I loved reading this book. It is not only about Dostoevsky, but is also written in Dostoevsky's style. It's dark and fast. It's about death, punishment and inner battle.



The character Dostoevsky has some of the attributes of his own characters Svidrigailov, Stavroghin, Raskolnikov, with the distinction of a man fighting with his age and not having his nobility and superiority of the "master" as we expected. He looses his strength and ability to see things clearly and the only way to show his virility is the erotic one.



The most strange character is by far Matryosha, Anna's daughter, a mixture between vulnerability and maturity. She is caught in the game of jealousy and revenge. And it seems she had a bizarre relationship with Pavel.



The relationship father-son is very strange and strong described. The father ends up in the same situation of his stepson. He is also a weak man which is manipulated by the same Sergey Nechayev, without even knowing. Also, between Feodor and Pavel appears this writing rivalry. The dead son leaves behind some manuscripts which are rated as compromising by the police, this also happened in real life with Dostoevsky. (although you can not compare the quality)



I appreciate Coetzee's research and it made me believe that this story really happened in Dostoevsky's life.



It's my first Coetzee novel, can't hardly wait to read more of his work.