Devils by: Fyodor Dostoevsky
review by: Sasha TerMaat '05
I've often heard that a reader should give a book at least 50 pages before deciding that they don't like it, but a reader could give Devils more than 200 pages and still be completely confused. After a hundred more pages, the anecdotes and exploits which have been revealed begin to center around the revolutionary Nikolai Stavrogin and his friend Peter Verkhovensky, and the book begins to make more sense.In Devils, Dostoevsky has written a profound anti-nihilist statement and fictionalizes the historical escapades of Russian revolutionary cell leader and serial killer Nachaev, but it is difficult for me to recommend this book to readers who aren't Russian history majors. The dark humor is amusing and appropriately disturbing; however, the humor (which often relies on familiarity with the Russian figures being parodied) and philosophical insight do not compensate for the confusion of the reader.