Author & Reader reviewed Kirjoituksia kellarista by F. M. Dostojevski
Review of 'Kirjoituksia kellarista' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Review of Notes from Underground only.
I am a sick man. . . .I am a spiteful man. An unattractive man. I think that my liver hurts.
So it begins as many people know. Some might say this is a serious book, or that the main character is seriously screwed up. Some may say this book is a sad book. Some might think it is thin and spiteful. While I won't disagree, I will add that this book cracks me up, as in double over while chuckling. It's like a funny version of the movie Taxi Driver.
For instance, near the beginning the protagonist, or perhaps antagonist, writes of people that know how to avenge themselves (which is central to the plot), asking "How do they do it?", and goes on to say that "Such a man will push on straight toward his goal like a raging bull with lowered …
Review of Notes from Underground only.
I am a sick man. . . .I am a spiteful man. An unattractive man. I think that my liver hurts.
So it begins as many people know. Some might say this is a serious book, or that the main character is seriously screwed up. Some may say this book is a sad book. Some might think it is thin and spiteful. While I won't disagree, I will add that this book cracks me up, as in double over while chuckling. It's like a funny version of the movie Taxi Driver.
For instance, near the beginning the protagonist, or perhaps antagonist, writes of people that know how to avenge themselves (which is central to the plot), asking "How do they do it?", and goes on to say that "Such a man will push on straight toward his goal like a raging bull with lowered horns, and only a wall might stop him." Then he goes on talking all kinds of stuff about simple, direct people and walls. At the end of that parenthetical rambling, he says "...But more about walls later." That cracks me up, foreshadowing talk about walls. Maybe it's the syntax that cracks me up. Perhaps you had to be there.
Don't get me wrong; this is a crushing tale of inaction and indecision. The reader, directly addressed by this spiteful ex-government official, is told things that will make their faces wrinkle up. I mean this guy verbally abuses a prostitute to feel better about himself. How do you think he's going to treat you, the reader? It is a Note of not being good enough in society and constant questioning and self-doubt. The result? Self-abusive to the point of almost suicidal rage.
I know a lot of people may think that this book is proof that spiteful people like the main character who quit their jobs and say things like, "They-they won't let me–I–I can't be good!", are proven to be irrational and ultimately uncooperative, and that it is their fault. I still say this book is a severe critique of society and what society does to the individual.
