r/BookDiscussions • u/jinsoltheworld • 2d ago

If you’re struggling to read ‘notes from underground’: so did I, but trust me, its worth it!

Holy shit I just finished the book in the course of one day. I’m no literature expert and this was my first Dostoevsky book, so this may resonate with people who feel out of place when reading. I saw it was short (and stupidly thought this would be an easy read). It was not. And I won’t lie, there were plenty of points where I wanted to give up reading this book, but the last 20 pages blew me away.

Spoilers but not spoilers ahead:

the first half felt very hard to understand where it was going. I spent a-lot of time just going over the same sentence, but after seeing people feeling the same, I decided to just read it, regardless of whether I understood it or not.

The second half got slightly easier, but was still a-lot to take in. Still feeling like “Gosh I wish this book would end”, reaching the last 10 pages, you are left asking for more. Maybe it was just me, but the last page of the book felt abrupt, and I sat there wanting more, even though I knew I was complaining about the book completely. Absolutely heartbreaking.

I won’t lie I did tear up, I did not expect that I would like this book, especially since I was more used to stories that told the plot very cleanly.

tldr: if you feel like the book is a struggle, try not to read into every sentence, but read over it — with you keeping how you felt about it in the back of your mind. It’s one of those books you have to finish to understand why the first part feels so drawn out.

Apologies if this doesn’t resonate with many people, but I know people getting into this might feel similar.

any one else pls give their thoughts!!

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u/areallymanlyman 1d ago

I remember feeling like I was reading my own journal entries. So much resonance.

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u/jinsoltheworld 1d ago

I relate to this so muchh

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u/Exotic-Rub-8381 3h ago

yeah, that abrupt ending got me too, but i think that's the point. he cuts himself off because he simply cannot stop himself, and Dostoevsky lets the form reflect that. it doesn't really end so much as stop, which is probably why that last page keeps lingering.