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shivani_n's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
eh not the best classic i’ve read. i deem this mid.
liana's review against another edition
3.0
I really was looking forward to this story, but I think it might be my least favourite Dostoevsky so far. I couldn't really connect to the temderness that was supposed to be there, and I found the unrequited love of the story more creepy than sad.
laugirl's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
This is so bad
ariaslibrary's review against another edition
5.0
“May your sky be clear, may your sweet smile always be bright and serene, may you be blessed for that moment of bliss and happiness that you gave to another lonely and grateful heart.”
➸Bobok =★★★★
I can’t tell if he was actually going mad or just developed a superpower
➸A Nasty Business =★★★★★
Excellent commentary!
➸The Meek One =★★★★
I have no words. Wow
➸White Nights =★★★★★★
I would give this six stars if I could. The conversation on the second night about being a dreamer brought tears to my eyes and boy did that ending hurt.
haidaway_'s review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
jennyxnt's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
book_cryptid's review against another edition
5.0
a nasty business? three stars. the meek one? five stars. white nights - six? ten? one hundred? a million? how is anyone supposed to express in any way, shape or form humanly possible, how good this story is. fyodor dostoyevsky wrote the most pure, perfect, all-encapsulating story about love ever, and the rest of us just have to. go on with our days. live in this world. cry because how can we ever find love like this. how am i supposed to move on from their story. from their love.
whatever you do, don't listen to fire on fire by sam smith on repeat while reading the ending of white nights. don't. you will be psychologically damaged and i don't think there's a therapist in the world who can help me. the only thing that can bring me peace right now is honest to god resurrecting fyodor himself and demanding he explain himself. how did he write this. how did he ever find love again after writing this.
have quotes? get ready to cry.
the meek one
i'm a master of speaking silently - all my life i've spoken silently.
you don't know with what paradise i would have surrounded you. the paradise was in my soul; i would have planted it all round you!
people are alone on this earth - that's the problem! 'is there a man alive on the field?' the russian bogatyr cries out. and i cry out as well, though i am not a bogatyr, and no one answers. they say that the sun gives life to the universe. the sun will rise and - look at it, isn't it dead? everything is dead, the dead are everywhere. there are only people, and all around them is silence - that's the earth.
white nights
it was a wonderful night, the kind of night, dear reader, which is only possible when we are young. the sky was so starry, it was such a bright sky that looking at it you could not help but ask yourself: is it really possible for bad-tempered and capricious people to live under such a sky? that is also a young person's question, dear reader, a very young person's question, but may the lord ask it of your heart more often!
'oh, if only you knew how many times i've fallen in love like that!'
'but how, with whom? . . .'
'why with nobody, with an ideal, with the one i see in my dreams. i create entire love stories in my dreams.'
'the story of my life! my story! but who told you that i have a story to tell? i don't have a story . . .'
'but how have you lived if there's no story?'
'absolutely without stories of any kind! i lived, as they say, on my own, that is, absolutely alone - alone, completely alone - do you understand what it means to be alone?'
'- because i have known you for a long time, nastenka, because i have long been searching for someone, and that is a sign that i was looking precisely for you and that we were fated to meet now -'
'a new dream is new happiness!'
'what will there be for me to dream about when i have already been so happy in real life beside you!'
'you hear, you see how people live - they live in reality; you see that life for them is not forbidden, that their life doesn't vanish like a dream.'
'and in vain does the dreamer rake through his old dreams, as if they were ashes, searching in these ashes for at least some little spark, in order to fan it into flames, and with this rekindled fire warm his heart, which has grown cold, and resurrect in himself once again everything that he had held dear, that had touched his soul, that had made his blood boil, that had brought tears to his eyes and had so splendidly deceived him!'
'we thank some people for merely living at the same time as we do.'
'but only i would love you so, i would love you so, that even if you still loved him and continued to love this person whom i don't know, you still would not find my love to be a burden to you in any way. you would only feel, you would only sense at every moment that next to you beats a grateful, grateful heart, an ardent heart . . .'
'if you feel that your love is so great that it may in the end drive out from my heart the former . . . if you wish to love me always as you now love me, then i swear that gratitude . . . that my love will in the end be worthy of your love'
'and when you see me, you will give me your hand . . . won't you? you will give it to me, you have forgiven me, isn't that so? do you love me as you did before?'
my nights ended with the morning.
if you actually read the whole thing through - first of all, bless you. second of all, from this point on ignore me but i have to say it - i'm currently watching band of brothers and why do some quotes hit so hard with dick&nix-
okay that's all. thank you for tuning in. catch me nonstop crying about them for the next few weeks ✌️
whatever you do, don't listen to fire on fire by sam smith on repeat while reading the ending of white nights. don't. you will be psychologically damaged and i don't think there's a therapist in the world who can help me. the only thing that can bring me peace right now is honest to god resurrecting fyodor himself and demanding he explain himself. how did he write this. how did he ever find love again after writing this.
have quotes? get ready to cry.
the meek one
i'm a master of speaking silently - all my life i've spoken silently.
you don't know with what paradise i would have surrounded you. the paradise was in my soul; i would have planted it all round you!
people are alone on this earth - that's the problem! 'is there a man alive on the field?' the russian bogatyr cries out. and i cry out as well, though i am not a bogatyr, and no one answers. they say that the sun gives life to the universe. the sun will rise and - look at it, isn't it dead? everything is dead, the dead are everywhere. there are only people, and all around them is silence - that's the earth.
white nights
it was a wonderful night, the kind of night, dear reader, which is only possible when we are young. the sky was so starry, it was such a bright sky that looking at it you could not help but ask yourself: is it really possible for bad-tempered and capricious people to live under such a sky? that is also a young person's question, dear reader, a very young person's question, but may the lord ask it of your heart more often!
'oh, if only you knew how many times i've fallen in love like that!'
'but how, with whom? . . .'
'why with nobody, with an ideal, with the one i see in my dreams. i create entire love stories in my dreams.'
'the story of my life! my story! but who told you that i have a story to tell? i don't have a story . . .'
'but how have you lived if there's no story?'
'absolutely without stories of any kind! i lived, as they say, on my own, that is, absolutely alone - alone, completely alone - do you understand what it means to be alone?'
'- because i have known you for a long time, nastenka, because i have long been searching for someone, and that is a sign that i was looking precisely for you and that we were fated to meet now -'
'a new dream is new happiness!'
'what will there be for me to dream about when i have already been so happy in real life beside you!'
'you hear, you see how people live - they live in reality; you see that life for them is not forbidden, that their life doesn't vanish like a dream.'
'and in vain does the dreamer rake through his old dreams, as if they were ashes, searching in these ashes for at least some little spark, in order to fan it into flames, and with this rekindled fire warm his heart, which has grown cold, and resurrect in himself once again everything that he had held dear, that had touched his soul, that had made his blood boil, that had brought tears to his eyes and had so splendidly deceived him!'
'we thank some people for merely living at the same time as we do.'
'but only i would love you so, i would love you so, that even if you still loved him and continued to love this person whom i don't know, you still would not find my love to be a burden to you in any way. you would only feel, you would only sense at every moment that next to you beats a grateful, grateful heart, an ardent heart . . .'
'if you feel that your love is so great that it may in the end drive out from my heart the former . . . if you wish to love me always as you now love me, then i swear that gratitude . . . that my love will in the end be worthy of your love'
'and when you see me, you will give me your hand . . . won't you? you will give it to me, you have forgiven me, isn't that so? do you love me as you did before?'
my nights ended with the morning.
if you actually read the whole thing through - first of all, bless you. second of all, from this point on ignore me but i have to say it - i'm currently watching band of brothers and why do some quotes hit so hard with dick&nix-
okay that's all. thank you for tuning in. catch me nonstop crying about them for the next few weeks ✌️
blues_and_reads's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
jozovi's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0