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Demons

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Start date: October 1, 2022

Finish date: December 31, 2022

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What Members Thought

Oct 27, 2018 Sara rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, russia

I normally write my reviews as soon as I have finished reading a book. I have been sitting on this one for several weeks because I really do not know what to say. I struggled with finishing this at all, forcing myself through a chapter and then breaking for a long while before taking up the next chapter. That might explain why it never gelled for me. It was boring and laborious and dark.

I love Russian literature as a general rule and after reading Crime and Punishment the first time, I would ...more

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May 08, 2019 Sarah rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'm so glad to be finished. I read this because a couple characters in another novel I was reading referred to the character Kirillov and I wanted to see the connection, and I generally like Russian literature. I thought, at the time, it was a reference to a short story -- whoops! I should also say that I read the 100 year old Constance Garrett translation (it was free on Gutenburg), and that version leaves out a censored chapter that is really pretty important in making the rest of the tale mak I'm so glad to be finished. I read this because a couple characters in another novel I was reading referred to the character Kirillov and I wanted to see the connection, and I generally like Russian literature. I thought, at the time, it was a reference to a short story -- whoops! I should also say that I read the 100 year old Constance Garrett translation (it was free on Gutenburg), and that version leaves out a censored chapter that is really pretty important in making the rest of the tale make sense. The story itself is a bit preposterous and overly dramatic, and pretty unbelievable. Of course, Dostoyevsky wasn't trying to tell me a realistic story, he was trying to make a philosophic and moral point; and I really feel like he used way to many words to make that point. THe story is set in the years leading up to the revolution in Russia, social changes are coming fast and no one seems to know what it all means. The serfs are freed, and violent upheaval is feared, but it doesn't really happen. The rich are on edge, and don't know what to do socially, so their fall back position is to continue to compete for social status. The women, for the most part, are portrayed as vain and status hungry. Even doing "goodworks" becomes a competition. The educated men are hardly an better, the uselessness and vanity of the "educated" men extends to the point of parody as two writers compete to outdo each other at a 'fete.' Neither of them wins over the audience and they are both (justifiably) booed off the stage and both suffer mortal humiliation. I learned from other reviews that one of the portrayed writers, Karminozov, was based on Dostoyevsky's competitor and enemy, Ivan Turgenov. Which seemed a bit precious and ironic- two authors in the book in a competition for fame and glory, and one of those characters based on a real author competing with the writer.
At any rate, Dostoyevsky is exploring the issues of atheism, nihilism, and how that affects the political and social structure of mother Russia. Gold star for me, one of the quotes I made note of is a apparently one of the more famous, spoken/thought by Shatov, "Starting from unlimited freedom, I arrive at unlimited despotism," when he is trying to find how a new society can be structured. Shatov goes on to predict that when the inevitable societal changes come, power will be held by 10% of the population, who will make the remaining 90% slaves and kill millions in the process. Hope Dostoyevsky played the lotto on the day he wrote that, because he certainly was seeing the future.
This was a slow slog, with unlikeable overly dramatic characters -- but its a kind of interesting read just from the historical perspective. If you are reading it for those purposes, invest in a better translation than I did. Alas, I have yet to understand how this novel relates to the novel that got me interested in it. Perhaps just for the pointless lack of humanity of fascism, and how the only human response is art? ...more

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Jul 03, 2012 GONZA rated it liked it · review of another edition

C'è qualcosa nella scrittura di Dostoevskij che non mi convince, tutti i suoi libri mi sembrano sempre troppo eccessivi, tutto esaltato alla massima potenza, ogni vicenda diventa quasi una farsa; non ci posso fare niente ed è sicuramente una mia responsabilità perchè la storia di questo complotto poco credibile volto a rovesciare le basi della società non è affatto brutta nè scontata, solo che non mi è piaciuta anche se alcuni personaggi sono sicuramente notevoli e li ricorderò a lungo. ...more

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