The Gambler, Bobok, A Nasty Story Book

The very idea of gambling is anathema to me. I can't particularly say why, because other than an amateur game or two of poker in my formative years, or the occasional small bet, I haven't ever gambled at all. Yet the very idea of risking one's money on the roll of the dice, on fate itself, I find somehow appalling.

As a result, I was not a particular fan of "The Gambler." It was entertaining enough, but the fact that our protagonist is the titular "Gambler", made me at once dislike him. It would have been preferable to me if he'd been a whoring alcoholic with a penchant for wearing ladies' underpants. As it was, I found him pathetic. Even more so because he's besotted (yes, "besotted" certainly seems to be the right word here) with a woman who doesn't give a damn about him. He flings his money at her, makes a public spectacle of himself to try and impress her, and never seems to get the point - she's just not that into you.

The highlight of this story is the delightfully acerbic grandmama who turns up by surprise in the Central European spa town, "Roulettenburg", where the action takes place. What does one do in Roulettenburg? Why, play roulette of course! and so goes grandmama's entire fortune - driving her desperate heirs predictably bonkers.

Towards the end, our protagonist, finding himself broke after once again staking his livelihood at the roulette wheel, is given a much-deserved tongue lashing by Mr. Astley, a visiting Englishman.

"You have destroyed yourself," Mr. Astley tells him. "You had some capabilities, and a lively mind ... but you will stay here and your life is finished. I don't blame you. In my mind all Russians are like that, or inclined to be. If it's not roulette, it's something else like it. There are too few exceptions. You are not the first not to understand what work means ... Roulette is chiefly a Russian game."

One wonders if Mr. Astley is perhaps playing the part here of one of Dostoyevsky's better angels (the author was quite an accomplished gambler in his own right).

I enjoyed the delightful silliness of "A Nasty Story" a bit more. A comedy of (good) errors, it is more or less a take on the old adage, "no good deed goes unpunished."

Dostoyevsky lite, for sure. The great author wrote "The Gambler" alongside "Crime and Punishment", and it's quite apparent which of these received the greater of his immeasurable talents.