Hi guys! How have you been? I hope you’re all enjoying your Summer!
How are you finding our August Book Club Pick? Has anyone managed to read up to chapter 19 of The Master and Margarita? How are you liking the plot? I must admit that I’m finding it a bit of a harder read than I firstly anticipated, but a very intriguing one indeed!
There are so many characters and so many different situations happening at the same time, that I sometimes have to go back and re-read through old chapters to make sure I am still following properly and still staying on track! Difficulties aside, I do love the book, and I do enjoy this reading challenge.
Today’s Q&A will focus on the first half of the book. I’ll give you a few reading questions to think about, and will then share my personal answers…
Questions:
- Who is your favourite character so far? Why?
- Do you think there is a master plan behind the Devil’s actions? If yes, which?
- If you were Ivan Nikolaevich Ponyrev (Homeless), how would you have reacted to the strange events that happened at the Patriarch’s Ponds? Would you have tried to hold your ground? Would you have started thinking you had gone crazy? Or would you have just pretended to play along with with the doctors whilst trying to figure a way out?
My Answers:
- So far I have two favourite characters: Ivan Nikolaevich (Homeless) and ‘Koroviev’ (the man in the checkered suit, jokey’s hat & pince-nez). They are two very different characters, that fascinate me for two very different reasons. I see Ivan as our looking glass into the fascinating world created by Bulgakov. An open minded, grounded, yet self doubting filter, that questions everything that can, could have or is about to happen. As far as Koroviev goes, I see him as a channelling character introducing us to the gang of the Devil. He is bright, smart, charming, conniving and deceiving, and he is the only character, so far, that has really been playing the Devil’s game to an oblivious audience.
- Although the plot is still kind of confusing, I do see a pattern in the Devil’s behaviour. I might be totally wrong of course, and just reading on can answer my questions, but I do think the Devil is somehow voluntarily separating and grouping up people in different places. I think it is not by chance that many of the characters are ending up in Dr Stravinsky’s clinic. And I have a feeling that we’ll hear more of them in the second book, and that the psychiatric hospital will be the background for some important events in the following chapters.
- If I were Ivan Nikolaevich, I probably would have ran directly to the police station to tell them about the events that took place at the Patriarch’s Ponds. I probably wouldn’t have been believed by them, just as Ivan hasn’t, and would have consequently ended up (even if via a different route) in Dr Stravinsky’s clinic. I most likely would have tried to hold my ground, just as he has, digging my own grave into having them believe I was bonkers. I strongly believe Ivan’s behaviour was a quite standard human reaction to such an absurd situation. I do not think he is crazy, and I do not think Dr Stravinsky believes that either…I think he is held there in the clinic on purpose, but for a different reason that madness…
How do you feel about all this? Let me know your answers in the comments below! I can’t wait to go on with the read!
On the 31st of August I will be publishing my review on Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, and as promised, I will be holding an Instagram Live Book Club Chat on Sunday the 2nd of September at 5 pm (GMT+1).
If you have a question that you would like to see me answer Live, please leave it in the comments below!
Enjoy the rest of your Summer and the rest of the book!
I’ll talk to you guys very soon.
Bye bye for now!
Love,
Elly, XO
P.S. You can order your copy of The Master and Margarita here.
P.P.S. Should you be sharing pictures of you reading along with us on Instagram, do remember to hashtag #ellysdiarybc so we can all find and support each other during this ride!
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