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jonjas 's review for:
Dead Souls
by Nikolai Gogol
1) This book is legit funny. Not, like, funny for an old Russian book, I mean it's funny in any era/society. Just some absurd stuff in there that translates to the modern day beautifully, so that- I did not expect it, and the fact that I was actually grinning and chuckling over these 150 year old fictional characters was cool.
2) The book does slow down towards the end. Gogol you crazy beaut, you had something wonderful here. Not sure how it shoulda ended either, but it is slightly disappointing having such a masterpiece just kinda.. fizzle out.
3) It's still 5 stars. Part absurdist exaggeration, satire, yet all (seemingly) true to how Gogol saw Russia back in the day. Like, it's brilliant because the comedy serves a purpose. It's nice by itself, but using it to highlight the inefficiencies and illogical aspects of the old serf system is just brilliant. The landowners are caricatures of the fools that run the real Russian world in Gogol's day, and the reader gets humor whilst realizing how comical it makes the actual system and country themselves seem.
Summary: Chichikov wants dead souls. Dead serf souls. Because landowners still have to pay tax on them the landowners are willing to sell dead souls. But it's still weird, so people wonder what Chichikov is up to. Turns out he just wants to use the serfs as collateral on a massive loan, smart man him, but it all blows up in his face at the end. It's an interesting enough concept, but really just serves as motivation for Chichikov's Quixotian journey.
Worth a reread, honestly, doubt I'll ever get to that though. If you're expected a dry dusty old Russian tome.. no. This book is really funny, really interesting, and is only marred by a slight letdown of an ending.
2) The book does slow down towards the end. Gogol you crazy beaut, you had something wonderful here. Not sure how it shoulda ended either, but it is slightly disappointing having such a masterpiece just kinda.. fizzle out.
3) It's still 5 stars. Part absurdist exaggeration, satire, yet all (seemingly) true to how Gogol saw Russia back in the day. Like, it's brilliant because the comedy serves a purpose. It's nice by itself, but using it to highlight the inefficiencies and illogical aspects of the old serf system is just brilliant. The landowners are caricatures of the fools that run the real Russian world in Gogol's day, and the reader gets humor whilst realizing how comical it makes the actual system and country themselves seem.
Summary: Chichikov wants dead souls. Dead serf souls. Because landowners still have to pay tax on them the landowners are willing to sell dead souls. But it's still weird, so people wonder what Chichikov is up to. Turns out he just wants to use the serfs as collateral on a massive loan, smart man him, but it all blows up in his face at the end. It's an interesting enough concept, but really just serves as motivation for Chichikov's Quixotian journey.
Worth a reread, honestly, doubt I'll ever get to that though. If you're expected a dry dusty old Russian tome.. no. This book is really funny, really interesting, and is only marred by a slight letdown of an ending.