Monday, January 28, 2013

The devil and his henchmen walk into a bar...

Week Four
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
In this comedic Russian novel, Satan and his henchmen pay a visit to Moscow, causing havoc left and right. This book took a long time for me to get into (basically half of the book), but when I finally found interest, I loved it. It is a mischievousness love story (yes, a love story), about a writer (The Master) and Margarita (a miserably married woman), though neither of these characters are really introduced until the latter half of the novel

To be honest, I don't really know how to give a good description of this book (give me a break, I started a new job this week and am a little on the sleepy side). The first part of the book is tedious, it takes quite a bit of time to grasp the story line, and as per usual with Russian novels, the characters are difficult to keep straight. That being said, the Devil and his companions are continually interesting, frightening, and hilarious. The love story between the Master and Margarita is intriguing, and, again, hilarious. 

I can't say there are many people I would recommend this book to, as most would give up after the first 100 pages. That being said, for those of you willing to power through, this is an excellent and well written novel - absolutely a classic. I plan on reading this one again; I have a feeling that I will appreciate it even more the second time around. In hindsight, I might have been better off reading this book along with the cliff notes... live and learn, live and learn.

Next week..... is a mystery. Tune in Sunday February 3rd to find out what I read! (Ok, to be honest I haven't even thought about a book for this week.... it'll be a surprise for us all!)

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