The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov. Translated by Mirra Ginsburg.
The Master and Margarita is considered one of the great masterpieces of the twentieth century. Its premise is simple and intriguing: Satan comes to Russia.
The first chapter, titled “Never Speak to Strangers,” opens in Soviet-era Moscow. Two men meet a stranger named Woland, who turns out to be the Devil. He gets them talking about religion:
The foreigner [Satan] threw himself back against the bench and asked, his voice rising almost to a squeal with curiosity, “You are atheists?”
“Yes, we are atheists,” Berlioz answered…
“Oh, how delightful!” cried the amazing foreigner…
Satan goes on to explain that God and Jesus are both quite real, and that he ought to know, because he was there for the Crucifixion. He then gives his own account of Pontius Pilate sentencing Jesus to death: the familiar story of the Gospels, with enough little twists to make it feel completely new.
I found the beginning utterly fascinating, and I tore through the first fifty pages. But as the book goes on, it gets more convoluted, and seems to lose its way.
We meet more of Satan’s retinue, including the giant black tom cat, Behemoth, pictured above. Satan & Co. wreak havoc in Moscow, framing people for crimes, inciting hysteria, generally causing confusion and trouble everywhere they go. We also meet the titular characters, the beautiful Margarita and the man she loves, a writer known only as the Master.
The novel is by turns beautiful, confusing, and laugh-out-loud funny. There’s much talk of redemption, for Pontius Pilate, the Master, and others too. I know that the author, Mikhail Bulgakov, is trying to tell me something about grace, but I’m not sure what it is. I’m also told that the story is a satire of Stalinist Russia, though I’m afraid that aspect of it went completely over my head. From my point of view, The Master and Margarita ended up feeling like a jumble – a lot of strange and pretty things, but I’m not sure what they added up to.
Sometimes you just have to give up and admit that a book is smarter than you are. I read Bulgakov’s masterpiece cover to cover, but I can’t say I understood it.
Brian D. Buckley 
“Sometimes you just have to give up and admit that a book is smarter than you are.”
I once had a similar feeling when I saw No Country For Old Men that won the Oscar for Best Picture some years ago.
I mean, I understood most of the movie, but the ending. I just stared at the ending and thought, “You know. There’s something deep, intelligent and meaningful about this ending. I don’t know what that is or what it could possibly be. But I know it’s there. I’m just not smart enough to see it.”
I hate that.
Hm…haven’t seen the movie or read the book, but I do have a copy of Blood Meridian (by the same author, Cormac McCarthy) waiting on my shelf. I fully expect that to be over my head too. 🙂 Nothing wrong with that, though. Books would be pretty boring if they never challenged you.
Lol hm. Your review simultaneously intrigued me and intimidated me. I have this book on my TBR pile — have for a while — due to the praise it gets, but I had no idea what the premise was or how complex it is. Now I definitely want to bump it up on the list, but I will prepare myself for most of it to go over my head, lol.
If you do read it, let me know what you think! I’d love to hear.