Book Review: Dead Souls

How about another book review?

Recently I finished reading the Russian classic Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol.

The story takes place in Russia during the mid eighteen hundreds, a time when the country was quickly making its way out of the Dark Ages and into the current era. However this was also a time when Russian society was at its most vain and hypocritical and the feudalistic style of government was still very much intact.

The novel follows Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov as he travels the Russian countryside. Essentially he is taking part in a con operation, attempting to buy up all the dead souls (or serfs) listed alive on the last census in order to mortgage them and make a profit. Throughout his episodic journey, Chichikov meets dozens of vivid, colorful characters that truly make up the heart of this wonderful story.

While Gogol can come across as excessively verbose and his sentences can sometimes take up an entire page, his storytelling is the work of brilliance. I often felt myself getting utterly lost in the story and marveling at the craftsmanship of the plot. The author often goes on long winded tangents, talks directly to the audience, and gives abrupt and extremely detailed backstories all of which would be absolutely unacceptable today, but I ended up really loving such eccentricities.

I also found myself loving the fact that Pavel Ivanovich is not the fautless hero that a lot of classic lit employs. He is sneaky and manipulative and selfish and also really real to the point where the author can make the point of “maybe we all know that there’s a little Chichikov in each of us,” or something to that effect.

My only severe complaint was that huge chunks of the manuscript were missing. And while I know this is nineteenth century classic literature and you get what you get, I couldn’t help but feel a little cheated. I know that Gogol could have provided a really impactful ending as well as write those holes in the story with the same raw, imperfect power that every other scene abounds in, and yet they were never completed.

If you couldn’t already tell, I would recommend this book. I am also quite surprised that it isn’t widely known. When people think of the Russians they think of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Crime and Punishment. Dead Souls is a work of sloppy brilliance that truly deserves a place among the greats.

Book Review of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'

Today I thought I’d do a book review for ya’ll, just to shake things up a bit.

                I’ve just recently finished the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

                The story centers around Christopher John Francis Boone, a severely autistic fifteen year old living in modern England.

On a midnight walk around his neighborhood, Christopher discovers a neighbor’s dog dead, impaled by a garden fork. Due to his love of detective work and the Sherlock Holmes novels, it becomes his mission to find out the identity of the murderer. He keeps track of his progress in his own novel, which is meant to be TCIOTDITN itself.

Through this simple quest, Christopher discovers a lot about himself, his world, and secrets people keep under the pretense of making life easier.

Haddon definitely has a bit of genius in him to come up with such an honest, off-beat, smart book.  The writing is simple and clear, just as you would imagine an autistic boy to write. The simplicity is obvious, but every so often you start to see the deep thought and the finesse and the quiet power within the paragraphs.

The story itself is a bit of a blurred adventure novel. We’re forced to see things through Christopher’s eyes, but at the same time can take it all in with our own minds. The result is both frustrating and enlightening; it gives a clear-cut view into the ambiguous world of autism that I haven’t encountered anywhere else.

It was cute, thought-provoking, and a little bit heartbreaking. I’d recommend it.