[ book tip by Jade Weighell ] The Master and Margarita is a spell-binding combination of surrealism, fantasy and scathing satire that is so innovative it makes the process of reading feel new and exciting again, like when, as a child, you read that first book that dazzled your imagination.

The novel tells the story of the devil coming to Moscow and wrecking havoc wherever he goes. Russia at the time was communist and, through the devil’s trouble-making, Mikhail Bulgakov exposes the tyranny and hypocrisy of the time. There is also an underlying love story between the man called the Master and Margarita, testing the lengths she will go to to save the man she loves.

From the very first pages, we are asked to let go of reality and, in a Kafkaesque way, accept the absurdities that confront us, especially with the devil’s team of bizarre characters (one of them being a huge black cat who walks and talks like a human) who create both humorous and menacing moments throughout the novel.   

What really makes this novel stand out is the amazing language and imagery that it uses. You can see as clearly as if you were seeing it in real life all the characters and scenes that Bulgakov creates. There are moments, such as when the devil puts on a show at the theatre, or when he holds a ball, that are just simply majestic in their overwhelming scope and adventurism.

This is one of those books that as soon as you stop reading you want to go right back to the beginning and start again. There are messages of such profundity that it feels impossible to takes them all in with just one read. I still catch myself occasionally thinking abut the final chapters and pondering about the meaning behind them.

If you are experiencing a certain ennui about books and literature then read this book and reading will come alive for you again.     

[ book info ] Bulgakov, Mikhail: The Master and Margarita . (Book language: English) Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Penguin Books, Russia, 2006 (1966-7). ISBN: 978-0-14-118828-7.