The Master and Margarita (Penguin Modern Classics): Amazon.co.uk: Mikhail Bulgakov, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky: Books

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Product Description

Daily Telegraph, August 2, 2004

The Master and Margarita comes over like a grown-up and vastly superior version of Harry Potter. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Daily Telegraph, August 2, 2004

Outstanding adaptation...breathtaking in its ambition and originality...the literary range is extraordinary --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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First Sentence
Once upon an unusually hot hour of sunset in spring, two gentlemen appeared at Patriarch's Ponds in Moscow. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

85 Reviews

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

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4.5 out of 5 stars (85 customer reviews)

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43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I would give this 6 stars but I was not allowed., 4 Sep 2000

By	S. J. Dillon (Liverpool) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There is little that I could write to do sufficient justice to such an inspired flight of the imaginaltion. The dual settings in the novel of the fantastical last few days in the life of Jesus Christ compared to the chaos of a timeless Moscow held in thrall by the Devil in the guise of a cheap stage magican. The plots are so diverse and the characters are totally compelling (amongst them is Behemoth a cigarette smoking, gun toting, 5ft Black cat!) I have never read anything so darkly compelling yet wickedly funny that works on so many levels. I have read this book at least once a year for the last 6 years and I think I will continue to do so until I have picked it clean, and that will take me good while yet. Bulgakov is the true Master.

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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Russian literature at its best, 8 April 2006

By	James (Norfolk, NE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Master and Margarita (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

My friend recommended this book to me, and what actually made me to buy it was because he considered it his favorite book of all time. I agree with him about that. It is an amazing book. Not only that, I developed an interest in the author's other works. Nevertheless, this is the best book written by Mikhail Bulgakov. It is an absolute masterpiece, a classic accepted in Russia and the rest of the world.

"MASTER AND MARGARITA" is about purges Stalin ordered in the Soviet Union. The curious thing about this book is that the purges are depicted not to have been carried out Stalin's men, but rather by Satan himself, and in the manner of Baron Munchaussen, we get to know of a huge talking cat. Like animal farm, the greater meaning of the book is revealed through the intelligent though bizarre, compelling and humorous story. One is constantly left anticipating what the next page holds. There are so many layers and so many little details that one wonders how the author managed to put them together.

Bulgakov is the Soviet version of Imperial Russia's Dostoevsky, but unlike Dostoyevsky who had a mastery of the mind/soul Bulgakov mastery is in the literature of oppression. I have recommended this book to many friends and family and recommend it to any reader interested in the enigma that is Russia, especially Stalinist Russia. Other interesting stories set in Russia are THE UNION MOUJIK,TARAS BULBA, PUTIN'S RUSSIA, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF LENIN, WAR AND PEACE. Also note that you are sure to find the widest selection of odd and creepy characters in this book .

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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terror, secrets, foreigners, jesus, death and manuscripts, 2 Aug 2001

By A Customer

Stalin's hierarchical, monolithic political structures of the 1930's intensified the struggle against "enemies of the people" by arresting and executing over 15 million Russians, amongst them managers, intelligentsia and writers. The Secret Police orchestrated State terror by raiding the houses of intellectuals at night if they were suspected of satirising the Soviet state. Bulgakov himself slept with a suitcase full of warm clothes beneath his bed, should the knock at the door at dawn be the KGB. If caught with the manuscript of The Master and Margarita, he would have been sent without trial to the prison camps of Siberia, where he would have been worked through exhaustion into death.

An appreciation of the harsh ideological backdrop to this vital and extraordinary novel makes its vision all the more astonishing. Bulgakov examines with a breathtaking wit such subversive issues as institutionalised atheism, Satan's sypmpathetic aspect, the similarities between the political and social systems of Pontius Pilate's Jerusalem and Stalin's Moscow, the arbitrariness of justice, the redemptive power of love (in this case adulterous), and the human effort towards regeneration through compassion and truth. In his generous yet clearly defined system of justice cowards are humiliated, guilty as they are of the worst sin, and the fearless are rewarded with a thin beam of moonlight, to freedom and salvation.

The Master and Magarita is as great a text as any I have ever read; Bulgakov's prodigious verbal gift is equal to Joyce or even Shakespeare, and as such deserves a special, exalted place at the pinnacle of World literature.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Master and Margarita
I love Master and Margarita book and wanted to have comic book but couldnt find it anywhere but on Amazon website. I m glad you had it.
Many thanks
Kinga

Published 10 days ago by Km Foeller

5.0 out of 5 stars Woland in Moscow
The Master and Margarita is a fantastic, fraught and a fascinating mixture of Faustian romance, anti-Stalinist satire and religious enquiry. Read more

Published 1 month ago by E. Shaw

3.0 out of 5 stars Over hyped, unfortunately
This novel was recommended to me by various of my Russian students and friends. I had high expectations, and as the novel began, I was intrigued. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Chessman

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent russian literature
i'm a beginner in russian literature, and starting with nabukov was an excellent idea. this book is amazing. do read it.

Published 3 months ago by Luis M. Felix Morais

5.0 out of 5 stars masterful
I love this book but do not claim to be a literary authority so will leave the question of the translation to others who know more than me (see the debate in other reviews)... Read more

Published 4 months ago by JuJuDollie

4.0 out of 5 stars The Master and Margarita
A complicated but interesting plot. A book with many layers which can be enjoyed on different levels. Enjoy the learning and peel away!

Published 4 months ago by L. Saban-Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars Go for the Glenny translation!
There are several very accomplished and detailed reviews of this wonderful book here, and I am not going to attempt to write one myself. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Rebecca Bartleet

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantly clever
A brilliantly clever and awe-inspiringly imaginative book. I have bought copies for many friends. It's one of those books that you dread to finish and often think of

Published 5 months ago by OB1

2.0 out of 5 stars The Master and Margarita
I first came across Bulgakov's classic when a teenager forty years ago. I devoured it eagerly then, and re-read it so often over the years that gradually my copy fell to bits... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Alison Balfour-lynn

5.0 out of 5 stars The Devil's Day Out
Bulgakov is one of the few Soviet writers (if not the only) who didn't seem to lose his sense of humour to the Bolsheviks. Read more

Published 9 months ago by D. Maskelyne

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	95% buy the item featured on this page: The Master and Margarita (Penguin Modern Classics) 4.5 out of 5 stars (85)
	2% buy The Heart of a Dog (Vintage Classics) 4.8 out of 5 stars (12) �4.98
	1% buy The Road 4.2 out of 5 stars (390) �2.96
	1% buy Death and the Penguin (Panther) 4.5 out of 5 stars (38) �4.99

The Master and Margarita (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

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Daily Telegraph, August 2, 2004

Daily Telegraph, August 2, 2004

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