Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by anijyi
Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
Definitely a slog to get through, especially the beginning. I’m pretty sure I just didn’t have enough brain cells to comprehend and appreciate the characters, themes, and story so take this review with a huge pile of salt.
There’s a ridiculous amount of characters, and it’s so difficult to keep all of them in mind: their beliefs, characters, their relationships, etc. I went in only knowing about the existentialist themes which pretty much came up only when Kirillov was present and in the last quarter of the book. Definitely an error on my part, but I was caught off guard by the political movements which made up pretty much the entire book. I heard that it was prophetic in some ways, so I’m sure anyone who’s more knowledgeable in Russian history and politics will enjoy this book much more than I did. As someone that doesn’t, I would’ve preferred if Dostoevsky just focused on just political intrigue or just nihilism because I did find Kirillov’s beliefs to be quite interesting. All the characters and the political drama made it a bit difficult to follow.
Some editions don’t include “At Tikhon’s” I believe, and I only read it after I finished the book because it was added in the appendix. I cannot stress how important that chapter is to not only Nikolay’s character but just to the entire book and its themes. It’s a shame that it was censored because it just added so much more context to everything.
Overall, I preferred Crime and Punishment over this one. I should’ve looked more into it before selecting this book, just as someone that isn’t well versed in literature in general. So definitely my fault. I’d just advise against reading this if you’re like me and have a difficulty parsing through classics or if you’re new to Dostoevsky.
There’s a ridiculous amount of characters, and it’s so difficult to keep all of them in mind: their beliefs, characters, their relationships, etc. I went in only knowing about the existentialist themes which pretty much came up only when Kirillov was present and in the last quarter of the book. Definitely an error on my part, but I was caught off guard by the political movements which made up pretty much the entire book. I heard that it was prophetic in some ways, so I’m sure anyone who’s more knowledgeable in Russian history and politics will enjoy this book much more than I did. As someone that doesn’t, I would’ve preferred if Dostoevsky just focused on just political intrigue or just nihilism because I did find Kirillov’s beliefs to be quite interesting. All the characters and the political drama made it a bit difficult to follow.
Some editions don’t include “At Tikhon’s” I believe, and I only read it after I finished the book because it was added in the appendix. I cannot stress how important that chapter is to not only Nikolay’s character but just to the entire book and its themes. It’s a shame that it was censored because it just added so much more context to everything.
Overall, I preferred Crime and Punishment over this one. I should’ve looked more into it before selecting this book, just as someone that isn’t well versed in literature in general. So definitely my fault. I’d just advise against reading this if you’re like me and have a difficulty parsing through classics or if you’re new to Dostoevsky.