189 ratings (3.95 avg)
58 reviews

Mahdiyyah

Add friend

http://instagram.com/neverreading

Mahdiyyah’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (267)

currently-reading‎ (12)

read‎ (232)

Stats | More…

Mahdiyyah is Currently Reading

Mahdiyyah is currently reading

A Country Doctor's Notebook

by Mikhail Bulgakov

bookshelves: currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in January 2021

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Mahdiyyah said: " I bought this book a couple of weeks ago for my selected Medicine and Literature module this year! This is the first time I’m reading Bulgakov’s works - I have grown to love writers such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Chekhov (Russia’s literature elite i I bought this book a couple of weeks ago for my selected Medicine and Literature module this year! This is the first time I’m reading Bulgakov’s works - I have grown to love writers such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Chekhov (Russia’s literature elite in my personal opinion!) so I was excited to be introduced to another eminent writer.

This book is a small collection of 9 short stories, each told from the perspective of Bulgakov’s alias, Doctor Vladimir Bomgard. What made this collection all the more enticing was that Bulgakov was actually a real-life doctor - his semi-autobiographical writing here depicts his time as a 23-year old graduate from the Imperial Moscow University.

His stories have a hint of surrealism which Bulgakov is known for much more in his later works. In this book, he continually engages us with sensory descriptions, raw human emotions and vivid and beautiful presentations of the Russian countryside landscape, where snow is as abundant as air.

Being sent off to a remote hospital, which is miles and miles away from any town or civilisation, we are continually drawn particularly to his time in isolation, and he uses simple details like his room’s single yellow kerosene lantern and his reveries of “gleaming electric lights in frosted-glass globes” to engage us in his own senses.

He also has a continuous prose so we always know exactly what he is doing and thinking. He uses irony and humour throughout and takes you on a journey, making the serious and life-or-death situations he faces everyday more light-hearted for us - and probably for himself too. He has a way of fast-paced story-telling as a lot happens in only a few pages of each short story. Bulgakov’s collection is highly dramatic and entertaining and highlights many important elements of human nature, consciousness and thought and true Medicine. A brilliant read for anyone!

There is also a 2 season show based on the book which stars Daniel Radcliffe, but it mixes up the story-lines and does not compare at all to the book. If you are set on watching this, please read the book first!

Follow @neverreading on Instagram for more of mine and my friends’ reviews! 📖✨ ...more "

progress:

(page 46 of 158)
— Nov 05, 2025 02:53PM

Oct 24, 2025 02:14AM · see review