Status Updates From Greatest Short Stories of D...

The Peasant Marey is just a recollection, hardly a short story at all. More like an essay.

The Heavenly Christmas Tree is just the same as the Little Match Girl, basically.

"Honest Thief" is a shaggy dog story. It left me feeling irritated. However, I was struck by the poverty and compassion of the people involved in the story.

First story: "White Nights" aka "Friend-zoned". I hope this isn't indicative of Dostoyevsky's standard dialogue. Perhaps it's just the characters in this story, or maybe it's the translator. But everyone takes so long to say anything, and then they say it four or five times! Did he have a word count quota he was trying to meet?

Dostoyevsky writes like an artist that does negative space drawings.