Poor Folk

I am not very familiar with old English literature as a warning, but the hope to be better at it if I am going to continue reading, especially if I dive into Dickens, Tolstoy, etc. I had only ever read The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories before I had read Poor Folk.

I liked this, but at the same did not. If it was not so obvious at the beginning of the read compared to about twenty pages in, the nature of it was incredibly bleak. It was realistic for the time it was written and the time it was overall about. 1800s Russia can do that to anyone, I guess.

The relationship between Devushkin and Varvara is familial, but from the language I personally could not see it at the time. [Spoiler] First read would say that he sounds like an obsessed lover who is incredibly intimidated by the path she is living on, especially when she becomes engaged to a total well-off asshat, and rightfully so; Devuskin lives in a rat hole and he seems like the kind of guy who got in that position because he allows heart, over mind, to control finances. Varvara is a chronic complainer, I tell ya. I could not like her attitude, even if her redeeming quality was trying to be the voice of reason for Devushkin’s choice of spending and working. All she did was play victim of pettiness and living situation when really it sounded like she was in a better enough one to be look around her at others and appreciate her own.

I cannot say if I would read this one again. I have the rest of Dostoevsky’s, Dickens, Dumas, etc. books that I hope will build confidence as a reader in terms of speed and understanding. I am currently working on my first Dickens novel since, shudder, ninth grade honors English when we had to read A Tale of Two Cities.

Anywhosies, I have questions for ya’ll: Have you ever dabbled in a classic work?? Who/What do you recommend?? How did you get through it; did you go in with prior knowledge of the language, or did you wing it like I clearly am??

Poor Folk is available here.

8/10