marinafaraujo 's review for:

The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky

3.5

dark funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The Gambler was a really nice surprise. I picked it up randomly at a bookstore sale and later found out that Dostoevsky actually wrote it to pay off his own gambling debts.

The book follows Alexei Ivanovich, a young tutor working for The General, who is in debt and hoping for an inheritance to solve his problems. Alexei is in love with Polina, The General’s stepdaughter, and his feelings for her, combined with the family’s financial struggles, pull him into the world of gambling.

Alexei is a totally unreliable narrator and his erratic behavior shows how addiction takes over his life. You can feel the urgency and tension every time he is at the roulette table, always chasing the next big win. The pacing can get repetitive, especially with the constant back-and-forth of his wins and losses, but I feel like it adds to the feeling of being trapped in this addiction.

The ending is open-ended, but for me, it really isn’t.

At one point in the story, Alexei has everything: money (that he won gambling), power and glory, but loses it all as the story progresses. By the end of the book, the one thing he wanted from the start, Polina’s love, is revealed to be reciprocated. He can choose to use his money to meet her in Switzerland, or he can use it to gamble. Although it is not explicitly described, the choice he made is clear in his mind (probably followed by that feeling every gambler has that they will make up for their losses eventually).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction