Notes from Underground

A perfect entry book if you want to want to enter a long dark,cold and very descriptive world of classic Russian novels.

It has all the ingredients that make a classic Russian novel; depressing Russian atmosphere, long descriptive dialogue, focus on motives and thoughts of the characters, and so on, and so on... but it is short, very short in comparison to others of its kind and it is written in first person.

I found it very similar to Crime and Punishment, especially the main character. On the other hand, the perspective from the first person really gives it a more direct approach to main character line of thought which is refreshing for the genre. The first part of the book is just one big monologue, which might as well be my favorite piece of literature, later it waters down with an actual story but still remains what it is, just a great read that I can not describe how much I am happy to pick up.

Cheers.

It's definitely not a fluke that Dostoevsky is considered one of the greatest. This particular one is one of those rare books that equates to a solid punch in the stomach. I remember walking for hours on the streets of Kyiv ona very cold winter and going over bits of it over and over... Something that I ended up doing for days after finishing it.

And to this day it comes back to me every now and then and serves almost as a reminder and a moral compass.

Humbling.

Super interesting book I'll probably never stop thinking about. It was a little hard to get into but definitely worth it. The words of the Underground Man are full of meaning and hilarious at some points as well. Still don't know enough of philosophy to comment on the actual content though...but it was a good read(tm).