Finished: The Master and Margarita (Bulgakov) An interesting, fantastical, satirical novel set in early 1900's Russia. The devil visits Moscow one night when two men are arguing the existence or non-existence of the devil. The two men, Berlioz, the director of Moscow's literary bureaucracy, and Ivan Ponyrev, an up and coming poet are then instantly thrown into turmoil when the devil himself, in the form of a "professor Woland" arrives to chat with them. The devil correctly prophesizes Berlioz's imminent death by tram car beheading. In trying to convince the police about what has just happened to Berlioz, Ivan is considered to be mentally ill and sent to the psychiatric hospital. While there, he meets a man known simply as "the master". The fellow patient proceeds to tell Ivan about his love for a married woman named Margarita. Margarita loves the master in return, and while the master was writing his novel, Margarita was his lover as well as his literary cheerleader. When the master finished his novel he had taken it around to various publishers and critics only to be laughed at and highly criticized. Humiliated, the master left Margarita, since he felt he was not worthy of her, and took himself to the psychiatric hospital. Margarita is now devastated and sits in her house wondering what has become of the master. As it turns out, the master's novel was the story of Pontius Pilate and how he gave the ultimate order for Jesus to be executed. The Master and Margarita then splits from the story about the devil in Moscow and goes back in time to the actual Pontius Pilate plot. The book goes back and forth in this unique way, and as "out there" as all the book's antics are, going back and forth between the two stories really kept me turning the pages. While Pontius Pilate is personally wishing he didn't have to sentence Jesus to death because he wants to personally get to know him, back in Moscow the devil and his entourage, including a giant walking, talking black cat, wreak havoc on several people's lives. However, the devil takes Margarita under his wing and makes her a witch. He tells her that if she'll be the queen of Satan's ball for one night, that she can have whatever she wishes. Margarita longs only to know what has become of the master, her beloved. After the spooky Satan's ball, the devil keeps his word and he brings the master to Margarita. Of course...their eventual future is another matter, and a surprising one to me. The entire book is supposed to be a satire on the mostly atheist population of Russia at the time, or so the introduction says. I can't ever figure out in satires what fictional character is supposed to match up with what true life person, but it wasn't really necessary for me to enjoy the book....a book given to me by my son with the recent European and Russian Studies Masters degree from Yale. :-)