“Properly speaking, why did I get so upset when Berlioz fell under the streetcar?”

The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
Page Count: 267/402

The end of February is upon us, and, even with the grace period inherent in the Leap Day, I can safely say that neither Katherine nor I have finished our respective novels.  I feel like this can at least be somewhat excused by the fact that we didn’t actually begin our books until around a week into the month, but, anyway.

The Master and Margarita was slow going for most of the time I’ve been acquainted with it.  The opening chapters – and then some – proceed at a frenetic, ADD-like pace, with the author seemingly introducing at least one new character at the outset of every single one of them before letting said character drop off the radar for a while; that their names are mostly in Russian does not help!  This is very much part of the novel, which, to quote the back cover, “combines fable, fantasy, political satire, and slapstick comedy.”  Reading this book, I often feel like I’m watching an avant-garde cabaret circa the early 20th century unfolding before me on a stage while the patrons, jaded and bohemian, down shots of vodka.  In fact, there’s a pivotal scene – one in which the devil, having begun to infiltrate the Soviet intelligentsia, makes his public debut in the form of a magician at the Variety Theatre.  The whole thing is billed as a “BLACK MAGIC ACT ACCOMPANIED BY A FULL EXPOSÉ,” so, needless to say, quite a lot of shenanigans go down that night.

The novel is undoubtedly proving to be an entertaining one thus far, and, now that I am a few chapters into part two, I get the sense that Bulgakov has finally set the stage for the mordant political commentary to come.  Or perhaps I’m just being an imperceptive reader and have been missing it so far?  In any case, the titular Master and his Margarita have only been tangential figures so far – Margarita doesn’t make her appearance as a character until the opening of part two – so I suspect this is going to be one of those books whose full meaning won’t become apparent until I get to the very last page.  Which, for the sake of staying on schedule, I hope will be soon!