The GamblerThe Gambler brilliantly captures the strangely powerful compulsion to bet that Dostoyevsky, himself a compulsive gambler, knew so well. The hero rides an emotional roller coaster between exhilaration and despair, and secondary characters such as the Grandmother, who throws much of her fortune away at the gaming tables, are unforgettable. The book's publishing history is equally so: Under the pressure of a deadline from an unscrupulous publisher, and with rights to his entire oeuvre at stake, Dostoyevsky dictated the book in less than a month to the star pupil of Russia's first shorthand school. Then he married her.
Psychologically probing novel concerns the gambling eqisodes, tangled love affairs and complicated lives of Alexey Ivanovitch, a young gambler; Polina Alexandrovna, the woman he loves; a pair of French adventurers and other characters. Bleak picture of the fatal attractions of gambling with wonderful characterization, faithful depiction of life among the gambling set at fashionable German watering holes.
Existential Delight
Brilliant, emotionally twisted novel with subdued observations and madly intoxicating behaviors.
Souls are bared and hidden,feelings are life threatening and questions are unasked.
This is a different Dostoevsky,with the same amazing sweeping sheer power of writing but exploded in your face rather than carrying you along the minefield! --Reviewer: mark rubinstein from brooklyn, new york United States
