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arthmrnk's reviews
28 reviews
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Demian by Hermann Hesse
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The novel is based on Jungian concept of 'individuation' - embracing one's unconsciousness to achieve 'the true self'.
Well, the journey of protagonist, Sinclair, is basically a journey to individuation under the guidance of mysterious mentors, the most important of whom is his friend Max Demian.
Well, the journey of protagonist, Sinclair, is basically a journey to individuation under the guidance of mysterious mentors, the most important of whom is his friend Max Demian.
The Joke by Milan Kundera
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
'Joke' by Milan Kundera (1967) - a great novel about little fatal events changing one's entire life - and about the abnormality of such things.
The protagonist, Ludvik, enjoys a comfortable social status - a student at a university and member in several youth organizations, he commits an unnoticeable, seemingly innocent act - he makes a silly joke. It doesn't matter what kind of joke - it is suffice to say that this entire act was thoughtless and inofensive per se, small in comparison with greater events in his life.
But Ludvik lived in an epoch where there was no time and place for jokes - as people, with religious devotion, served an omnipotent ideology, frantically willing to devour, crush everything that couldn't correspond to new standards. It was the short but notable period when Czechoslovakia, the writer's native country, was shaken by a wave of fanatism and repressions - the 1950s, the age of Stalinism.
Thereby, after some months, the joke - which everyone had taken seriously - is placed in the limelight and regarded as an act of heresy, as an insult of the very core of collective ideology. The colleagues and friends turn their vindictive fury against Ludvik, and his timid acts of self-defense are nullified by the zeal of his inquisitors - indeed, the wheel of history itself proclaimed him guilty.
And, finding himself estranged, forced to abandon his status, Ludvik grows a strong grievance against the society that committed such a heinous act of alienation - labeling him an enemy, without the right to appeal. The years of his youth are now marked by this profound alienation, exclusion from the civilized society - and even after his pardonement owing to the dawn of a more lenient time, his estrangement is kept intact - not by any external power, but by his inner soul.
And so, even after entering once again an intellectual's smug life, Ludvik is living, to paraphrase one of the narrators, in a personal hell. His actions, his thoughts are all stemming from the old but vivid trauma, making him un unlikeable but relatable character-narrator. His ultimate actions, as well as the recollections of his early past, are presented through various perspectives of his pals, former friends, and victims.
The novel, in my opinion, focuses on the long-term consequences of a fatality - but also condemns the circumstances that allow such fatalities to occur; the historical epoch when such things were the norm, a time which, the author concludes, will have to be ultimately forgotten.
Originally published by me on r/literature in July 2024
The protagonist, Ludvik, enjoys a comfortable social status - a student at a university and member in several youth organizations, he commits an unnoticeable, seemingly innocent act - he makes a silly joke. It doesn't matter what kind of joke - it is suffice to say that this entire act was thoughtless and inofensive per se, small in comparison with greater events in his life.
But Ludvik lived in an epoch where there was no time and place for jokes - as people, with religious devotion, served an omnipotent ideology, frantically willing to devour, crush everything that couldn't correspond to new standards. It was the short but notable period when Czechoslovakia, the writer's native country, was shaken by a wave of fanatism and repressions - the 1950s, the age of Stalinism.
Thereby, after some months, the joke - which everyone had taken seriously - is placed in the limelight and regarded as an act of heresy, as an insult of the very core of collective ideology. The colleagues and friends turn their vindictive fury against Ludvik, and his timid acts of self-defense are nullified by the zeal of his inquisitors - indeed, the wheel of history itself proclaimed him guilty.
And, finding himself estranged, forced to abandon his status, Ludvik grows a strong grievance against the society that committed such a heinous act of alienation - labeling him an enemy, without the right to appeal. The years of his youth are now marked by this profound alienation, exclusion from the civilized society - and even after his pardonement owing to the dawn of a more lenient time, his estrangement is kept intact - not by any external power, but by his inner soul.
And so, even after entering once again an intellectual's smug life, Ludvik is living, to paraphrase one of the narrators, in a personal hell. His actions, his thoughts are all stemming from the old but vivid trauma, making him un unlikeable but relatable character-narrator. His ultimate actions, as well as the recollections of his early past, are presented through various perspectives of his pals, former friends, and victims.
The novel, in my opinion, focuses on the long-term consequences of a fatality - but also condemns the circumstances that allow such fatalities to occur; the historical epoch when such things were the norm, a time which, the author concludes, will have to be ultimately forgotten.
Originally published by me on r/literature in July 2024
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Ours: A Russian Family Album by Sergei Dovlatov
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism
Pushkin Hills by Sergei Dovlatov
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A bittersweet novella reflecting on the absurdity of life in the Brezhnev's USSR.
The plot is narrated by a failed writer who tries to escape from the life problems by going into a sort of provincial exile, while working as a tourist guide.
At times you will laugh, but in the end a sour aftertaste remains.
The plot is narrated by a failed writer who tries to escape from the life problems by going into a sort of provincial exile, while working as a tourist guide.
At times you will laugh, but in the end a sour aftertaste remains.
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism
The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
It appears that, besides the well-known Amazon jungles, the huge territory of Brazil encompasses a quite different type of hinterland - the so-called *sertoes*, an arid region located behind its North-Eastern Atlantic Coast.
In the end of the 19th century, sertoes were a land of anarchy, poverty and periodic droughts - in short, the hard-core and real-life version of Wild West. It was in such surroundings that an alluring preacher called Antonio Conselheiro gathered around him all sorts of riff-raff - desperate folks, ex-slaves, former criminals, disfigured cripples. All who felt neglected or penitent found solace and refuge around this self-proclaimed prophet, and gathered in a cult that went from village to village, preaching the impending Apocalypse, constantly gathering new members.
The country, it turned out, was run by a malicious Antichrist (called 'Republic') and his servants, the fiendish dogs - so all good-faithed Christians had only one solution - to fight the diabolical forces in preparation for the upcoming Salvation. They retreated to a mountainous village of Canudos and started creating a real-life Utopia - without landlords, money, property or sin. Instead there were communal meetings and work, free love and passionate prayers.
Of course, the aforementioned Republic didn't like the new Revolutionary Utopia at all. It was - through a set of political machinations - declared a Monarchist conspiracy, a threat to progress and the unity of the country. Imagine - a group of backward Barbarians of the god-forsaken lands united their forces to restore the old order, menacing the newly achieved Republican liberties! Crushing the Canudos rebellion was proclaimed a patriotic duty - and truly believed to be so.
And so it became a full-scale war. The war is a thing not only ugly, but also absurd to the highest degree - isn't it funny how two forces of idealists meet in a deadly clash, each vowing to fight for the cause most noble? Isn't it a comedy how military strongmen strive to protect the nation's freedom by crushing a rebellion?
Of course, war and anarchy is gruesome, and the novel does not hide it - some moments are gut-wrenching, shocking, scalding. But aside from it, there are equally eloquent fragments describing love and political debates, bright festivals and edifying toil. The general depiction of life in Brazilian backcountry is vivid and authentic, offering a veritable fresco of the inhabitants of sertoes - a micro-Universe in its own right.
As always in great books of large magnitude, there is a solid cast of characters - common and uncommon. Some of them are merely dragged back and forth by the winds of sertoes. The old cliché - random people captured in the midst of a war - works here very well. The narrator illustrates the state of mind of both fighting camps and of the various observers.
As mentioned in the title, all of this is loosely based on a set of tragic events known as Canudos War (1896-1898) - a mostly unknown, but nevertheless captivating story. Vargas Llosa turned it into an epic tale of large proportions. Well... if you love long reads, then this book will probably suit you.
---
Originally published by me on r/Books in October 2024
In the end of the 19th century, sertoes were a land of anarchy, poverty and periodic droughts - in short, the hard-core and real-life version of Wild West. It was in such surroundings that an alluring preacher called Antonio Conselheiro gathered around him all sorts of riff-raff - desperate folks, ex-slaves, former criminals, disfigured cripples. All who felt neglected or penitent found solace and refuge around this self-proclaimed prophet, and gathered in a cult that went from village to village, preaching the impending Apocalypse, constantly gathering new members.
The country, it turned out, was run by a malicious Antichrist (called 'Republic') and his servants, the fiendish dogs - so all good-faithed Christians had only one solution - to fight the diabolical forces in preparation for the upcoming Salvation. They retreated to a mountainous village of Canudos and started creating a real-life Utopia - without landlords, money, property or sin. Instead there were communal meetings and work, free love and passionate prayers.
Of course, the aforementioned Republic didn't like the new Revolutionary Utopia at all. It was - through a set of political machinations - declared a Monarchist conspiracy, a threat to progress and the unity of the country. Imagine - a group of backward Barbarians of the god-forsaken lands united their forces to restore the old order, menacing the newly achieved Republican liberties! Crushing the Canudos rebellion was proclaimed a patriotic duty - and truly believed to be so.
And so it became a full-scale war. The war is a thing not only ugly, but also absurd to the highest degree - isn't it funny how two forces of idealists meet in a deadly clash, each vowing to fight for the cause most noble? Isn't it a comedy how military strongmen strive to protect the nation's freedom by crushing a rebellion?
Of course, war and anarchy is gruesome, and the novel does not hide it - some moments are gut-wrenching, shocking, scalding. But aside from it, there are equally eloquent fragments describing love and political debates, bright festivals and edifying toil. The general depiction of life in Brazilian backcountry is vivid and authentic, offering a veritable fresco of the inhabitants of sertoes - a micro-Universe in its own right.
As always in great books of large magnitude, there is a solid cast of characters - common and uncommon. Some of them are merely dragged back and forth by the winds of sertoes. The old cliché - random people captured in the midst of a war - works here very well. The narrator illustrates the state of mind of both fighting camps and of the various observers.
As mentioned in the title, all of this is loosely based on a set of tragic events known as Canudos War (1896-1898) - a mostly unknown, but nevertheless captivating story. Vargas Llosa turned it into an epic tale of large proportions. Well... if you love long reads, then this book will probably suit you.
---
Originally published by me on r/Books in October 2024
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75