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A review by megancortez
Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4.0
"Demons undoubtedly exist"
This was perhaps the most Gothic, tragic, and horrifying political drama I have ever read. There are some things in the novel that are so mindbendingly puzzling... There are mysterious shadows moving amidst the smoke of intentionally ambiguous language. I feel madness in myself just from reading it and I cannot help but be reminded of James Hogg's "Confessions of a Justified Sinner", which sits comfortably atop my personal list of the quintessentially Gothic. (There are actually a number of similarities between these two sinister novels, both in plot and in structure.)
Dostoevsky masterfully equips language to tell the story of men who are truly demons and of the infestation of the soul that results from the insincere repentance of a ghastly sinner - and amplifies this dynamic of demons and men to the whole of Russia and its chaotic, morally confused, and transformational 19th century. This is at once a chronicle of a nation undergoing a burgeoning political revolution (the outcomes of which I know from history but Dostoevsky certainly did not when he wrote this), complete with intrigues, assassinations, conspiracies, and secret societies - and a dark glass through which one is shown the very depths of the depraved potential of the human soul. What are we if not our choices? And moreso even than that: who exactly within us is the one which makes our choices?
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The only detractions from a 5-star rating were the periodic shakiness of the narrative voice (was he a character, was he not, when does his omniscience begin and end, etc.) and the couple of loose threads left undone by the end. The copy that I read contained an extra set of chapters in the Appendix which does not show up in many other publications, I'm learning, so I am basing my review off of the fullest version I have found - wherein Nikolai explains all of his sins.
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CW: explicit descriptions of violent and gruesome suicides, murders, and demonic behavior; implicit references to sexual violence against women and children
This was perhaps the most Gothic, tragic, and horrifying political drama I have ever read. There are some things in the novel that are so mindbendingly puzzling... There are mysterious shadows moving amidst the smoke of intentionally ambiguous language. I feel madness in myself just from reading it and I cannot help but be reminded of James Hogg's "Confessions of a Justified Sinner", which sits comfortably atop my personal list of the quintessentially Gothic. (There are actually a number of similarities between these two sinister novels, both in plot and in structure.)
Dostoevsky masterfully equips language to tell the story of men who are truly demons and of the infestation of the soul that results from the insincere repentance of a ghastly sinner - and amplifies this dynamic of demons and men to the whole of Russia and its chaotic, morally confused, and transformational 19th century. This is at once a chronicle of a nation undergoing a burgeoning political revolution (the outcomes of which I know from history but Dostoevsky certainly did not when he wrote this), complete with intrigues, assassinations, conspiracies, and secret societies - and a dark glass through which one is shown the very depths of the depraved potential of the human soul. What are we if not our choices? And moreso even than that: who exactly within us is the one which makes our choices?
--
The only detractions from a 5-star rating were the periodic shakiness of the narrative voice (was he a character, was he not, when does his omniscience begin and end, etc.) and the couple of loose threads left undone by the end. The copy that I read contained an extra set of chapters in the Appendix which does not show up in many other publications, I'm learning, so I am basing my review off of the fullest version I have found - wherein Nikolai explains all of his sins.
--
CW: explicit descriptions of violent and gruesome suicides, murders, and demonic behavior; implicit references to sexual violence against women and children