Dostoyevsky
Pushkin Press
26 May 2026 (1859)
304
eBook - PDF
Classics
ARC via NetGalley
Set on a remote country estate, the story concerns a household completely under the sway of the despotic charlatan and humbug Foma Fomich Opiskin, one of the most notorious creations in Russian literature. The owner of the estate, Colonel Rostanev, a meek, soft-hearted giant of a man, is cruelly dominated by Opiskin. With deftly controlled suspense amid a teeming variety of wildly eccentric minor characters, the novel builds up to a confrontation between these two. Will Rostanev give way to Opiskin’s cruelty and sacrifice the love of his life? Or will his sense of honor finally push him to resist the tyrant’s demands?
Written in the year of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s return to St Petersburg after his exile, it is perhaps his most important early work. It is the link between Gogol and Chekhov; it is almost Dickensian in its comic proliferation of imaginative characters. In the chaos which spreads out from the roiling center of the dominant Opiskin, Dostoevsky draws a picture of a Russia on the verge of upheaval and transformation.
I have read a lot of Dostoyevsky's works, but The Friend of the Family is certainly the most comedic so far. This is a work that feels quite different in style from the author's more famous books. It is somewhat absurdist and farcical. I can certainly see the influence of writers like Gogol and Moliere and other works like Tartuffe. The characters are all well sketched out and memorable, and the action is amusing and well-paced. While it was enjoyable, it does lack a little of the psychological depth of Dostoyevsky's later writings, and as such I didn't feel such a deep connection with it compared to those other stories. However, it was certainly interesting to read this early work of his and see how his style and focus changed and developed. This would be of interest to the author's existing fans and perhaps also readers who want to try his writing but have been put off by the darker tone of his more popular works. I am giving it 3.5 stars. It was good fun but not something that is going to stick in my mind long term.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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