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Book Review of DEMONS by FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY.

"In sinning, each man sins against all, and each man is at least partly guilty for another's sin. There is no isolated sin. And I am a great sinner, perhaps more than you are."

Ever since I finished DEMONS I wanted to do a review... But reviewing it isn't easy at all. I maybe wrong because to be honest, this was one of the most hard and dry book by Dostoyevsky for me.
So yes, its a terrifying story of gruesome deaths. I don't where to start because its almost intimidating. I think DEMONS has strong characterizations. Characters like Pyotr Stepanovich, Shatov, Kirillov, Stavrogin and Stepan himself... And also the narrator. I didn't even understand much what was actually happening in the first part... They were like random episodes. And it seemed like even the characters in the book were as confused as the audience/readers.
It was from the second part, that the reader can notice the plot brimming up. Pyotr's problems with his dad... Shatov''s stature, Kirillov's crisis and death wish... Stavrogin's dilemma.. It was all too much to grasp at once unless you look at the bigger picture which is revealed slowly in part 3 as we proceed.
Now my friends, PART 3 of DEMONS took me, swoop me off of my feet! All of a sudden, everything went dark and chilly. You can literally sense the evil lurking in the plot as it commenced through part 3 till the end. I feel so SO BAD for Shatov. It is true that when a man thinks that he has attained some peace, the whole world starts conspiring against him. And conspiracy, it did. Dostoevsky places Shatov in a tragic role. As soon as he begins to understand himself and develops a religious conviction, he is murdered. Shatov's murder is made especially devastating since it occurs right after he seems for perhaps the first time in his life to be happy.
His death really broke my heart and I came to really hate Pyotr. Pyotr alone was responsible, sole responsible for ao much destruction. And then comes the horror of Kirillov oh Kirillov!

"There are seconds, they come only five or six at a time, and you suddenly feel the presence of eternal harmony, fully achieved. It is nothing earthly; not that it's heavenly, but man cannot endure it in his earthly state. One must change physically or die. The feeling is clear and indisputable. As if you suddenly sense the whole of nature and suddenly say: yes, this is true. God, when he was creating the world, said at the end of each day of creation: 'Yes, this is true, this is good.' This . . . this is not tenderheartedness, but simply joy. You don't forgive anything, because there is no longer anything to forgive. You don't really love � oh, what is here is higher than love! What's most frightening is that it's so terribly clear, and there's such joy. If it were longer than five seconds � the soul couldn't endure it and would vanish. In those five seconds I live my life through, and for them I would give my whole life, because it's worth it. To endure ten seconds one would have to change physically . . ."

The more I say about Kirillov is less. He felt like a perfect Dostoyevsky character. And his death really shook me. In the darkness of the room, Pyotr holding a candle, finds Kirillov in the darkest corner, with both hands raised, POSSESSED HE WAS, THE POSSESSED. That last scream, that suffering scream it was quite picturesque after he died with a gunshot that echoed throughout.

Stavrogin, well this guy was a complicated man, not at all innocent, but also not at all too bad. It is important to read his confession he makes in the banned chapter which you will find in the appendix under the title "At Tikhon's". I think it is a vital chapter which helps people understanding Stavrogin and his dilemma better..
I just feel bad for that Pyotr got away from all of this and the people acquainted with him, suffered a terrible feat.

My rating: 8.5/10 because the ending made up for all the dryness in the beginning.

Thank you!