My book club’s latest genre was classics. As usual, we had a vote between three choices. As the voting deadline approached, all of our members (four) had voted but me. They had each voted for one of the three books, leaving me to break the tie. I selected this book. It is considered a classic and many of the sources I have for finding new books rated it highly as did both Good Reads and The Story Graph. I’m not sure I made the best decision.
The story is very unusual. The devil arrives in Moscow talking to an editor and a poet. They discuss whether Jesus Christ ever lived and if the devil is real. The devil then goes on to tell the tale of Pontius Pilate differently than is found in the Bible. After the editor dies in a way that the devil predicted, things get even crazier across Moscow as the devil and his retinue perform all sorts of supernatural trickery. About a third of the way through the book we meet the Master and Margarita at which point the story also becomes a love story between these two.
I am not sure why this book is so beloved and considered a classic. It’s okay, but for me it was all over the place. It didn’t seem to have much of a point, at least not one that was clear to me. Maybe this was because it was written in Soviet Russia and the writer needed to be careful to avoid being censored or rounded up and killed. In any case, I found myself forcing my way through it. If it weren’t a book club read, I likely would have not finished it.
My rating: 3/5
