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Poor Folk

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

3.78 · Rating details · 18,283 ratings · 1,730 reviews

Poor Folk is an epistolary novel -- that is, a tale told as a series of letters between the characters. And oh, what characters these are! Makar Dievushkin Alexievitch is a copy writer, barely squeaking by; Barbara Dobroselova Alexievna works as a seamstress, and both face the sort of everyday humiliation society puts upon the poor. These are people respected by no one, no ...more

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Paperback, 167 pages

Published September 1st 2003 by Wildside Press (first published 1846)

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Jul 12, 2009 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, classics, russia, literature, 19th-century

Бедные люди = Bednye lyudi = Poor Folk= The Poor People, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Poor People, sometimes translated as Poor Folk, is the first novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, written over the span of nine months between 1844 and 1845.

Dostoyevsky was in financial difficulty because of his extravagant lifestyle and his developing gambling addiction; although he had produced some translations of foreign novels, they had little success, and he decided to write a novel of his own to try to raise funds.

Poor F ...more

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Nov 24, 2009 Marcus rated it it was ok

Shelves: russian

This is a ridiculous book. It is the letters exchanged between a poor old man and a poor young woman who live in the same housing complex but who rarely see each other for the sake of propriety. It's basically something like this:

"Oh Makar this week I lost my job and I'm running out of cash and I'm feeling so sick that I just might die! Whatever shall I do!"

"Oh Varvara, you poor child. Let me, as a father figure, send you some flowers and linens even though I have no money and will probably get

...more

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Feb 14, 2012 B0nnie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The first works of Dostoyevsky were translations of French fiction. He was translating Eugénie Grandet, and, on an evening stroll, he has "the vision on the Neva".

Да! я могу это сделать!

In his mind he sees two sad and hopeless people that just break his heart. He sat down and wrote Poor Folk, his first novel. He did it in just nine months. And he never quite got out of Balzac's grip: obviously Puskin and Gogol too - but it was the inspiration from Balzac that got him to pick up a pen and write ...more

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Sep 16, 2016 Lashaan Balasingam (Bookidote) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2016, fiction

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

Crime and Punishment was an absolutely mesmerizing first experience of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s writing. Being able to read his very first novel, the one that brought him great fame, is an opportunity that I just couldn’t skip over. At 24 years old, he writes Poor Folk—tell me that’s not something to applaud about. This is an epistolary novel that portrays all the faces of human condition. Considered to be one of the most important pieces of literat ...more

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Jun 16, 2016 Dave Schaafsma rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-19th-century

Poor People, also translated as Poor Folk, is an epistolary novel -- an exchange of letters between Makar Dievushkin Alexievitch, a copy writer, and Barbara Dobroselova Alexievna, a seamstress. It's Dostoevsky's first novel, published in 1846, and made Dostoevesky a household name in Russia. It is not a great novel, but it is important in that it is the great author's first novel, and a social novel in the tradition of Gogol, and some French novels he was reading with huge moral and social commi Poor People, also translated as Poor Folk, is an epistolary novel -- an exchange of letters between Makar Dievushkin Alexievitch, a copy writer, and Barbara Dobroselova Alexievna, a seamstress. It's Dostoevsky's first novel, published in 1846, and made Dostoevesky a household name in Russia. It is not a great novel, but it is important in that it is the great author's first novel, and a social novel in the tradition of Gogol, and some French novels he was reading with huge moral and social commitments. In it there are glimpses of the later Dostoevsky--The Idiot, Notes from The Underground, the magnificent Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov--his great heart, his advocacy for the underclass, and the working poor.

Makar and Barbara are so poor they cannot even marry, though Makar further impoverishes himself by spending his little money on flowers and bonbons for her. They actually live in the same housing complex, but out of propriety only rarely see each other, usually at Mass. Instead they write letters to each other daily. So these are two miserable people, who day after day in their letters demonstrate the need for interdependence, for some kind of safety net, for some kind of pity. Seemingly only random charity can save them. And maybe a little common sense. Or let's say economic justice, but this is mid-nineteen-century Russia, folks, we have no economic system in place for that kind of thing. And we don't yet today in many places either, really.

Though it is short, not much actually happens in the book that raises this beyond the level of pure pathos, which is its over-all point, I think. It's not that complex or layered. It's all misery almost all the time, though they do have these (sad) moments of love. We do come to care for them, but unlike Crime and Brothers, there are no laughs in it anywhere.

Neither Makar nor Barbara are educated, so FD has that challenge, in that he can't make them that insightful or articulate, but he still is able to have these characters reveal their plight through their letters. They also exchange and read books, through which they illustrate some social issues. They also share stories of their pasts, though brief memoirs. In the tales there are glimpses of Dostoevsky's future greatness. For instance, Barbara tells Makar of a former lover, Pokrovski, for whom she borrowed money to buy a complete set of the works of Pushkin. However, she allows her lover's father, a drunk, even poorer than them, to give him the books. When his son (almost inevitably, in this story) dies, there is no money for the funeral, but a woman pays for it in exchange for the books, some of which the old man, crazed, refuses to give her, stuffing them in his pockets. As they walk to the grave, books are spilling out of his pockets, a terrific and pathetic image, an image of madness and grief. Too pathetic? Maybe. But it feels real, transcendent, to me. The old man becomes holy through his suffering.

One other passage gives us a sense of the great moral outrage about the lives of the poor that Dostoevsky--the gambler, the madman, the anguished agnostic, always on the edge of financial collapse himself--so careful and passionately chronicled. When things appear to be at their worst for Makar, he rhapsodizes (this is near the end of the book, in the September 5 letter to B) about a world that cares so little about the plight of those in need, and it is some great writing:

"How is it that you are so unfortunate, Barbara? How is it that you are so much worse off than other people? In my eyes you are kind-hearted, beautiful, and clever.. .. But why is this? It is because you are an orphan, it is because you are unprotected, it is because you have no powerful friend to afford you the decent support which is your due. What do such facts matter to a man or to men to whom the insulting of an orphan as an offense is allowed? Such fellows are not men at all, but mere vermin, no matter what they think themselves to be. Of that I am certain. Why, an organ grinder whom I met in Gorokhovaia Street would inspire more respect than they do, for at least he walks about all day, and suffers hunger--at least he looks for a stray, superfluous groat to earn him subsistence. . . . a true gentleman, in that he supports himself. . . " and so on. Makar and Dostoevsky are mad as hell and they are not going to take it anymore--the nineteenth-century version--and at this point in the story, it is a moving indictment. Makar even humorously says at the letter's conclusion: See, Barbara, this is writing I am sometimes capable of . . . :)

Who else tells the lives of the ruined, the victims of greed, in poverty? Dickens, Gogol, Sinclair, Dreiser, so many others. Maybe fewer today than a hundred years ago. But Dostoevsky? One of the greatest ever, and his career and lifelong commitment started here, with Poor People/Folk. ...more

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Jun 22, 2017 Haaze rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Russian Lit fans; Dostoyevsky completists

Shelves: lit_classics, 2017, rp_bloom-western-canon, literature-19th-century, lit-russian, x_dostoyevsky, rg-russian-lit

Illumination in Saint Petersburg by Fyodor Vasilyev (1869)

A short novel focused on a powerful exchange of letters between two bright and introspective individuals living in difficult circumstances in 19th century Saint Petersburg. At first I had to get used to the epistolary style (the diary excerpt in the beginning of the novel was a temporary relief as I was struggling a bit), but the style of the letters and their heartfelt content quickly grew on me. I realize that a novel like this one prob ...more

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Jan 07, 2017 Jonfaith rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mother-rus

The boy will grow callous as he trembles with the cold, a frightened little fledgling fallen from the nest.

I joked midway through that Dickens would've used this as masturbatory material. The plausibility of the novel itself remains a spot suspect. It is challenging to accept such eloquence from those so wracked with stress and despair. That said, we are a great distance from the ontology of Czarist Russia, as David Foster Wallace noted his great confusion that febrile starved Raskolnikov could ...more

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May 31, 2013 عماد العتيلي rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 2013-reads, best-of-2013

هذه هي المرة الثانية التي أقرأ فيها هذه الرواية الرائعة لكاتبي المفضل: فيودو دوستويفسكي.
كانت هذه روايته الأولى،
وهي التي دفعت بأكبر ناقد أدبي روسي في وقتها، بعدما قرأ الرواية، لأن يُهرع في الصباح الباكر إلى منزل دوستويفسكي ويُقَبّله على خدّيه (كما هي عادة الروس - ثلاث مرات على كل خدّ!) ويقول له: أيها الشاب، أنت عبقري!

هي بلا شك واحدة من أعجب وأعظم ما كتب دوستويفسكي،
مؤلمة وموجعة إلى أبعد حد. قصة حب .. ولكنها ليست كقصص الحب الفارهة الاخرى! هي قصة حب حقيقية جداً ومؤلمة جداً .. وجميلة جداً.
لا أملّ من قراءتها ... وأنوي قراءتها للمرة الثالثة .. قريباً :)

:: هنا مراجعتي الأولى لها .. عام ٢٠١٣ ::

Oh poor people "Makar" and "Barbra"!
You're very rich in love.

As usual with my all time favorite writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, I travel to another world.
This novella is surely one of the best.
Perfumed love letters between two rich lovers (I refuse to call them poor, they are very rich in my eyes, richer than any of us). Really painful love letters they are! They open your eyes. They introduce you to people so damn poor (in money) that they spend most of their days hungry and longing for anything to eat and wear. In this type of life, their biggest dream is not to be very hungry (they're ok with just hungry!).

We desperately need a novella like this in today's world to remind us of our lost humanity amidst this raging sea of nasty materialism where people have turned into a bunch of ugly vampires and bloody cannibals who are able to eat each other over nothing! We desperately need to wake up and see our fellow human beings - our brothers and sisters who are living right now at this very moment in a very big pool of shit screaming in pain but find no one to hear or help them out.

I love Dostoyevsky for he always talks about serious problems in society. He draws people's attention to those poor people who are totally ignored by the materialists "privileged few".

Do I recommend it?
Are you serious?!!!! HELL YEAH! ...more

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Apr 15, 2015 Bettie rated it it was ok

Shelves: shortstory-shortstories-novellas, spring-2015, tbr-busting-2015, epistolatory-diary-blog, debut, slavic, published-1846, translation, parody

Varvara Dobroselova

Description: Poor Folk is an epistolary novel -- that is, a tale told as a series of letters between the characters. And oh, what characters these are! Makar Dievushkin Alexievitch is a copy writer, barely squeaking by; Barbara Dobroselova Alexievna works as a seamstress, and both face the sort of everyday humiliation society puts upon the poor. These are people respected by no one, not even by themselves. These are folks too poor, in their circumstances, to marry; the love b ...more

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Jun 24, 2020 Luís rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: russia, classics

This notable work is Dostoyevsky's first novel which contains the premises of his talent.
The characters are not alienated from their anguish as the Brothers Karamazov could be, for example.
Here, it is a question of anguish linked to material misery.
A man who is no longer very young falls in love with an orphaned young girl. The ages not clearly stated but specific allusions make us understand this difference and point us to their respective eras.
I liked this epistolary exchange in 19th century R ...more

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Nov 21, 2017 Greg rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century, reviewed, russia-translation

Certainly one of the most amazing debuts in literature. I found the structure ingenious (and it isn't all letters written back and forth between two people, as book blurbs may have one believe), and I particularly liked the relative avoidance of histrionics that popped up occasionally in Dosty's other novels I've read (in Crime and Punishment, although overall very good, a man kills then proceeds with a "woe is me" theme which, at times, I wanted to scream: 'Well, good grief, you kill people!'). ...more

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Jan 26, 2017 J.M. Hushour rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Dostoevsky's first novel is a masterful creep-fest that probably wouldn't get published today. Rather, it'd be turned into an HBO series starring Matthew McCounaghey and some random ex-Nickelodeon teenage actress and everyone would be okay with that.
An aging, balding alcoholic clerk writes letters to his impressionable young cousin, basically pawning all his shit to give her presents to all but get into her knickers.
An impressionable young woman, in desperate straits due to everyone around her p ...more

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Jun 26, 2015 Kennedy Ifeh rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Poor Folks, Dostoyevsky’s debut novel, is an epistolary work which portrays how poverty instills piety and sanctity in the human soul. Dostoyevsky paints a portrait of how poor people stay devoted in preserving their dignity in the midst of poverty and the struggle for survival.

The story line is written in the form of letters between the main characters, a poor copyist, Makar, and a poor housemaid, Varvara, who are second cousins living as neighbours in a poor neighborhood. The reader is drawn t Poor Folks, Dostoyevsky’s debut novel, is an epistolary work which portrays how poverty instills piety and sanctity in the human soul. Dostoyevsky paints a portrait of how poor people stay devoted in preserving their dignity in the midst of poverty and the struggle for survival.

The story line is written in the form of letters between the main characters, a poor copyist, Makar, and a poor housemaid, Varvara, who are second cousins living as neighbours in a poor neighborhood. The reader is drawn to the virtues of the main characters, Marka and Varvara, from the beginning of the book until the concluding section.

Marka makes enormous sacrifices to please the one he loves, Varvara. Though he is a low paid copyist, he takes advance of his salary to buy gifts for Varvara. He leaves in extreme poverty, often wears worn and dirty cloths, which make his colleagues mock him. Yet, he goes out of his means to assist Varvara in her struggles. He introduces her to literature and begins to exchange books with her.

The reader is drawn to the suffering of Varvara in her heart-wrenching little story about her childhood. Her father is presented as violent and her mother suffers depression. Her father dies, and Varvara and her mother moves to Anna Fyodorovna's house, a cruel landlady. While there she is tutored by Pokrovsky, a co-tenant. Pokrovsky's father is a drunk and always visits. She falls in love with Pokrovsky, who introduces her to literature. Pokrovsky falls ill and dies. Varvara’s mother dies too and since she could not bear the cruelty of Anna Fyodorovna, she moves to stay with Fedora across the street. Anyone who is been through suffering and poverty would easily relate with this portrayal of misery.

The reader is also drawn to how much appreciative Varvara is to Marka’s magnanimity. For instance, when she found out that he had to take his salary in advance to please her, she reproaches him. Inspite of the fact that they are doomed by the harsh realities of poverty, the two remains devoted to each other in love, so chaste and so pure.

Their piety, their sanctimonious virtue is put to the test soon as the character of Mr. Bykov, who represents wealth and materialism came into the scene. Mr. Bykov proposes to Vavrinka, she accepts and that was the end of her relationship with Marka… ‘things fall apart’.
...more

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Dec 23, 2018 Med Redha rated it really liked it

Shelves: les-inoubliables, poetry, fiodor-mikha-lovitch-dosto-evski, philosophie

While visiting Dostoevsky's apartment in St. Petersburg, my attention was drawn to the guide's few words about his first published novel, "The Poor People". I had then conceived a very black image of this story, imagining that, like the Dickens or London novels, I would find here the description of squalid slums where crime and prostitution rub shoulders with the greatest misery. Also, what was my astonishment in discovering an epistolary novel certainly not very cheerful but far from as gloomy While visiting Dostoevsky's apartment in St. Petersburg, my attention was drawn to the guide's few words about his first published novel, "The Poor People". I had then conceived a very black image of this story, imagining that, like the Dickens or London novels, I would find here the description of squalid slums where crime and prostitution rub shoulders with the greatest misery. Also, what was my astonishment in discovering an epistolary novel certainly not very cheerful but far from as gloomy as I had first imagined!

Dostoevsky is twenty-six when he submits his manuscript. He describes therein through the correspondence of Macarius Alexeyevich Dievushkin, an old penniless civil servant, and Varvara Alexeyevna Dobrossielova, a disgraced young orphan, the hard existence of the humble who, without resources, are subject to the whims of society: powerful, authorities, evil spirits, such are the enemies of happiness or mere peace.

It is a moving and very lively story, often poignant and which does not just describe the difficult living conditions of the people but also unfolds a beautiful storybook around the two letter writers. Their exchanges, at first civilized (they are vaguely parents but especially neighbors of misery) are made more and more affectionate and tender with the wire of their exchanges and one would like with all its forces that the destiny is not them so opposite.

What about the already superb writing? We find in "The Poor People" the themes that will become dear to the author and that he will develop in his other works: justice and injustice, truth and lies, family or societal ties, crime and violence. Honesty, the search for happiness ... so many topics that will include "Crime and Punishment" a pure masterpiece.

What Dostoyevsky recounts about community living, Russian resourcefulness and the need for ideals of any Russian, rich or poor, is truly reflected in the mirror of present-day Russia, as I have already discovered in many times. There is a primary endurance and a brute force that emanate from this people and paradoxically combine perfectly with their thirst for spirituality and beauty.

"The poor folk" undoubtedly foreshadows the great writer who has been, always and forever, Dostoevsky. ...more

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Oct 14, 2017 antiquarian reverie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1800, russian-writers, first-novel-by-author, dostoyevsky

I was hoping for a different ending but in thinking about it, Dostoyevsky had it right. Makar and Barbara are friends that live near each other but write letters to communicate even though they see each other occasionally. Their poverty and of the other people surrounding them is told in this story that gives the heart and soul of man. I had to laugh at the insert of a novel, Makar sent to Barbara from a tenant of his home. It was a romance that sounded quite heated for that epoch. I did not rea ...more

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Jun 07, 2017 Biblio Curious rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics-russian-ukrainian

Dostoyevsky is still fine tuning his writing skills with this one. If Russian Literature is one long, incredibly insightful conversation, then for a a newbie writer to create a book using only fictional letters is a great way to pay homage to his literary tradition.

After this, I've got to read Joseph Frank's biography of Dostoyevsky! Edit: And the ones his wife and daughter wrote! Trotsky too of course, where's a Russian bio without him? Something about this book just shrieks, it'll be 4 or 5 st ...more

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Aug 19, 2017 Onur rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As far as I guess this is the first book of Dostoyevsky. You can find several letters in the book that people sent each other and you can find very good human characters and life sections inside the letter

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Jul 22, 2017 Kirsty rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, july-2017

Poor People, more commonly printed with the title Poor Folk, is the debut novel of Russian literary heavyweight Fyodor Dostoevsky, and was first published in Russia in 1846. I read it in the beautiful Alma Classics edition, which has been wonderfully and fluidly translated by Hugh Aplin.

Told in an epistolary manner, it follows two characters who live upon the fringes of society in St Petersburg, struggling with poverty rather acutely. Devushkin Alexievich is a copywriter working in an office, an Poor People, more commonly printed with the title Poor Folk, is the debut novel of Russian literary heavyweight Fyodor Dostoevsky, and was first published in Russia in 1846. I read it in the beautiful Alma Classics edition, which has been wonderfully and fluidly translated by Hugh Aplin.

Told in an epistolary manner, it follows two characters who live upon the fringes of society in St Petersburg, struggling with poverty rather acutely. Devushkin Alexievich is a copywriter working in an office, and Barbara Alexievna a seamstress. 'These are people,' Dostoevsky tells us, who are 'respected by no one, not even by themselves'. They are infatuated with one another, but are too poor to marry. Rather, they live in small apartments opposite one another. We are witness to their back and forth of letters, and the unfolding correspondence which lets us learn about both protagonists. We are party to the workings of their minds, and their deepest thoughts and questions about one another. Barbara writes the following to Devushkin, for instance: '... what has made you go and take the room which you have done, where you will be worried and disturbed, and where you have neither elbow-space nor comfort - you who love solitude, and never like to have any one near you?'

Poor People begins on April the 8th, and continues in different letters by both characters, until ending in the September of the same year. When the novella starts, Devushkin has just moved into a new apartment - the one which faces Barbara's - and devises a cunning plan with her curtains; when she loops them up, he knows that she is thinking of him, and when they are closed, he knows that it is time to go to bed. Certainly, Devushkin is a more dreamy, whimsical character than Barbara; she seems to have enough sensibility for the both of them, and thinks practically throughout. She despairs particularly about her future: 'Ah, what is going to become of me? What will be my fate? To have to be so uncertain as to the future, to have to be unable to foretell what is going to happen, distresses me deeply. Even to look back at the past is horrible, as it contains sorrow that breaks my heart at the very thought of it.'

Dostoevsky's use of nature is sublime, and is present from the very first letter, used as a device to lift Devushkin's spirits: 'This morning, too, I arose (joyous and full of love) at cockcrow. How good seemed everything at that hour, my darling! When I opened my window I could see the sun shining, and hear the birds singing, and smell the air laden with scents of spring. In short, all nature was awaking to life again. Everything was in consonance with my mood; everything seemed fair and spring-like.'

The letters are variant in length, and are all suffused with differing levels of love and despair, as well as the emergence of hope at intervals. Dostoevsky's prose is gorgeously rich, and has a very modern feel to it. The characters alter as their circumstances do; they have been so well built, and their shifting relationship too feels true to life.

As with all of Dostoevsky's work, Poor People is filled with beauty and passion; realistic characters are at its heart. Dostoevsky is one of my favourite authors, and I am always immediately captivated by his thoughts and stories. My experience was no different here; for those who already love Russian literature it is a must-read, and it would also serve as a fantastic introduction to the myriad of wonderful works published within the fascinating country. ...more

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Dec 11, 2016 Anya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This short novel holds a very dear place in my heart. Not only was it Dostoyevsky’s first novel, but it was my first Dostoyevsky novel as well. I remember being absolutely (emotionally) stunned by the novel at age 13. I had never read anything like it before; anything that that invoked so much emotion within me….One of my favourite novellas ever, I must have read “Бедные люди” at least 8 times…

I was interested to know if this novel would have the same impact on me, 21 odd years later.

Having just This short novel holds a very dear place in my heart. Not only was it Dostoyevsky’s first novel, but it was my first Dostoyevsky novel as well. I remember being absolutely (emotionally) stunned by the novel at age 13. I had never read anything like it before; anything that that invoked so much emotion within me….One of my favourite novellas ever, I must have read “Бедные люди” at least 8 times…

I was interested to know if this novel would have the same impact on me, 21 odd years later.

Having just re-read “Бедные Люди”, I must say that my impression of this novel is just as strong, and perhaps even richer.

But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself. This novel was written in an epistolary format. It consists of a series of letters exchanged between two distant relatives: a poor 40-something year old clerk named Makar Devushkin and a beautiful young woman (18ish or so) named Varvara. Both Makar and Varvara are extremely poor, sickly and socially isolated. Their correspondence is a rare opportunity to open up their hearts, and share their dreams and sorrows with another person. The pair also try to support one other in their lives of constant want, hardship and humiliation.

A lot has been said about whether or not Makar Devushkin was in love with Varvara. To me, it doesn’t really matter. The important thing to note is that Makar Devushkin is an extremely lonely, meek victim of his circumstances. He has low self-esteem, and like many a poor person, is at times susceptible to vices that would normally be contrary to his nature.

Varvara is dear to Makar, as she gives him an opportunity to love and to feel like a human being. Makar is dear to Varvara, as he is a pure soul in a world of wicked and abusive people.

For me, the most brilliant and moving part of this novel has always been the chapter dedicated to Varvara’s years growing up next door to Pokrovsky. The whole episode never fails to move me and deftly demonstrates Dostoyevsky’s brilliance. It is interesting to note that Dostoyevsky barely describes his settings, the physical appearances of his characters and yet, the emotional picture he paints of each character is so strong. Characters like Pokrovsky and Makar Devushkin remain powerful and relatable more than 100 years later because of this magic.

I would recommend anyone who chooses to read this novel to start first by reading “The Overcoat” (Щенель) by Nikolay Gogol, as there is an entire letter devoted to Devushkin’s opinion of this short story.

A brilliant, universally relatable novel on the effects of poverty on a person’s psyche. ...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Sasha rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Katch 22

Never have I been confronted with such an intimate portrayal of a love so chaste and pure doomed by the harsh realities of poverty. While a handful of Dostoevsky's books like Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov and Notes from Underground did the job of delving into the inner depths of man's dehumanization and redemption, Poor Folk painted a more powerful testimony of Russia's sad history. I found myself sweltering in profound sorrow after reading the exchange of love letters between the ...more

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Dec 01, 2012 Riya rated it liked it

Shelves: russia

This is a short novel about poverty and the effects it has on a person - emotionally and physically. The two main characters are both poor and write letters to each other describing the hard life they both experience, along with the affection they feel for each other. Basically, the message that I got from this book is: being poor sucks - people will despise you and look down on you, you will be made fun of and disrespected, you will most likely get sick over and over again, and you will look li ...more

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Mar 09, 2018 Samir Rawas Sarayji rated it really liked it

Shelves: russian-lit, fiction

A good epistolary novella! We can see a younger Dostoevsky playing with the themes that preoccupy him and which resurface in later works with more maturity and complexity. There is much to like here and 5 stars only because I can compare it to some of his other, more compelling work.

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May 29, 2018 Susan rated it liked it

Shelves: 18tbr, fiction

Two second cousins, Makar and Varvara, exchange letters about their daily life in nineteenth century St Petersburg and share their constant maneuvering to manage expenses with too little money and to help each other out. Makar sends her bonbons; she is making him a vest; and they are constantly sending small gifts and loans of money back and forth. Detailed and psychologically insightful, but at the end, the character of Varvara seems less developed than her correspondent, and we do not know ei ...more

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May 03, 2012 Maria rated it it was ok

Shelves: in-2012, read-again, thought-provoking, now-classic

Written as letters between Makar and Barbara, one an old man, the other a pretty young orphan with terrible health, this is a pretty short book.

And it can be prety well summed up by this:

"My dearest, darling Barbara, I sleep in the room in the kitchen, because it's smaller and taxes less upon my money— so I can have tea and sugar every day! I'm sending you some bonbons through Thedora."

"Dearest Makar, HOW could you send me these bonbons, when you are living in the kitchen! You are sacrificing yo ...more

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May 06, 2016 Bryn Hammond rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novelists-or-shorts

Young D.'s first splash, which I never read; I suppose I had it down as pre-arrest and gauche. I feel I've cheated because I've read the contextualisation of it in Dostoevsky: The Seeds of Revolt, 1821-1849; I suspect this one, unlike his later immortal works, doesn't exactly work without its context, since he does a few radical things here that you wouldn't be aware of unless you're up on your Russian and European history of novels. In brief -- I won't cheat again by going back to Frank, this i ...more

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Mar 10, 2016 HebatAllah Hassan rated it really liked it

A VERY harsh depiction of the Russian society under the ruling of the Bolshevik Party! No politics involved, but the poverty, the sickness, the housing catastrophe, the debt, the misery and DEATH are so unbearably visualized in letters going back and forth between a man and a woman who are neighbors and who are affectionate of each other, but they cannot openly express their emotions for each other simply because there would be nothing they could do about it; they are BOTH so impoverished that t ...more

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Jun 19, 2009 Natalie rated it liked it

I read this directly after the amazing House of the Dead, which may not have been the best idea. Poor Folk was good enough, but pretty much pales in comparison to House. I feel like I didn't give it a fair enough chance; it's also really not the kind of book I really get into, though. I liked the epistolary style, but the unceasing declarations of love between the two main characters just had me yawning and rolling my eyes and caused me to overlook a lot of Dostoevsky's intended statements about ...more

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Apr 15, 2009 Kevin rated it liked it

Shelves: classics

A series of letters between two who love each other. They are both so poor they do not believe they can marry. They have no one's respect. They do not even respect themselves. A view of how people in poverty view themselves and how others perceive them. This book made me feel grateful I have family that loves me, food to eat and a warm place to sleep. ...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Moriah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I've always said that a writer has done a really good job if years after you've read his book you'll still remember the feelings it has given you. Dostoyevsky did an amazing job.
There was something unusual in this story and I can't quite put my finger on it; perhaps it was the language in which he used, perhaps it was the complex characters and maybe it was simply Dostoyevsky's magic fingers. ...more

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Feb 24, 2017 Büşra rated it really liked it

Shelves: russian-literature, classics, dostoyevsky

It’s hard to believe that Dostoevsky wrote Poor Folk when he was 22 and it was his first novel. You can clearly see that it was the work of a genius in the making. What a brilliant piece.

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About Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821. His debut, the epistolary novella Poor Folk (1846), made his name. In 1849 he was arrested for involvement with the politically subversive 'Petrashevsky circle' and until 1854 he lived in a convict prison in Omsk, Siberia. From this experience came The House of the Dead (1860-2). In 1860 he began the journal Vremya (Time). Already married, ...more

Books by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead

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Quotes from Poor Folk

“أحيانا يختفي المرء عن كافة الأنظار لأنه يخاف من القيل و القال ،إنهم يجعلون منه موضوعا لسخريتهم و تندرهم .” — 57 likes

“I don’t even know what I’m writing, I have no idea, I don’t know anything, and I’m not reading over it, and I’m not correcting my style, and I’m writing just for the sake of writing, just for the sake of writing more to you… My precious, my darling, my dearest!” — 42 likes

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