The Master and Margarita

By: Mikhail Bulgakov

Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt

Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

The Devil comes to Moscow, but he isn't all bad; Pontius Pilate sentences a charismatic leader to his death, but yearns for redemption; and a writer tries to destroy his greatest tale, but discovers that manuscripts don't burn. Multi-layered and entrancing, blending sharp satire with glorious fantasy, The Master and Margarita is ceaselessly inventive and profoundly moving. In its imaginative freedom and raising of eternal human concerns, it is one of the world's great novels.

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Public Domain (P)2009 Naxos Audiobooks

Worth the effort

The Master and Margarita lurches violently between different tones farcical, romantic, surreal, tragic, and back again). I enjoyed parts of it more than others. The chapters that actually deal with the eponymous Master and Margarita and their pact with the devil and his minions are wonderful: poetic, intellectual and comic, often all at the same time. Unfortunately, it takes a long time to get to these sections, as much of the novel consists of farcical satire on various comical minor characters who are probably funny if you are familiar with life in 1930s Moscow, but merely feel like a lot of irritating wittering if you're not. I found myself frequently wanting to hit the chapter skip button.

Still, this may be just a matter of personal taste, and if anyone can get you through the more irksome chapters, it's Julian Rhind-Tutt, whose performance is quite brilliant, capturing the mixture of tones extremely well, injecting a scabrous nastiness into the farcical scenes, and giving the Devil a wonderfully lugubrious smugness.

The ending is spellbinding and I'm glad I persisted with this audiobook. It's a slog sometimes, but it's worth the journey.

The Master and Margarita

What a superb novel, and what a truly outstanding performance. Never a dull moment. Post romanticism at its best. The whole thing a kind of creepy Chagall window.

A New Favorite

I'll be returning to this in the future. Crazy. Mystical. Totally amazing.

Quite a ride. I can see why this is such a classic

I'd heard this referred to as a must-read somewhere, and I'd never even heard of it. It's been at least a year since I listened to this, and one of the big things I remember is just how fresh everything seemed when I started listening. I'm moderately well-read, but there were so many characters, environments, and concepts that seemed so refreshingly 'new', that I was pulled in immediately. A major part of the plot involves a subject that I've never had much interest in. Nevertheless, the story was so rich and compelling that I was engrossed from beginning to end; the author _made_ it interesting.

Definitely recommend this -- even if it turns out not to be your 'cup of tea', you won't forget this book.

A Profound Piece of Literature

An underrated work of art. Definitely better the second time around. Fun. Fascinating. A beautiful work of Russian literature.

An absolute masterpiece

One of the richest pieces of literature from the 20th century, perhaps ever. If only he lived at a time and place where his work was encouraged we may have so much more from this one of a kind writer

Essential read for free thinkers.

Mikhail Bulgakov defied Stalin (and lived). His “sunset work” The Master and Margarita is a brilliant classic of modern Russian literature; defiant of further classification. Philosophical, theological, satirical, historical, political, comedic and romantic; all apply. Worthy of any list, a treasure for any library. Julian Rhind-Tutt out does himself in this performance; switching voices and accents seamlessly. Amazing.

loved this book!

this is probably my new favorite book! it was witty, dark, ironic, and i loved how it made fun of the general public for how dishonest and greedy we really are. I didnt want it to end!

Bizzarre novel, fantastic narration

Julian Rhind-Tutt's performance in narrating this novel is simply brilliant, probably the best of any Audible performances I've heard (which is over 150). His characterization of Behemoth the cat was my favorite. I found the novel itself uneven. There are many great parts to it: e.g. the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus; the performance of black magic in the theatre. But at times I found the surrealist or supernaturalism a bit exhausting. You have no idea what might happen next because, since virtually omnipotent satanic forces are in control, anything can happen. I also found the Moscow part of the story became increasingly confusing in Part II. I know the novel is often categorized as satirizing soviet society. But I didn't see that it was particularly more satirical than any novel that depicts human beings as often weak, cowardly, and self-interested.

Fantastic!

Any additional comments?

I first found this book many years ago for 0.25cents and had no idea what I was getting... Have read it several times over the years, but must say listening to it was so much more fun! It is a fantastic book and the narration was wonderful. Highly recommend!