Classic, brilliant Dostoevsky. The Gambler was the more enjoyable of the two stories for me and I actually stayed up all night not able to put it down. The main character is 25 years old, naive, flighty, enamored with a girl who doesn't care about him, and yet precocious, strong willed, and hilarious.

Dostoevsky's characters always become trapped by their own mind. They are somewhat nihilistic and always one step removed from the seriousness of life, yet they are deeply embedded in and affected by the absurd reality of existence and the anxieties that come with it; the confluence of the two make for the perfect storm, psychologically speaking.

I had never read any Dostoyevsky till this book. I haven't read much of Russian literature either. I like Tolstoy, but that's because I was really stubborn back then and insisted on finishing the whole War and Peace. In the process, I fell in love with the Characters and got interested in the view they each had of the world.
So When my brother told me if I like Dostoyevsky for my birthday gift, I said yes. I thought that my war and peace experience could repeat itself. And everyone talks about Dostoyevsky all the time, I wanted to know what all the fuss is about.

The Double

The Double didn't disappoint me. I had read a spoiler and had mistakenly thought that the character is schizophrenic and he knows about it. So at first I was getting tired of all those delusion-descriptions. Then I read parts where it wasn't really clear if the delusions are real or not. And that's where doubt found its way into me and things got exciting! From that point on, I really liked the Double! I was really feeling bad for poor Yakov Petrovich, he was really confused…and so lonely. It was a mad world for him. Even the way he talked was all chaotic. All that "so there" and repeating things. It all made me feel unbelievably sad. I was hoping and hoping that things would get better at the end, that at least the girl would actually come and some kind of happy ending occurs…it felt really bitter and the poor Yakov Petrovich's thought bothered me for some days. And that shows what an awesome story it was.

The Gambler

On the contrary, I didn't really like the Gambler. I could not connect with the main character at all, and didn't get what the whole point of the story was. In some parts I enjoyed Ivanovich's guesses about other characters' thoughts and characteristics. Other than that, the whole thing was pointless and I couldn't understand why someone would voluntarily give all his money to a lady to spend so carelessly. Go take a trip around the world or something! That much of carelessness bothers me. I think it's even kinda scary! Overall, I finished the Gambler just because I don't like leaving books in the middle.
I also read somewhere that Dostoyevsky wrote the Gambler because he needed money so bad. I guess that explains it all, doesn't it?

So the summary: Loved the Double, didn't care for the Gambler. That makes for three stars.

Both are great books. Unsurprisingly, Dostoevsky does an excellent job at showing the anxieties and mental deterioration of Golyadkin in the Double. The Gambler is very underappreciated as it is a simple tale with quite interesting characters; it is hard to believe that this was written very quickly to meet a contractural deadline, failure of which would have seen him forfeit the rights to his other works.

One of the great works of psychological literature and an existential landmark, magically translated from the Russian by Richard Pevar and Larissa Volokhonsky.

I find the character portrait of Golyadkin, more haunting that Raskolnikov, in both the depths of despair and madness, as identity and choice die under a gathering weight of paranoia and bureaucracy.

Dostoevsky remains more relevant now than ever.

The double- 1 ⭐️
The story follows an outsider through a schizophrenic episode as he struggles to regain control of his life. When he meets his double, I was reminded of Tyler in Fight club… but instead of rebelling, he sinks deeper into paranoia, humiliation and an identity crisis. He desperately wants to connect and be accepted by society but he’s so socially awkward that every interaction is secondhand embarrassment. It shares a lot of similarities with notes from underground but Dostoevsky hadn’t yet sharpened the narrative control he shows in his later books so it was such a drag to read. (It’s his first book.) Following Goliadkin felt like going in circles… no suspense, just frustration

The gambler-3 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
The beginning was strong, pulling me in with its tension and obsession but as it went on, I could feel Dostoevsky slipping away. The second half felt rushed, the energy fading until the ending fell flat. I thought it would be a 5-star read, maybe even 4 but it turned out to be a 3-star cake leaving nothing but an unsatisfying aftertaste

The Double was definitely different than other Dostoyevsky that I have read--but definitely intriguing. Such a timid protagonist. The Gambler was interesting in regards to Alexei and his journeys and lack of love and complex relationships with people and gambling.

I would rate The Double 3/5, it's not as good as Dostoevsky's other works but still an interesting tale. I liked the ending quite a bit but parts of it dragged and were just a bit uninteresting.

I would rate The Gambler 4/5 however. I found it very engrossing, and I read it in just a couple of days. It's still much shorter fiction than his main works, but I found much of it quite engaging. Many parts made me laugh out loud. The ending wasn't quite what I hoped for, but it doesn't mean it wasn't good. It just might not have been as happy as I might have wished.

Overall, if you are a big fan of Dostoevsky's work and haven't read these yet, I think they are worth a look. If you haven't read much or any of his work yet, though, I'd probably just turn to Crime and Punishment or The Idiot, one of his longer and more renowned novels.

Reading Dostoyevsky, you’re plunked into a world in progress, and this is in part what makes him as a writer so appealing. One gets the sense that his characters have lived long before one meets them, and will continue to live on well beyond the last page — provided they’ve survived.

Dostoyevsky’s ability to fully imbue his characters with paradox, questionable motives, mystery, awkwardness, rage — makes for some of the most challenging and rewarding time one can spend reading.

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The Gambler (3/5) didn’t quite live up to the hype for me. I found myself getting bored of the family politics and had expected more of a psychological take on gambling and addiction. There are some great passages to be read, but I wouldn’t say this is one of his best.

The Double (4/5) surprised me. Written when he was just 24, Dostoevsky crafts a surrealist fairy tale (that reads like it could be Kafka but for all of Dostoevsky’s signature sweaty-guyness) that intrigues and bewitches the reader.

THE DOUBLE - a sublime nightmare of paranoia, shame and embarrassment; this is an absurdist work of genius. (Kafka wished he could write as well). 5 stars

*written mostly in the third person, but also experiments with the addition of first person narrative and breaking of the fourth wall to address the reader directly.

THE GAMBLER - how much trouble can gambling get you into? Fyodor is about to tell you. I will re-read The Double in a different translation some day, this one - not so much. 4 stars

[P&V translation]

I first read "The Gambler" when I was 17, a time I knew next to nothing about this dirty business of life. There was a scene in the book in which the main character expresses his feelings to the woman he wants to both love and murder (in true Dostoevskian fashion), where he says that sometimes, when he hears the rustling of her dress as she paces across the wooden floorboards, his desire for her makes him want to eat his fingers. It was a feeling I didn't understand at that age, but I vowed to experience it in this lifetime.

Coming to it now, I found that the novella has stood the test of time for me. Granted, I no longer read it as a book about gambling or addiction, but one about the destructiveness of desire. It's not at the depth of his big novels, but it's still vintage Dostoevsky. No one like him can plunge into the human soul and show us both our moral decay and the crumbs of our saintliness, and the relentless battle between the two sides of who we are.

"The Double" is definitely not a shining gem (his second novel and the one that hammered his reputation as a young novelist), but worth your time if you want to see how his characters/world view developed over time.

A gorgeous translation by Pevear/Volokhonsky - as are all their works.

Two excellent stories that are completely different from one another. The Double is an excellent and intriguing tale. It's borders on the magical (or maybe maniacal). The Gambler is about a young man's descent into addiction, and it's fascinating to see it unfold. The story almost reminds me of Wodehouse-type story, if not for it being so bleak by the end.

n   The Double - 1 star n
Uh-oh Dostoyevsky, not sure what you were thinking with this one but I don't think you knew either ("Most decidedly, I did not succeed with that novel; however, its idea was rather lucid, and I have never expressed in my writings anything more serious. Still, as far as form was concerned, I failed utterly.") Sorry but I gotta agree.

The Double is about Mr. Golyadkin, a titular councillor, who has trouble with social interaction and his sanity as demonstrated by the first sneak with his awkward conversation with his doctor. Given the advice to immerse himself with society, he shows up uninvited to a dinner party of his manager. Humiliated and exiled from the party, he encounters a man that is a splitting image of him, his double. What unfolds is the fall into insanity as his doppelgänger begins to take over his life and turn those he works with and knows against him.

The biggest struggle that I had with this novella was the style of writing. It's been a while since i have attempted Dostoyevsky's work so in part I was questioning my sanity and whether I was just no longer smart enough to understand the writing (thankfully proved wrong with the next novella). I believe this has been expressed as Dostoyevsky (partially failed) intention, as he wanted readers to feel the spiral of insanity that his main character is dealing with. I believe that the execution could have been better because there was confusion form the very start.

I was interested to learn that this novella was in part Dostoyevsky's parody to The Overcoat (on my list to read soon) and potential rebuttal to The Nose (I loved this one which I read within A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life). This novella definitely increased my interest in reading more of Gogel's work. There is a successful 2013 film based on this novella that I would like to view as well.

Despite my dislike of this work, I'm still glad I have read it as I continue my journey reading through all of Dostoyevsky's work.

n  The Gambler - 4 starsn
Yes baby, he is back!!! The writing style of this one was so much easier to follow and it was funny and entertaining from the start. Exactly what I have learned to expect from him.

Told in a first person POV, a tutor narrates the happening of a Russian general's family and acquaintances in a German hotel. The general is in massive debt to a French man who is pursuing the general's daughter. Our tutor hopes to get Polina's (the daughter's) hand in marriage by gambling playing roulette and winning enough money to out-do the French man and eventually an English-man. The general meanwhile is awaiting the death of his aunt (hoping to gain her fortune) so he can marry a French noblewoman.

I absolutely adored this cast of characters, especially the aunt who arrives and wreak hell on her family who she knows is wishing for her death and fortune. She was an absolute hoot.

I was surprised to find out that gambling was an activity Dostoyevsky was very familiar with, having gone into massive debt for it and needed to write this novel to pay it off.

Highly encourage anyone to pick this one up as a great introduction to Russian literature without the length that usually accompanies them. Excited to have this edition in my collection and looking forward to reading more Russian literature and Dostoyevsky in the future.

2.5+/5