The Master and Margarita

The Devil really is your buddy.

Any book that has inspired both Mick Jagger and Salman Rushdie has got to be worth reading at least once. Bulgakov tells the story of a poet who encounters Satan when he shows up in Moscow and then goes on to wreak havoc throughout the city with his unholy band of companions. The rampage involves mass hypnotism, the distribution of fake money, disappearances, mysterious deaths, and the driving of...more

Any book that has inspired both Mick Jagger and Salman Rushdie has got to be worth reading at least once. Bulgakov tells the story of a poet who encounters Satan when he shows up in Moscow and then goes on to wreak havoc throughout the city with his unholy band of companions. The rampage involves mass hypnotism, the distribution of fake money, disappearances, mysterious deaths, and the driving of many people to insanity. The core of the story is about the Master, an insane novelist who rewrote the New Testament from Pontius Pilate's point of view in a way that parallels Moscow society in the 1930's, and Margarita, the beautiful woman who sells her soul in order to liberate the Master from his insanity. The author's intentions are obscure and the inside jokes and references to arcane aspects of Muscovite society at the time of the rise of Stalin are obscure also. However, if you don't mind being mystified this can be an engaging novel.   hide

My favorite Russian novel. Fantastical and compelling. About the devil's annual ball, this year in Moscow (Margarita being the hostess) and a genius writer (the Master) and so much, much more.

מדהים

A wild ride, and a complicated novel. I'm still not entirely sure what it was about! Russian politics, religion, morality, and somewhere in the thick of it, a love that transcends all. Definitely made for interesting book club conversation!

Coraggioso. E' questa la prima parola che mi viene in mente dopo aver letto il "Maestro e Margherita". Coraggioso perché riscrive i vangeli e li riscrive con una prospettiva storica notevole e maledettamente realistica, a primo acchitto dissacrante ma che se si legge bene nelle trame del libro dissacrante non è. Coraggioso perché se si pensa al periodo storico in cui fu scritto...more

Coraggioso. E' questa la prima parola che mi viene in mente dopo aver letto il "Maestro e Margherita". Coraggioso perché riscrive i vangeli e li riscrive con una prospettiva storica notevole e maledettamente realistica, a primo acchitto dissacrante ma che se si legge bene nelle trame del libro dissacrante non è. Coraggioso perché se si pensa al periodo storico in cui fu scritto è davvero un pugno in faccia al sistema sovietico e all'imbrigliamento della cultura durante il regime e ne è la riprova gli ostacoli che il romanzo ha incontrato ma come dice Woland "I romanzi non bruciano mai". Infine visionario e romantico ma in maniera pacata e discreta e per questo mai banale. Ottima lettura e per una volta ho fatto meno fatica a ricordare quei maledetti nomi russi...   hide

A dark satire! Wonderful readin'!

how mysterious. how enchanting. this book presents a divine world full of chaos and mayhem, yet ultimately unveils the perfect peace and ballance that rules it. russian philosophy at its most creative.

a very interesting prospective of the evil