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Tom's Reviews > Demons
Demons
by
by
No Sympathy Here.
I give this book reluctant 4. Definitely more boring than Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. There is no character I can sympathize. Many readers, and surely college students, can easily give their sympathy too our dear tragic Rodion. There are also many "heroes" in The Karamazov Brothers to receive our sympathy, whether your fav is the poor innocent Dmitri, the liberal Ivan, the genuine Alexei, or maybe the other Karamazov (no, not the father, but the other one, the saddest one, no spoiler here).
This book is the most political one from Dostoevsky, and I can see its relevance to our society these days to warn the people, activists, etc, of the danger of being possessed by ideas, whether it is foreign or traditional. The horribly manipulative character Pyotr Stepanovich is worst than Jeoffrey and Littlefinger combined. He is a total crook. What's worst? Just as I believe there are people like Littlefinger lingering around our politics, I also suspect there are people like Pyotr who feed some impressible and gullible people's minds with his charismatic, wonderful tales, and then those unfortunate people follow him because they think this Pyotr is possessed with great, untouchable mysteries to change their lives.
Of course, this charming Pyotr is actually a total scam and scumbag and yes! There are people like him. People like Pyotr are the kind of people who make us losing hope is humanity, however, be still! That is their purpose. The Pyotrs want us to be confused, cynical, and eventually, when we are at our most vulnerable, it will be easier for us to be controlled, to be possessed by crooked scams like the Pyotr Stepanovich.
The novel is the most multi-dimensional that I read from Dostoevsky, and I disagree to call Nikolai Stavrogin as the main character, because, well, he has no significant role in the story. Pyotr is maybe the evil main character, or maybe his father is the main character, or maybe his target is the main character. There are two powerful women in this stories, and they really play bigger roles than the alleged-main character, Nikolai Stavrogin: Varvara Petrovna (Nikolai's mother) and Yulia Mikhailovna. Both are progressive women of ideas, the latter is greatly passionate to invest her husband's power (who is the governor) to gather even more influences and spread more ideas. Such a progressive with the noblest intention. Sadly, she, too, fails to realize she is also being possessed. In this respect, the former is somewhat luckier when she decides to stay put at the right time. Anyhow, I don't even think there is a main character here.
The novel eerily reminds me of Game of Thrones, or more like, a mini Game of Thrones, since the story takes place in a small town. The rating I give here is rather reluctant, I wish the story's pace were faster. Finally, there is this deleted chapter from the original part due to censorship. Read this chapter called At Tikhon's so you can make some sense out of Nikolai's action. Also, this deleted chapter contains my favorite quote from Dostoevsky.
"Demons undoubtedly exist, but the understanding of them can vary greatly." � Dostoevsky
I give this book reluctant 4. Definitely more boring than Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. There is no character I can sympathize. Many readers, and surely college students, can easily give their sympathy too our dear tragic Rodion. There are also many "heroes" in The Karamazov Brothers to receive our sympathy, whether your fav is the poor innocent Dmitri, the liberal Ivan, the genuine Alexei, or maybe the other Karamazov (no, not the father, but the other one, the saddest one, no spoiler here).
This book is the most political one from Dostoevsky, and I can see its relevance to our society these days to warn the people, activists, etc, of the danger of being possessed by ideas, whether it is foreign or traditional. The horribly manipulative character Pyotr Stepanovich is worst than Jeoffrey and Littlefinger combined. He is a total crook. What's worst? Just as I believe there are people like Littlefinger lingering around our politics, I also suspect there are people like Pyotr who feed some impressible and gullible people's minds with his charismatic, wonderful tales, and then those unfortunate people follow him because they think this Pyotr is possessed with great, untouchable mysteries to change their lives.
Of course, this charming Pyotr is actually a total scam and scumbag and yes! There are people like him. People like Pyotr are the kind of people who make us losing hope is humanity, however, be still! That is their purpose. The Pyotrs want us to be confused, cynical, and eventually, when we are at our most vulnerable, it will be easier for us to be controlled, to be possessed by crooked scams like the Pyotr Stepanovich.
The novel is the most multi-dimensional that I read from Dostoevsky, and I disagree to call Nikolai Stavrogin as the main character, because, well, he has no significant role in the story. Pyotr is maybe the evil main character, or maybe his father is the main character, or maybe his target is the main character. There are two powerful women in this stories, and they really play bigger roles than the alleged-main character, Nikolai Stavrogin: Varvara Petrovna (Nikolai's mother) and Yulia Mikhailovna. Both are progressive women of ideas, the latter is greatly passionate to invest her husband's power (who is the governor) to gather even more influences and spread more ideas. Such a progressive with the noblest intention. Sadly, she, too, fails to realize she is also being possessed. In this respect, the former is somewhat luckier when she decides to stay put at the right time. Anyhow, I don't even think there is a main character here.
The novel eerily reminds me of Game of Thrones, or more like, a mini Game of Thrones, since the story takes place in a small town. The rating I give here is rather reluctant, I wish the story's pace were faster. Finally, there is this deleted chapter from the original part due to censorship. Read this chapter called At Tikhon's so you can make some sense out of Nikolai's action. Also, this deleted chapter contains my favorite quote from Dostoevsky.
"Demons undoubtedly exist, but the understanding of them can vary greatly." � Dostoevsky
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