I absolutely loved this novel and yet I barely know what it’s about. The Master and Margarita is both quixotic and intimate. I was laughing out loud as we skipped from 1930s Soviet Moscow to 0 AD Jerusalem. One of our titular characters - the Master - is only first referenced halfway through the novel and barely mentioned past that. Bulgakov feels like a magician and a deeply romantic one, as he writes about naked balls with the devil, firefights between the police and a cat, and general mayhem.
Perhaps it was just me and I was unjustly confused. My annotated copy writes of allusions to the police state, interrogations, the purity and mania of the artist. That’s all great but at it’s core this is a phenomenally enjoyable work that’s just fun.