Started: 28/09/19
Finished: 08/10/19
Spoilers: No.
I’ve been sitting on this on for nearly a week, trying to figure out how to review this, and I’m still struggling. Not because I found it so ground-breaking that I’m left speechless, but because this book is so out-there and strange and unlike anything I’ve read, that words can’t really describe it.
It’s one of the weirdest, most highly original books I think I’ve read. This book is madness. This book is chaos. This book is so fun.
I think if I try to explain it in too finer detail I’ll likely do it an incredible injustice. It’s very difficult to explain this book in any way that makes sense - (so the devil goes to Moscow with his entourage, including a vodka drinking black cat, and causes havoc) or (it’s a love story between the Master and Margarita and their efforts to be together despite adversity) or (it’s the back-story of Pontius Pilate condemning Jesus to the cross) - but the thing is, this book is about all of these things. Three strikingly different concepts all rolled together like marbled clay. Despite the weirdness, it works.
This Russian classic is a magical realism book written as a satirical, black comedy. It’s utterly absurd and noticeably pokes fun at not only the Soviet regime but also the snobbery of the Russian literary society of the time it was written (even though it couldn’t be published until after the author’s death thirty years later because it was too obscene.)
In a lot of ways, this books reminds me of Jonas Jonasson novels (mainly the Hundred Year Old Man), based on the satirical nature in which it’s written. The ridiculous scenarios, the almost slapstick humour, and even the repetition of character names in full every single time they’re spoken of. They scream of similarity and I’m not complaining about that at all.
There’s no denying I found it thoroughly entertaining and zany. There’s never a dull moment in this book. Even now, a week after finishing it, my head is still spinning from the madness of it all.
What I Loved :
1) The devil and his entourage - mainly Behemoth the cat. (I now want a black cat called Behemoth)
2) The hilarious trouble they caused.
3) The sheer amount of people that ended up in the mental hospital even though they weren’t mad and it was just the devil fucking with them.
4) The love story between the Master and Margarita.
5) The candid manner in which devastating events - such as beheading by tram - are explored.
6) The fact that I loved the devil and his demon retinue even though their technically bad guys.
7) The absolute madness of it all.
8) And the notion that because Bulgakov wrote this book never to be published in his lifetime; meaning he didn’t pull any punches with this one. He wrote exactly the novel he wanted to write without fear of suppression, oppression or the KGB for that matter. This book was his secret labor of love. His truest heart's desire. And for that reason alone, it's quite special.
What I Didn’t Love :
1) All the stuff about Pontius Pilate. (I know that was probably where all the profound, meaningful scenes were, but I just didn’t find those chapters nearly as interesting.
2) The fact that so many names sounded the same. (Ivan Nikolayevich. Nikanor Ivanovich. Nikolay Ivanovich. Ivan Savelyevich) It got a little distracting.
Ultimately, the message of this book could be construed as any number of moral, but the one I want to highlight comes from a quote spoken by the devil himself.
"Manuscripts don’t burn."
I like to imagine the meaning behind this is: you can try to hide the truth, remove the evidence, but it will still be there. Whether written or not, the truth remains. "Manuscripts don’t burn." The truth can't be burnt away like paper. Stories are retold, and their authors are immortalised.
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