Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

[ihavebrownhaira]

I picked up a novel filled with Dostoevsky's short stories and many I enjoyed. I am not a great novelist or literary critic so my opinion should not mean much to you. I thought Notes of the Underground was very good, but I enjoyed some of the other stories much better like White Nights for instance. Notes of the Underground is about a depressed man who isolates himself and leads a very poor miserable life. He eventually meets a whore and rants and raves to her about her future. I found the beginning to be complicated and he even admits that it is full of rambling and contradictions, but I believe if one is intelligent enough one can understand this, but I am not so I was lost. Once he dove into the story about the poor man I began to understand it much better. I believe he portrayed the underground very well. The whole thing is a memoir from this poor isolated soul. Its great. I loved it. I enjoy his writing style and I have very much respect for Mr. Dostoevsky.

[ihavebrownhaira]

Joseph your a very kind man. I am just worn out my friend and the truth is guys like Dostoevsky are much more intelligent than I am. I am no great literary critic. I believe I am intelligent. I am poor, but that has nothing to do with intelligence. I'm only eighteen. And I am too hard on myself, but the doctor has been helping me. The doctor has been working his wonders. Simply being kind and talking and communicating and letting me know that things are okay. This sounds kind of strange, but hey we all grow tired, we all get beat up at some point in our lives and sometimes we simply need somebody to talk to. The people on this forum are very kind and very understanding and I appreciate their patience. Joseph you are certainly included. I hope you don't decide to leave this forum because you contribute to it very much. Well I am going to rest. I read a little more Dostoevsky and now hopefully I will have comfortable dreams.

[ihavebrownhaira]

I would also like to review another short story that was apart of this collection. It is titled "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man". It is about a man who has purchased a revolver and is contemplating suicide. He reads during the day and at night time he sits in his armchair and thinks for hours on end and thoughts slip in and out of his ear. He falls asleep and dreams a great dream, but I will not tell the rest. It is the last story in the collection and the latest short story to be written in the collection. It is my favorite. I prefer him to Tolstoy anytime and any day.

[Zoey141]

I am glad to have found a thread on the book but I haven't gone through it. I've started Notes from Underground, so it'll be great to kickstart a conversation on it as soon as I finish.