Okay, let's try to pin this wild book down. Petersburg happens over a few days in 1905. Nikolai Apollonovich, a university student, gets a terrible task from a radical group: he must plant a bomb to kill his own father, Senator Apollon Apollonovich. The father is a cold, geometric man who sees the world as lines and shapes. The son is lost in philosophical daydreams. Between them is the senator's friend, Dudkin, who is slowly losing his mind. The plot is the fuse, but the explosion is in everyone's head.

Why You Should Read It

You don't read this for a tidy ending. You read it for the feeling. Bely throws you into the chaos of a city on the edge of revolution. Thoughts spiral, colors are loud (so much yellow!), and the streets feel alive and sick. It's like watching a nightmare from the inside. The characters aren't always 'likeable' in a normal way—they're fragments of a breaking world. It's about identity collapsing, politics as madness, and how a place can get under your skin until you don't know where it ends and you begin.

Final Verdict

This book is not a casual beach read. It's perfect for anyone who loved the dense, psychological layers of Dostoevsky but wishes he'd tried some literary espresso. It's for readers who enjoy getting lost in atmosphere, who don't mind a challenging style, and who want to see how a novel can capture the sound of a whole society cracking apart. If you're up for a unique, dizzying trip, step into the mist of Petersburg.