Community Reviews
This book is really bizarre. The first half is really great and engrossing. The surreal / magical events are generally quite funny and usually come down to some sort of digestible allegorical meaning. The more realistic depictions of people's attitudes both within and towards soviet bureaucracy are sharply satirical.
The secondary layer of story around Pilate is applicable, but overdone a bit. In particular, the discussions between him and his chief of spies go on with no apparent point.
And then the second half happens - Margarita becomes a big part of the plot but I was just left with no idea what I was supposed to be getting out of it. She expresses sympathy, love, self-sacrifice - ok - but not in a particularly well executed/dramatized way. The last few chapters felt like Bulgakov was just unsure how to finish properly. The magic of it all just felt less purposeful. There was still a bit of comedy with the antics of Woland's entourage, but it was just old by that point. I would have rated the book more highly if it had wrapped up in about 10 or 12 fewer chapters.
The secondary layer of story around Pilate is applicable, but overdone a bit. In particular, the discussions between him and his chief of spies go on with no apparent point.
And then the second half happens - Margarita becomes a big part of the plot but I was just left with no idea what I was supposed to be getting out of it. She expresses sympathy, love, self-sacrifice - ok - but not in a particularly well executed/dramatized way. The last few chapters felt like Bulgakov was just unsure how to finish properly. The magic of it all just felt less purposeful. There was still a bit of comedy with the antics of Woland's entourage, but it was just old by that point. I would have rated the book more highly if it had wrapped up in about 10 or 12 fewer chapters.
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