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Summary

“‘My God! A whole minute of bliss! Is that really so little for the whole of a man’s life?’ A poignant tale of love and loneliness from Russia’s foremost writer. ”

– From Amazon.com

Review

This short story has been in my TBR for a while, before it became hyped all over booktok, and I’m glad I finally got to read it. It was the perfect palette cleaner read at only about 57 pages, and mine was in a collection of short stories by Dostoevsky.

This is the first Dostoevsky I have read, with a few others on my list, and I was thoroughly enthralled by this little read. It kept me captivated from page one until the last sentence.

This is an impressive feat for a book that really didn’t directly go anywhere. While it was a romance story, the romance was really just a small part. It just followed this unnamed young man through his loneliness and his potential for love. White Nights expertly portrayed how fleeting moments of happiness can mean so much to a life. He was this gentle soul that just went through life alone but was pretty okay with that. He had his ups and downs like everyone does, but he was pretty comfortable just existing and going through life.

Nastenka, the female main character, was quite insufferable to me. Anyone who knows this blog knows that I like a strong main female character, one with a spine, and this one felt like a simpering mess. While that was kind of the purpose, it still had me shaking my head. Natstenka also just used the main character for personal gains and toyed with him, in my opinion, which was quite sad to see. However, it added to the overall despair and loneliness that was being invoked through the story. Which was done beautifully.

Translated from Russian, I was thoroughly shocked at how easy this was to read. For a book published in 1848, the language was quite modern and the story was modern too. It was approachable, more so than other books I’ve read from that time. Although, that could be due to the credit of the translator as well. But my translation, in The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by David Magarshack, was very approachable.

As a short story, there truly isn’t much you can say about it without giving away something. But this book really was incredibly powerful in the 57 pages. You connected with both of the characters, you felt for their situation and connection, and in the end it just ripped your heart out. You kind of saw the ending coming, but it still was a ‘shock’ that brings it back to reality.

However, don’t expect ‘much’ from the short story. By that I mean it was nothing ground breaking, you’re not going to necessarily have any life lessons, or expect it to be some powerful punch. It was a beautiful story of loneliness and connection through life but nothing more than that.

White Nights was a fantastic story and one that is perfect to read between other reads. I read it in only a few hours – it mostly took that long because I was digesting bits of it.

It was a solid 4 star read. I definitely wanted more, which is why I will be diving into more Dostoevsky books soon.