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reviewed Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Dover Thrift Editions)

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Demons (Paperback, 2017, Dover Publications) 4 stars

A pair of self-styled revolutionaries and their followers plot to overthrow the Tsar and seize …

Review of 'Demons' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

5/5

I've read and reread this book countless times, anytime I start this and take over 2 days of a break from it I feel compelled to start from the top again.

Very few books do you come across where the writer takes events from life (or whatever fictional setting they've conjured up) and put them onto paper without doing nothing more than narrating these events in their own style and calling it a day. The most brilliant thing about this book is how naturally Dostoevsky swaps from different communication styles from character to character. Arguably this is something he does throughout all his works but it is much more pronounced in demons and especiallythis translation (Pevear & Volokhonsky's).

The book has always been on of my favourites—if
not, my favourite—out of Dostoevsky's corpus. It's not that this story is the most enticing or most unique of his works, it's just that it feels the most organic of them all.