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verpissdich 's review for:
Dead Souls
by Nikolai Gogol
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It is of course difficult and perhaps unfair to judge a book which was never actually completed by the standards of books which were. That being said, the last 10% of the book actually sketches out the resolution of a surprising amount of plot-lines within the story.
Many of the comedic elements of this book are lost among readers who are not familiar with 19th century Russia. Still, enough of the comedy comes from commentary on universal human characteristics that not all is lost.
The first half of the book is basically just a tour of a bunch of different personalities and how Chichikov manipulates all of them.
It is nice when we finally get Chichikov's backstory after more than half the book is done.
I found the character of Tiechniekov fascinating but unfortunately Gogol never came back to him so we are only left with the introduction to his character and nothing more.However the burnt-out and disaffected former high-achiever would have been a very interesting character to see how Chichikov affected, and was a well-written character overall .
During the second half of the book Gogol goes on a few purely philosophical rants which are nicely written.
A perhaps inordinate amount of time is spent on describing Chichikov's hygiene and dress which is funny, and certainly intentional, but sometimes still feels almost excessive.
Especially towards the end of the book Gogol makes some very poignant remarks about the state of Russian society and about the rot of corruption overall. Fairly illuminating to outside readers and even explains some of Russia's state today.
The ending feels quite similar in some respects to Brothers Karamazov, which makes sense since Dostoyevsky calls out Gogol by name in that novel
Many of the comedic elements of this book are lost among readers who are not familiar with 19th century Russia. Still, enough of the comedy comes from commentary on universal human characteristics that not all is lost.
The first half of the book is basically just a tour of a bunch of different personalities and how Chichikov manipulates all of them.
It is nice when we finally get Chichikov's backstory after more than half the book is done.
I found the character of Tiechniekov fascinating but unfortunately Gogol never came back to him so we are only left with the introduction to his character and nothing more.
During the second half of the book Gogol goes on a few purely philosophical rants which are nicely written.
A perhaps inordinate amount of time is spent on describing Chichikov's hygiene and dress which is funny, and certainly intentional, but sometimes still feels almost excessive.
Especially towards the end of the book Gogol makes some very poignant remarks about the state of Russian society and about the rot of corruption overall. Fairly illuminating to outside readers and even explains some of Russia's state today.