so-so
Comparisons with Solzhenitsyn, Shalomov and Dostoyevsky are inevitable in Russian prison literature and Dovlatov offers an interesting corrective with his insight into criminal campus and guards' minds. The quote is a powerful one, and yet I didn't feel he showed these revelations to the reader. His episodes are amusing, absurdist and sympathetic but the most interesting sections are the letters to his editor rather than the stories themselves. 👇
Moray_Reads It's for these sections that I make it a pick. Dovlatov is clearly haunted by the idea of comparison with the other greats and, for me, there is some measure of justice in his unease. 8y
Moray_Reads No. I can't get away from it, it had to be a so-so after all, it's been bugging me all night! 8y