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Customer Review
- Reviewed in Canada on June 30, 2003As my introduction to Dostoyevsky, I chose his first novel, written at age 24, as the logical starting place. Poor Folk is a very compact, easy-to-read volume and is a fascinating work.
Dostoyevsky tantalizes the reader with his format. The entire book is a series of letters between 47 year-old Makar Alexievitch and the subject of his infatuation, a much younger Barbara Alexievna. As the two live within sight of each other and meet often, the letters leave an impression akin to that of seeing a series of snapshots from a movie rather than watching the entire production. Many details of their lives and particularly their pasts are alluded to but never fully divulged. The most powerful result is that the reader is left to grapple with the true nature of the relationship between the two fantastically poor correspondents.
The author does a wonderful job of relating the harsh reality of life in 19th-century St. Petersburg slums and the depersonalized, marginalized and tenuous existence of the working poor. This stark setting and the desperate circumstances of the protagonists provide the stage for one of the overarching themes of the book-the foundational source of self-esteem. When money, social stature and career success are completely lacking, is love from another the final refuge for salvaging a sense of self worth? To what lengths will one go to preserve this refuge and to where may one turn when abandoned by it are central questions weaved by Dostoyevsky.
The other subtle theme behind the story is the circumstances necessary for true character revelation. Irony abounds in Poor Folk, with Barbara's character being it primary vehicle. One might expect that harsh circumstances, bitter privation and abject poverty would shed the social covering to reveal one's disposition, but Barbara's unexpected financial good fortune reveals her true nature. Her reaction to sudden affluence reveals her relationship with Makar to have been driven wholly by a desperate need for a patron rather than genuine love and affection.
This is a great read and whets the appetite to tackle Dostoyevsky's more famous works.
