Customer Rating:  
Summary: Vintage Classics version - not the best translation
Comment: My review is less about the novel and more about the translation; while I am not a Russian speaker/reader and therefore have not read the original to be able to compare, I think that the "naturalness" of this particular English translation is not that great - the language seems stilted and slightly awkward. At first I wondered if this awkwardness was deliberate (ie that it was also present in the Russian) but having checked the first pages of a couple of other English translations of the same book, I have decided that it isn't as other versions are more readable and "authentic" English. I would suggest trying Volokhonsky & Pevear or Burgin & O'Connor's translations instead.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Different!
Comment: I am reading modern Russian authors at the moment and if this is anything to go buy then I am in for a big treat! What a strange tale. I can see why it was banned in Russia during Stalin's time although it could hardly be heralded as subversive - much too subtle.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Surreal soviet-era fantasy
Comment: Very strange book. I ought to have hated it more - the politics, in so far as there are any, are unpleasant - the book begins with a confrontation between Satan and soviet apparatchik, with the former admonishing the latter for not believing in either him or Jesus as a historical figure, and the apparatchik then meeting a horrible death exactly as foretold by the Devil. Nasty stupid stuff.
And yet the writing is really very good, and the touch light, and narrative flow intriguing. I ended up finishing this despite myself, and despite having something else that I wanted to get on to.
Stalin liked Bulgakov's work and protected him, despite the writer's anti-soviet attitudes and philosophy. After reading this, I can understand why, thought I never thought of JV as having much of a sense of humour.
An afterthought: after reading the book have a look at the pictures of Bulgakov on the Wikipedia page about him -- at various times in life he rather resembles some of the characters in the novel, I think.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I can't wait to read it again!
Comment: Until my late teens I didn't much care for novels - school, frankly, could have offered better, plus there was just too much interesting non-fiction out there.
The novel that changed all that was Heller's Catch 22. Years later no other novel had gotten close, and it was safely occupying its unique position as my "greatest novel of all time".
That is until Mr Bulgakhov was brought to my attention! A Russian friend would just not stop going on about it.
I can't claim to have been wowed by every literary flourish here (I'm not a mature enough reader to see them!), and I certainly didn't spot the most subtle digs at the communist Russia Bulgakhov inhabited, but I certianly was gripped from beggining to end.
This is a very funny, very clever, well constructed and well written book that I can't wait to read again soon.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I would strongly urge...........
Comment: ........potential readers to avoid and ignore the review below entitled 'What is so great about this book really?' and instead read the review 'Caution: Hypnotists in Moscow!' by A. L. Stannard. This book is quite simply a masterpiece!
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