The Master & Margharita - Review

This book is about the devil arriving in Russia & causing havock all mixed up with a kind of love story between a writer & a married woman. It's a bit of a slow burner, something I often don't have much patience with, but it picks up eventually & is very readable & not too taxing.

I find it really interesting reading translated books, especially of Russian authors, there's something in the kind of every day assumptions that makes them seem surreal to start with & then ladled on top of that is the weirdness of the actual plot. At the start of the book the devil & his cronies go round a few rather pompous & self satisfied writers & give them their comeuppance - most of them ending up in an asylum. But instead of using any really devilish tricks, most of his plots seem to revolve around giving people money which turns in to other things at opportune moments.

The characterisation is free & easy without too much muggy detail & most of the characters are pretty likeable despite being full of themselves. There is a kind of Puckish humor to the devil which makes you love him & feel sorry for his victims at the same time. Also I love the cat!

It was a good read but I got to the end with a feeling that I didn't really understand what the point of it all was, no one really seems to achieve anything except for the obligatory love story. But the story doesn't end there, so in that way it's a bit like the Lamuellan novels from Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams - the main character dies before the end but the story continues on without him & then fizzles out a few chapters later.

I might go back & read it one day but I think I'd be put off by the possibility of reading at again & realising that it's not me - it's just weird!