This is a Russian classic and translated into English by CJ Hogarth. I read the Arcturus Publishers edition of 200 pages. Dostoyevsky wrote this book in a month because of the pressure from his publishers to write something. Dostoyevsky being himself addicted to gambling, turned out to be his own inspiration for the book. This book is not an autobiographical one but there are so many parts which are inspired from the author’s personal experiences.
The story is about a young man, Alexei Ivanovitch, who is a tutor to a Russian family living in a German town. The head of this family was a General of the army. He was well-off but now he’s having some financial problems. He is indebted to a Frenchman, and he is looking forward to the death of his grandmother who lives back in Moscow in order to repay all his debts. Alexei Ivanovitch goes to the gambling house on the insistence of the niece of the general he is in love with, Polina, and basically does whatever she asks him to do, so this is where the story begins. Later the grandmother pays a visit to the family in Germany.
I do not like gambling and I can understand how an addiction to gambling can ruin a person’s life, so I was hesitant to pick up this book, but I did pick it up because I have already read Crime and Punishment and I absolutely loved reading this novel by Dostoyevsky. I’m really glad I decided to read The Gambler because this was a fast-paced book and I really enjoyed reading it.
Dostoevsky describes the insides of the gambling houses perfectly. You can sense his excitement when he is describing the roulette table. The writing flows so smoothly and the internal turmoil of a gambler is explained perfectly. An interesting part of the story was that people from different nationalities come together in the book. There is a German nobody likes, a Russian who seems lost, an Englishman who is the most well-spoken of them all, a Frenchman whom nobody likes but is the most cunning person in the story. It was very interesting how these people talked to each other about their nationalities and how they talked about each other behind their backs. I really enjoyed the book but I knocked off a star because I did not really like the ending, but then there cannot be a satisfactory ending in a gambler’s or an addict’s life, unless of course he gets some help.
So now, I’ve been through two books by Dostoyevsky, which adds to my resolve to have “The Brothers Karamazov” on my reading list.

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Saraf Ali