my books. my life.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

Translation: Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
Rating: 4/5
Date Read: August 2007

1. In Dead Souls, Chichikov, in an attempt to inflate his social standing, comes up with a scheme of purchasing from other landowner’s the serfs who have died. No one really knows what his mysterious plan is and each landowner he approaches reacts in a different manner to his odd request for their “dead souls.”

2. I found this book hilarious. I remember laughing out loud when Gogol explained that the fat men rule the world. This is meant to be a critical look at Russian society and Gogol succeeded by making me laugh at it. I love me some quirky characters and Dead Souls does not disappoint in that regard.

3. I think I had a good translation and I would recommend it. I actually only read the original Part 1 of Dead Souls and, for some reason (I think I may have become a little bored and knew the rest of it was unfinished), didn’t bother reading any further, but this edition contains the entire thing.

Three Things Thursday is a new weekly feature where I review books I read prior to blogging by sharing just three things about them.