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What are readers saying about Notes from Underground?
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Elizabeth posted a review at 2011-11-09 07:02:48.
(Language: English)
 
an education
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-26 02:55:06.
(Language: English)
Without doubt this is my favorite book of all time. The narrations meticulous attention to detail and structure, not holding back on the real guts of the issue, really sets Fyodor in a class of his own. It's not a happy read, but then again its not entitled "Happy Days" and it is not a long read either, but there is a lot said. I recent my senior school English teachers from subjecting me to Shakespeare when I could of been studying things like this.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-29 03:23:44.
(Language: English)
One of the few books that I have read repeatedly and possibly my favorite. Though the first half can be a bit difficult to read through at first, I find the thoughts of the main character to be beyond entertaining, yet also very human regardless of how crazy it seems at first. His hypocritical thoughts (his self-love and self-hatred), and his awareness of their being hypocritical is tragically comic. And yes, this book probably has one of the best openings ever.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-07 08:30:45.
(Language: English)
"I am a sick man, a spiteful man, an unattractive man. I think that my spleen hurts." It took me a while to follow through the rest of the book, but an opening like this is.... narcotic. And true, so true.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-13 03:46:30.
(Language: English)
To be blunt, this book changed completely the way I think about life, and about reality. The main character-unnamed- is the true, original anti-hero, of whom most will find at least some sort of personal connection to. His story is tragic but beautiful, and this is what attracts us to his words; his philosophy is blunt but almost like prose, and correlates to the modern day without much difficulty. In short, Dostoevsky was a literary and philosophical genius with an astonishing adeptness at exploring the recesses of the human mind.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-11 09:33:18.
(Language: English)
Uh, yeah, dark, but interesting...you know, Russian...Drink vodka while reading...
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-11-14 11:45:37.
(Language: English)
It can't get any better than this! written 140 years ago yet still as modern as ever
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Allendria posted a review at 2009-05-07 02:38:00.
(Language: English)
Ooh it's tough...
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-26 11:49:46.
(Language: English)
I don't know what the ideal circumstances would be for reading this - I couldn't help but wish I'd discovered it when I was a more obsessional teen, rather than the comparatively mellow creature I am now. I guess reaching that understanding is reward enough, but it's far from the only one this novel gives up under close study. Still, it was hard to pick it up often enough to finish it. I'm glad I did.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-31 08:18:57.
(Language: English)
No other book that I have read (with maybe the exception being Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment) has taken me through such a twisted mind as this one. The first part is there to explain to us the mental process of the main character, we get to hear how he reasons through the outside world he is so separated from and we get to know just how far he is in the "underground". The second is him explaining events of his past, what we end up with is a person in constant struggle with himself. A quick read but a powerful one.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-19 08:18:12.
(Language: English)
“Notes From Underground†is not only my favorite work of literature, but one that has a profound effect on my way of thinking. Rarely in literature do we see a protagonist that is universally despicable, a man so full of self-contradictions, spite, and immobility that it is difficult to discern a plot or even a common thought process throughout his ramblings. However, Dostoevsky not only creates this character, but dwells on him, expounds him, justifies him, hammers his thoughts into our minds., and uses him as the mouthpiece for one of his most important debates. Dostoevsky lived in a world in which many Enlightenment-inspired thinkers were eliminating the need for madness in human life. The Underground Man’s rant, drifting up from the underworld, reflects upon whatever tinge of irrationality that we feel spark within us. The link of madness that connects us to the Underground Man is also the thread that makes us human. Without madness, man would be nothing more than “a predictable machine, and a mathematical calculation.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-11-12 03:06:06.
(Language: English)
The first part of this book decimates reason using only rambling. The second part decimates a human being: Awesome.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-19 08:44:37.
(Language: English)
This book is indeed a short wonder. It is both indicative of the themes and ideas the author would bring to his later works and a miniature masterpiece in its own right. Some might be offset by the unusual style, most particullarly the stark stylistic and chronological division between the two halves. But it is this manner of originality which gives the work much of its shocking power. Unfortunately for some, it is impossible to seperate the books highly philosophical and psychological themes with its plot. This might frighten away reader. Yet by demonstrating the universality and individual nearness of his concerns, Dostoevsky manages to make the work accesible to all. Moreover, it does function as great entertainment, in addition to being a highly philosophical book. Finally, it is impossible for me to speak of this book without mentioning the almost unbearable power of its climax. It will simutaneously bring you to tears and fill you with awe.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-07-15 06:39:55.
(Language: English)
Hilarious. Reminds me of someone I knew in high school. Sad too...
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-06-27 09:51:12.
(Language: English)
Before he wrote his more familiar works - "The Brothers Karamazov," "Crime and Punishment" - "Underground" proved Dostoevsky a talented writer. The small novel is in two parts, the first a sort of introspective by an anonymous man - extremely self-aware and vaguely insane. The second part tells of the man's fall from society into the "underground". It's an interesting read - hard to describe, really, but a nice example of the power in Dostoevsky's pen.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-31 08:20:46.
(Language: Portuguese)
da primeira vez em que eu li, chorei. da segunda chorei também, mas de dar risadas. no mínimo curioso...
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-15 09:22:06.
(Language: English)
I enjoyed this book when I read it. There is something intriguing about the troubled mind of the antihero. I particularly enjoyed the idea of his personality being the result of an enlightened sensibility and awareness. While it may not be as acclaimed (although it is very well regarded) I think I enjoyed Ralph Ellision's adaptation in the "Invisible Man" more. Perhaps my preference results from my ability to relate with Ellison's anonymous African American character moreso than a disgruntled russian civil servent. For those who believe the novel is dead because there are no more heros should perhaps consider ellison and dostoyefsky's antiheros as a relevent subject for analysis. It seems that as time progresses, transcendent enlightenment that reveals truth about society need not always be a shepard. It can also come in the form of a disgruntled critic.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-12 06:14:49.
(Language: English)
This book is entirely repetitive. Like most Russian Literature, if reading in conjunction with other 19th century novels it may seem hard to keep some of the characters and story lines strait. Though somewhat more inventive than other works of its time, the constant complaining of the main character becomes overwhelmingly annoying by page 30.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-27 01:23:06.
(Language: English)
First off, it's short! Secondly, a great read. Thirdly, a perceptive characterization of the Underground Man. Divided in two parts, the first is one of histories more well written monologues, or scatological rants brilliantly deconstructing modernistic rationalities long before Nietzsche or Derrida. A glimpse into the characters private inner sanatorium. The second takes a great look though at the fruits of his thought-process from an outside perspective, giving a chilling look at humanity in its natural state.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-11-12 06:17:17.
(Language: English)
A brilliant book dealing with the human soul and mind. Wonderfully written with some really deep descriptions on dostoevskys mental health at that point when he wrote it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-25 08:03:51.
(Language: English)
Everyone should read this atleast once. I've re-read a couple times. This guy who hates himself, and shares his opions of the world around him. At first states he knows too much to be happy. the happy and successful are too naive to realize how meaningless thier life is. Then From there it gets kinda outta wack. lol I love it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-04-13 08:47:47.
(Language: English)
Existentialism before the word has been clearly established. A good book, told by a very complex character.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-04-22 08:04:24.
(Language: English)
Notes from Underground is the first book I read by Dostoyevsky. The author is a genius. Using his incredible imagination he creates the world of a tormented man who finds it impossible to make friends and accomplish anything in life. The book is an incredible insight into our thought processes. It is a touching story of an individual who in the end cannot have a close relationship due to his self-destructive tendencies.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-26 04:23:49.
(Language: English)
A slow read but Dostoevsky's concept of "the wall" comes back to me constantly in this "vale of tears."
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Andrea posted a review at 2011-01-26 10:36:49.
(Language: English)
Fantastic. Loved it. Though loving it sounds strange given the dark, depressing view one might find in these pages. I appreciate the acknowledgment that must come at least once in every man's life that he (read: human, not gender) must face his own depravity, lack, and tormented soul. This suffering man is frank and at some points, I either wanted to tell him to stop talking and cut the drama or to console him and tell him that this or he is not that bad. But, I think the regurgitated emotions and words, though supposedly fiction here, are realities for many.
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