The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In the midst of all the devilish mischief in the first part I started to flag, which makes me think I’m not going to be a great fit for hell.
But I loved the background of this book, the introduction from Simon Franklin in the Everyman’s Library edition, in the oppressive artistic environment of early twentieth century Russia. The set pieces of different surreal events where the devil visits the people of Moscow are entertaining, peppered with hints of the story to come in the second half, of the master and Margarita and the master’s burned novel about Pontius Pilate. The swirling confusion that accompanies the devil’s visit to town is perhaps too well realized for me, since, like Margarita at the devil’s night in the second half, I started to get worn out from all the visitors attending the ball.
The book lights on fire when have the one, two threads that drive the second half to the end, when Margarita, the master’s lover, tries to track down her disappeared lover and winds up enlisting the help of the devil (or he enlists her help for his own ends).
The devil’s companions, Behemoth and Koroviev and the rest get more of the stage to themselves and their antics, which are even more entertaining when they are stuck together, without humans to distract them — a great bit of slapstick and nonsense. The chess match between Behemoth, the cat, and Woland, the devil, in which Behemoth attempts to stall his inevitable defeat by searching beneath the bed for his knight is a riot, even more so because this is Margarita’s first time meeting the man, himself.
I loved the way Bulgakov wrapped the stories, transitioned from one chapter to the next (often by repeating the final phrasing from the previous chapter), and even the multiple endings that match the ending to the master’s own manuscript, which no one but Margarita has been able to read, since he burned it up, failing to get a publisher (oh, a familiar feeling). And the recurring revelation of the story of Pontius Pilate and Matthew the Levite, Judas, and Jesus is really well-managed and compelling.