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borteez 's review for:
The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I hadn't had much experience with Russian literature before this--I somehow made it through Anna Karenina in high school, though I'm sure I didn't really pick up on really any nuance or subtlety as I remember feeling like it was kind of long-necked and navel-gazy... anyway.
This was HYSTERICAL! It's so cheeky, it does so much to talk about Bulgakov's sort of cultural and political situation while remaining so arch and tongue-in-cheek. Everything that happens is fun, the characters are so sharp and incredible and you love to see them lose AND win (but mostly lose).
This book's real and sharp fascination with art and performance and what it means to contribute to the shape of culture and history is really really strong throughout, I love the way the devil takes advantage of the ways in which the 30s Soviet arts scene was predicated on prejudicial exclusion and a total terror of all this foreign--though I DON'T love the equivocation that women who are socially conditioned toward materialism and like.... happily accept free items are just as sinful as philandering, fraudulent men... you take what you can, though.
I find the departures from the main plot to talk about Pontius Pilate mostly boring, but I understand and respect the mirroring that's going on between the two plots and how that resolves in the end by showing Pilate's sort of moral curve on a metaphysical or astrological scale? I don't know, it's all just so interesting even when I really want the book to go back to Moscow.
SO happy I read this, Behemoth for life!
This was HYSTERICAL! It's so cheeky, it does so much to talk about Bulgakov's sort of cultural and political situation while remaining so arch and tongue-in-cheek. Everything that happens is fun, the characters are so sharp and incredible and you love to see them lose AND win (but mostly lose).
This book's real and sharp fascination with art and performance and what it means to contribute to the shape of culture and history is really really strong throughout, I love the way the devil takes advantage of the ways in which the 30s Soviet arts scene was predicated on prejudicial exclusion and a total terror of all this foreign--though I DON'T love the equivocation that women who are socially conditioned toward materialism and like.... happily accept free items are just as sinful as philandering, fraudulent men... you take what you can, though.
I find the departures from the main plot to talk about Pontius Pilate mostly boring, but I understand and respect the mirroring that's going on between the two plots and how that resolves in the end by showing Pilate's sort of moral curve on a metaphysical or astrological scale? I don't know, it's all just so interesting even when I really want the book to go back to Moscow.
SO happy I read this, Behemoth for life!