Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Notes from Underground (pre-reform Russian: Записки изъ подполья; post-reform Russian: Записки из подполья, tr. Zapíski iz podpólʹya), also translated as Notes from the Underground or Letters from the Underworld, is an 1864 novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Notes is considered by many to be one of the first existentialist novels. It presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator (generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man), who is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg. The first part of the story is told in monologue form, or the underground man's diary, and attacks emerging Western philosophy, especially Nikolay Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done? The second part of the book is called "Apropos of the Wet Snow" and describes certain events that appear to be destroying and sometimes renewing the underground man, who acts as a first person, unreliable narrator and anti-hero.

Possibly, I even regret, myself, that I have given so few slaps in the face during my life.

3 stars alone for this gem of a sentence.

One sentence synopsis... The perverse musing of a mid-level government bureaucrat trapped in a prison of his own insufferable character.

Read it if you like... unlikeable men who don't play well with others, think Woody Allen or a dark Larry David for modern influences. More obviously it's for those who are into existentialism, the modernist movement, or Russian literature.

Further reading... either Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, or The Brothers Karamazov. If you've read any let me know which I should try next.

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.

Rating: 4.5/5

My second Dostoevsky work I’ve read and I’m blown away. Here is an author writing one hell of a page turner, exploring themes of depravity, misery, and so much more in a mesmerizing way. Frustrating, occasionally hilarious, but never boring.

In a span of around 130+ pages, Dostoevsky imbues so much life with this book, striking the perfect balance between a meditative, thought-provoking read, and an utterly hilarious yet tragic read of an underground man shunned by those around him.

The way it’s structured sets it apart from most narrative books, although I’m probably just saying this as I admittedly haven’t read that much. Despite that I can confidently say that its unique structure worked for me as seeing Dostoevsky go ham with how in-depth the ramblings of the Underground Man get in different aspects of life, eventually progressing to his own encounters, felt like a natural progression of events.

I’ve never really seen themes as bleak as depravity and misery examined in a way that somehow brings comfort to my own struggles until now, so I’m glad I read this one. There’s probably more things that either flew past my head or that I only scratched the surface of, but overall, I’m pretty satisfied with my experience.