The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

'Early in the morning on the fourteenth of the spring month of Nisan, the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, in a white cloak lined with blood-red...' In the days before audience measurement, when some books were banned from official publishing and others would be only available on second-hand market at a price akin to 10% of a teacher's monthly salary, I heard the sentence quoted above read aloud on Polish Radio 3 and so my first experience of 'Master and Margarita' began. I didn't know it was beginning of the second chapter. I didn't know that the action of the ...  Read the complete review

Having been introduced to this book by The Lawrence Arms (see previous reviews about this punk band) I was expecting to find it a good read. It was more than this; it was addictive, compelling in every sense, a real joy to read. I have been meaning to review this book for a while now but I felt a deep injustice to the author every time I settled down to analyse his masterpiece, a feeling that carried its way through every other book of his that I have read since (The Fatal Eggs, White Guard, Black Snow). It is the latter that has finally allowed me to feel at home with the writer?s style from an analytic sense rather than purely through a sense of enjoyment. Hopefully ...  Read the complete review

This classic piece of Russian literature is probably less famous than the rock song it inspired: 'Sympathy for the Devil' by The Rolling Stones. You know the one; "Please allow me to introduce myself/I'm a man of wealth and taste..." Written in 1934, but not published for over thirty years, it is hard to describe what the book is about because it is about so many things. The premise is simple enough, if bizarre. One day the Devil visits Moscow with a few of his minions - which include an enormous black cat and a small man with a protruding fang - and decides to throw a May Day Ball. Meanwhile a blacklisted writer, 'The Master', ...  Read the complete review

Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita is required reading if you want to understand the Russian psyche. If you have ever wondered why people in Russia (and the entire ex-Soviet union) treat you with suspicion, then this story may serve to explain why. The story is in two parts. The first half of the book - my favourite part - tells about a mysterious foreigner who can predict the future and make terrible things happen. Unknown to the characters in the book, this mysterious foreigner is the devil - he can make anything happen, from chopping someones head off and replacing it to turning money into rubbish. This part ...  Read the complete review