mogustudio

"With the ink still wet on his diploma, the twenty-five-year-old Dr. Mikhail Bulgakov was flung into the depths of rural Russia which, in 1916-17, was still largely unaffected by such novelties as the motor car, the telephone or electric light. How his alter-ego copes (and fails to cope) with the new and often appalling responsibilities of a lone practitioner in a vast country practice -- in blizzards, pursued by wolves and on the eve of Revolution -- is described in Bulgakov's delightful blend of candid realism and imaginative exuberance." ~~back cover Well, that was the plot, all right. In a series of nine short recountings, Dr. Bulgakov drags the reader into the depths of mediaeval Russia. Appalling is a very good description of the conditions the doctor faces, and that his patients live with. Candid realism is indeed the order of the day, but I wouldn't describe it as delightful, no by a long chalk! It isn't that I thought this book would be a Russian version of All Things Bright and Beautiful, but I didn't expect such horrendous situations and pervasive hopelessness either. Somewhere in the middle would have suited me much more!

2023-03-01 15:52