Book Review: White Nights

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a story that was recommended to me.

It's a quick 91 page short story and an engaging read.

I read this throughout two evenings, and I enjoyed the story. This book calls for hesitating to form opinions early on in a story and affording graciousness to the characters as the plot gains momentum.

White Nights begins at a somewhat lackadaisical, drifting pace, and the Dreamer, the narrator, takes full advantage of the opportunity to reflect on various aspects of his existence. It does cultivate the idea that the Dreamer is as his moniker implies. The Dreamer's opening soliloquy-esque descriptions of his world are short-lived and not a fault of the storytelling; it is necessary to understand the Dreamer's overarching perspective to understand the book's plot and resolution. Processing how he describes his scenery and interactions instead of absorbing the actual information he provides is a meaningful use of the first several pages of the story that must be trudged through.

The Dreamer's narration style is contrasted helpfully and tactfully with that of the other main character, Nastenka. Nastenka offers a moment of relief from the internal dialogue of the Dreamer to the reader, much as it does to the Dreamer himself. This particular element aids in providing the reader an opportunity to share the perspective of the Dreamer without judgement and sympathize with his experiences. Understanding and appreciating the story would prove difficult without wading through his difficulties - enjoying Nastenka as a storyteller gives us a glimpse into the degree to which the Dreamer enjoys her presence in his life and his love for her as she, to some extent, calms his inner monologues.

I highly recommend reading White Nights; as is standard with many excellent works, the emotions and experiences conveyed in this short story are relevant to many shared experiences encountered in our contemporary.