We meet Sharik in a cold doorway, somewhere in Moscow. He is a starving, dirty mutt, who gets by day to day scavenging for food and digging in dustbins. He's streetwise, and knows how to get by as a stray dog in one of Europe's most unforgiving cities. Until he meets Phillip Phillipovitch Preobazhensky, who invites him into his 7 room apartment. Philip is a doctor of some sort, and lives in a huge flat, which the housing association is battling him over. They feel he has more than he should, and he should lose some of the rooms to house other people. Anyway, Sharik loves his life there. He is fed and warm and safe from harm. He starts to believe he is a handsome dog, and maybe even a dog prince - at one point he wonders if his grandmother had mated with a Labrador (this is a really funny musing, and reflected upon again at the end of the book.) Philip then runs an experiment - he cuts out Shariks testicles and pituatary gland, and replaces them with those of a recently deceased man. Very quickly, Sharik looks more and more human.
On the surface, we have a funny, bizarre story. A dog turns into a man, and does dog stuff but he's a man! He chases cats! And wees on stuff! The antics are great, as is the narration and the characters. The three display a real classic humour which is still funny some 90 years on.
But this book has come to be remembered for what is going on under the surface. Let's give it some context - Bulgakov wrote it in 1925, following the Russian revolution and the start of communism. It was banned and not published officially until 1987. It was passed round in samzidat (underground banned books) and gained a cult following as a send up of the life post-revolution, and the revolution itself. Bulgakov had written plays, which didn't do well - one critic panned one of his plays, but then Bulgakov was defended by Stalin himself. "A Writer of Bulgakov's quality was above party words like left or right" said Stalin. Then Bulgakov wrote novels, which were banned, and he wrote a personal letter to Stalin, asking if he could be deported since the state could not find use for him as a writer. Stalin himself phoned Bulgakov and found him work in a theatre. So Bulgakov spent his whole life struggling with the forces in his country, unable to get anywhere as a writer due to the censorship and his satirical style.
And this book is heavy satire. I am no expert in Russian history, but this book is still an obvious send up of what was going on at the time. I'm sure lots and lots of it was over my head, but nevertheless I enjoyed it immensely.
There are 3 layers to this book - it can be read as a funny, strange tale, at the surface level. Then, it can be read as a send up of life in Moscow in the twenties. Old professionals are holding on their wealth as the new younger people are tyring to establish themselves - and failing to keep boilers running and crime down. The food is bad and cheap, the weather is miserable and the country is falling to ruin - this word specifically is debated in the book. Then there is the 3rd level, that the story is the story of the revolution itself. Our Dr is Lenin, and our dog is the revolutionaries. They are given power and standing, but don't know how to behave. These 2 interpretations of the book are why it was banned and became an underground phenomenon - the state simply wouldn't allow it.
This isn't too heavy or hard going, as some of those Russian books can be. Don't go into this thinking you'll need to take notes and keep a list of characters. It's only 120 page long and there is only a handful of characters. Go in blind, read it quick and then draw your own conclusions.
So, this book was a great little story. It was original and funny and truly odd, but beneath it all there was more going on. It had a brain, and some balls.
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