostoevsky than you might have expected, and probably very rewarding for someone with a great handle on Russian domestic politics in the 1870s.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the ARC.

jgwc54e5's review

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5.0

This collection of six short stories shows the full range of Dostoyevsky’s themes from the satirical humour of The Crocodile to the sadness of The Heavenly Christmas Tree. A dark comedy about class in A Bad Business (also known as A Nasty Story). Bobok or Conversations in a Graveyard is about an author lingering in a graveyard overhearing the chatter of the recently dead. The Peasant Marey is about a childhood memory helping a prisoner cope. The sixth story is A Meek Creature (or A Gentle Spirit) about the suicide of a young bride. Her pawnbroker husband narrates the story, justifying all his own actions leading up to it. Such a great writer, I loved this book!