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"The book is gentle in tone if fierce in substance."
-"The New York Times Book Review"
"Bulgakov is the first magical realist."
-Craig Raine, author of "T.S. Eliot"
-"The New York Times Book Review"
"Bulgakov is the first magical realist."
-Craig Raine, author of "T.S. Eliot"
Product Description
This is Bulgakov's semi-autobiographical story of a writer who fails to sell his novel and fails to commit suicide. When his play is taken up by the theatre, literary success beckons, but he has reckoned without the grotesquely inflated egos of the actors, directors and theatre managers.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great book. For some reason I never researched Bulgakov further after I read The Master and Margarita, which was fantastic, and I suppose I had read somewhere that it was his only novel, so I was pleasantly surpised when I found this one, and grabbed it immediately. Bulgakov writes in a style somewhat similar to Dostoevsky and Gogol (not that the latter two have the same style, but he has something in common with both of them), which is exactly the style that I have grown to love. The story is about a poor young man, trying first to sell a novel and later a play, and his trying experiences with newspapers, playwrights and contemporaries. The style of writing is somehow jumbled and erratic, though in a pleasant way (if that makes sense), and is not confusing in the same way Joyce is, for example. It's difficult to explain what it was that the Russians (and Ukrainians) did that made them so great, but there are none I enjoy more than them (and the late 19th century in particular). I gave this four stars instead of five because the book ended rather abruptly, and I think a five star book should also have a good (or at least a complete) ending. Another drawback is the introduction, which I am completely against on principle, since it usually gives away most of the book before one has even read it, just like scenes from a movie on a DVD before one can even push start. One can of course skip it and read it after, which I usually do, but I think it would be better and more appropriate to put these "introductions" at the end of books instead of at the beginning. Bulgakov was one of the last great Russian writers, and I would recommend any with an appreciation of literature to read him.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
12 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Bulgakov at his best
5 July 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is such a great book that someone such as myself that had no interest in the theater or plays could not put it down. That is because this book is less about theater and more about people and living under oppression. Here is a biography of sorts on how a great work of writing can be buried under the weight of large egos, jealousy, and the soveit system. Yet this book dose not exclusivly apply to a period of time or place, it is made timeless through its superb use of memorable and realistic characters. This novel gives every reader the abailty to feel the pain of having ones best work destroyed before there very eyes and is highly recommened for people that have read any previous works of Bulgakov.
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