Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky 

Overall Rating: 9/10

I loved this book. And… dare I say that this may be one of my favorite books? 

This book, as the title suggests, is a book or rather a muddled ‘spilling’ of his consciousness onto paper, about a man who went through life as an insubstantial and seemingly underwhelming person. At the age of 40, he decides to confront himself by writing down his guilts and feelings in order to force self-honesty. The book is split into two parts; the first part is in 1860s and takes place after the second section, and the second part is an ‘eye opening’ experience that took place over a day or two. 

I found many of his ramblings frighteningly relatable, as much as it pains me to realize that (does it though?). Essentially, he talks about how he derives pleasure in self-deprecation and being ‘wicked’ (a word he uses to describe himself often) despite not having some monumental traumatic moment which gives him a reason to act cruel. 

I especially like the prose and style of the writing, in which Dostoevsky often blurs the lines between the words nameless narrator and his own. Making it difficult at times to remember that this in reality is not what Dostoevsky himself believes.