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Rating: 
Summary: Two novellas
Review: This book comprises two novellas: "Poor Folk" and "The Gambler".In "Poor Folk", in a grim St Petersburg apartment, the minor functionary Maker Alexeyevich Devushkin exchanges letters with his friend Barbara Alexeyevna Dobroselova. They start by sharing their concerns over their poverty, but as the correspondence continues their relationship deepens, becoming an emotional roller-coaster. Dostoyevsky relates the feelings of people trapped by poverty, vainly attempting to maintain their dignity. "Poor Folk" is mostly written in an epistolatory style, and Dostoyevsky struggles with it, at one point abandoning it altogether, giving the novella a contrived feel. In "The Gambler", Alexey Ivanovich is a tutor in the entourage of a Russian general living abroad. Rivalries and intrigues abound as members of the entourage and hangers-on jostle for position, trying to place themselves in the best place to get their hands on the general's family's money. Dostoyevsky portrays this alongside the other type of gambling in which his characters indulge (ie. at the roulette table). The subject of the novella is the pursuit of lucre and the lengths to which some people will go to get it. At times, the writing is funny, such as at the arrival of the general's mother. But ultimately "The Gambler" is a sharp and disturbing examination of the hopeless and self-delusory world of the addict. G Rodgers
Rating:
Summary: Two novellas
Review: This book comprises two novellas: "Poor Folk" and "The Gambler". In "Poor Folk", in a grim St Petersburg apartment, the minor functionary Maker Alexeyevich Devushkin exchanges letters with his friend Barbara Alexeyevna Dobroselova. They start by sharing their concerns over their poverty, but as the correspondence continues their relationship deepens, becoming an emotional roller-coaster. Dostoyevsky relates the feelings of people trapped by poverty, vainly attempting to maintain their dignity. "Poor Folk" is mostly written in an epistolatory style, and Dostoyevsky struggles with it, at one point abandoning it altogether, giving the novella a contrived feel. In "The Gambler", Alexey Ivanovich is a tutor in the entourage of a Russian general living abroad. Rivalries and intrigues abound as members of the entourage and hangers-on jostle for position, trying to place themselves in the best place to get their hands on the general's family's money. Dostoyevsky portrays this alongside the other type of gambling in which his characters indulge (ie. at the roulette table). The subject of the novella is the pursuit of lucre and the lengths to which some people will go to get it. At times, the writing is funny, such as at the arrival of the general's mother. But ultimately "The Gambler" is a sharp and disturbing examination of the hopeless and self-delusory world of the addict. G Rodgers
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