I’ve tried 3 times. I really, really, really, tried. You may think it's the best thing ever written in the history of ever. I'm happy for you.

I'm not happy for me, because I should have DNF'd when I knew I didn't like it, but I stuck it out because it's one of those books you're 'supposed' to read before you die and such.

I understood it just fine. I can understand something and simultaneously not like it.

It was melodramatic, I hated the MC the same way I hated Holden Caulfield, there was no redeeming qualities in the ending for me, and it's entirely possible this was better in its original Russian. As it stands in English, the sentence structure was awful, the characters were flat, the plot relied on an awful lot of convenient happenings, and I never connected with the rising tension (or potential madness) of the MC. He simply irritated me, and not in the way a well-written but unlikeable MC should irritate me.

It was tedious. The game of cat and mouse was momentarily amusing, but quickly flipped back into little more than droning on. And on. And on, and on, and on. It didn't take me months to finish this because I was relishing it, or contemplating it, or 'living with it'. I was actively avoiding it, the way you try to avoid your crazy neighbour who never shuts up. Every time I opened it, I thought: please stop talking.

It is not the worst book I've ever read. It's probably the most boring book I've ever read, and the one I most actively avoided finishing. There’s a reason the books in this category are called Russian Doorstoppers.

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Created Apr 05, 2024 at 2:25pm • Submit your own review...