11: Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

I picked this up last weekend thinking it would be something completely different. When I read Crime and Punishment in high school, the characters and setting seemed to automatically resonate. This, however, took a little more effort.

Notes isn’t very good subway reading, as it requires your brain to focus on inevitable human suffering (although the train might beg for it at times) and how conflicting our society can be. Writing about his life in terms of how he hurt, how he became embarrassed, and how he inflicted pain on others made me like the underground man for his honesty but simultaneously loathe him for what seemed like a lifetime of vanity. This, I’m sure, is the point of the book. Many have discussed the moral themes of Notes, but I will leave you to discover them on your own.