Obra-prima da literatura mundial, esta pequena novela traz, em embrião, vários temas da fase madura de Dostoiévski. Seu protagonista, um funcionário que vive no subsolo de um edifício em São Petersburgo, expõe a sua visão de mundo num discurso explosivo, labiríntico, vertido impecavelmente para o português por Boris Schnaiderman. "Tradução primorosa." (Luciano Trigo, O Globo)

3 stars refer to how much I liked it, certainly not to how I would judge or grade it, for either of which I am not qualified or interested. ( )

You know those times in your life when you retreat from the world? Stay home **way** too much, read deep & thoughtful books, inspect every dark corner of your soul, stay up for days on end, eat bad food, get a bit twitchy, question the motives and intelligence of everyone - except yourself, when you're not too busy hating yourself.

Yeah. That. ( )

This rating is provisional - I'm going to need some time for this novel to stew before coming to a final decision. I read this as part of a challenge to read cult classics which seemed a good opportunity to read a famous Russian author whose work I have been avoiding since attempting Crime and Punishment as a teenager.

If you, like myself, are coming to this book knowing little about it, a word of advice - don't let the first part make you quit! I disliked it and found it boringly pretentious; at this point I was sure I was going to hate the book and was tempted to stop. The second part I found much more interesting; although the neurotic narrator was just as pretentious, the overall style was more accessible. ( )

Jesus Christ this guy is self-hateful, spiteful, and sad. What's up with him?