Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
Buy New
$3.50
  • List Price: $4.50
  • Save: $1.00 (22%)
FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books.
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
The House of the Dead (Do... has been added to your Cart
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 3 images

The House of the Dead (Dover Thrift Editions) Paperback – April 22, 2004

by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 52 customer reviews
See all 30 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Kindle
"Please retry"
$0.99
— —
Hardcover
"Please retry"
—
$165.00 $26.00
Paperback
"Please retry"
$3.50
$1.58 $0.01
Audible, Unabridged
"Please retry"
$0.00
Free with your Audible trial
Mass Market Paperback
"Please retry"
—
— $5.08
Unknown Binding
"Please retry"
—
— $5.00
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Author interviews, book reviews, editors picks, and more. Read it now
$3.50 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Frequently Bought Together

  • The House of the Dead (Dover Thrift Editions)
  • +
  • Crime and Punishment
  • +
  • The Idiot (Wordsworth Classics)
Total price: $11.95
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
  1. The Idiot (Wordsworth Classics)
    Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    4.7 out of 5 stars 25
    Paperback
    $3.95 Prime
  2. Poor Folk (Dover Thrift Editions)
    Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    3.8 out of 5 stars 7
    Paperback
    $3.00 Prime
  3. The Gambler (Dover Thrift Editions)
    Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    4.2 out of 5 stars 63
    Paperback
    $3.57 Prime
  4. Crime and Punishment
    Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    4.3 out of 5 stars 1,455
    #1 Best Seller in Russian Literary Criticism
    Paperback
    $4.50 Prime
  5. The Double (Dover Thrift Editions)
    Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    3.4 out of 5 stars 36
    Paperback
    $1.00 Prime
  6. Demons: A Novel in Three Parts (Vintage Classics)
    Fyodor Dostoevsky
    4.3 out of 5 stars 69
    Paperback
    $13.76 Prime

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

With his sympathetic portrayals of the downtrodden of 19th-century Russian society, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) exercised immense influence on modern writers. His novels featured profound philosophical and psychological insights that anticipated the development of psychoanalysis and existentialism.
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
New York Times best sellers
Browse the New York Times best sellers in popular categories like Fiction, Nonfiction, Picture Books and more. See more

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Dover Publications (April 22, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0486434095
  • ISBN-13: 978-0486434094
  • Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.2 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #428,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsDostoyevsky is rarely more personal
By A Customer on April 2, 2001
Format: Paperback
House of the Dead is not a general account of imprisonment and system of law of Russia, ala Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago, but is a much more personal account of the author's own experiences. There is no attempt to overplay or dramatize personal suffering, though there was probably ample reason for the author to do so. Instead, the author focuses more on his fellow inmates: their personalities, their culture, their way of life and way of thinking. The effect is immeasurable, and makes the House of the Dead one of the most potent, moving pieces of literature ever written. The convicts that Dostoyevsky describes seem to come alive -- their descriptions are so complete and realistic that its almost as if they're reading the book with you. This method of describing imprisonment defies conventiality, but Dostoyevsky pulls it off easily. By knowing the convicts, you feel for them, you understand them, and you walk away knowing and loving humanity just a bit more.
A great aspect of the book is that you can pick it up at almost any spot, so long as you know the general plot. I can't tell you how many times I've picked the book up and flipped straight to the first chapter describing the hospital, and read simply that alone. When Dostoyevsky tells of the dead convict, little more than a husk or a shell of a man who couldn't even stand the weight of his clothes or his wooden crucifix, being dragged off routinely with his heavy fetters still on, one can hardly help but grimace. And when another convict yells, inexplicably, "He had a mother too!" you start to sympathize for these convicts: the filthiest, most degenerate human beings you can imagine.
Its a story of love for humanity, of resurrection from despair, and of a man's final reconciliation with his own life.
2 Comments 62 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsA good story, but not Dostoevsky at his best
By A Customer on June 8, 2000
Format: Paperback
Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead is an account of life in a Siberian prison, drawing heavily from its author's own imprisonment for sedition. The narrator is nominally serving time for murdering his wife out of jealousy, but Dostoevsky makes very little effort to maintain the artifice that the narrator is anyone other than himself, as the narrator even refers to himself as a political prisoner on a couple of occasions. The novel consists mainly of a series of anecdotes relating such things as the staging of a prison play, the memories of some convicts of the crimes that landed them in prison, and the attempted escape of two of the prisoners, all interspersed among observations of more day-to-day affairs like prison food and corporal punishment.
A number of the stories are very interesting, and overall Dostoevsky paints an impressive picture of prison life as a whole. Though it's clear that his experience in prison was a brutal one, the reader never feels as though Dostoevsky is overplaying the prisoners' suffering, which makes it seem all the more authentic. However, I'd have to say this sort of narrative doesn't really play into Dostoevsky's overall strength as an author. Dostoevsky's best works generally have a strong and coherent (though in some cases somewhat melodramatic) plot that develops more or less linearly throughout the novel; The House of the Dead, on the other hand, is hardly more than a series of related roughly-15-page short stories and so inevitably lacks the suspense of much of Dostoevsky's other work. For the same reason, none of the characters get especially well developed--the reader is left with a lot of interesting character sketches, none of which get fleshed out.Read more ›
2 Comments 28 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsAn incredible book that must be read.
By A Customer on December 19, 1998
Format: Paperback
This book examines to what extent a man will go to keep his humanity. Among feters and prison walls, a different sort of society emerges. How is a caged man different from a caged animal? Does a prison truely change a man for the better? This is a great book.
Comment 23 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsDays of fear and hope
By Alysson Oliveira on May 18, 2006
Format: Paperback
Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "The House of the Dead" is one of the most powerful narratives about life in prison. A quasi-autobiographical work, the writer used the days he spent in Siberia prison to create powerful moments of sadness, fear and hope. Not many were able to be released from there, but he was one of them, and with this work he reminds everyone what it is about to be a political prisoner.

"The House of the Dead" may not be one of best works from this Russian writer, who produced masterpieces such as "Crime an Punishment" and "The Brothers Karamazov", but still it is a vivid account of hard times. Many scenes are unforgettable, and resonate to the condition that many people live today around the world - think of the soup that the prisoners have in the first part of the book, for instance.

Dostoyevsky manages to create a living portray of many people who are forced to share the same place at the same time, however much they can't stand each other. He is able to bring to life both human beings and animals. His description of his meeting with a dog can bring tears to the eyes of the most tough reader.

David McDuff's translation is superb, and so is Penguin Classics edition. The book is complemented by notes on the text and a excellent introduction. However, as happens to many books in this collection, it is advisable to read the introduction after reading the novel, because it may have spoilers.
Comment 9 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

This author is five star !

Published 11 days ago by Suzanne M Sciarratta
5.0 out of 5 starsUnmistakably Authentic, eloquent and of enduring relevance

Unlike the fictional works, Dostoyevsky's memoir reads effortlessly, the nArritive flows free of verbose philosophical meditations. Read more

Published 3 months ago by ann simpson
4.0 out of 5 starsClassic D

This is some of Dostoevsky's most excellent writing, but it is so poorly translated that it is difficult to read.

Published 6 months ago by badassgrandma
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Perfect. Thanks.

Published 9 months ago by Strat Cat
4.0 out of 5 stars4 Stars but a long dragged read. But for the price worth it

Pretty complex story. If you into a long read-haul then highly recommend. it tends to drag on but it was translated from another language

Published 15 months ago by vince adams
4.0 out of 5 starsDefinitely brilliant in places

I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could figure out how to do it. Definitely brilliant in places. But it's no Brothers Karamazov; it's no The Gambler; it's no Notes from the Underground;... Read more

Published 22 months ago by Jason Trask
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A great and revealing account of life in Syberia under the Czar.

Published 23 months ago by Leroy A. Franklin
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat translation, and a very comprehensive package

Great translation, and a very comprehensive package, a context through Translator's Introduction, Notes and a Chronology which enriches the reading experience immensely and has... Read more

Published on September 30, 2014 by Frans van Hoek
4.0 out of 5 starsFull head of hair?

Not the best Dostoyevsky. Won't let you smile much. Good insights to Russia. One question I have is about the cover. Read more

Published on September 14, 2014 by leroy
4.0 out of 5 starsRussian author with excellent prose

Dostoevsky is depressing and this book follows true to form. His prose is excellent but always makes me sad for some reason.

Published on September 14, 2014 by Lee Schuler

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

The House of the Dead (Dover Thrift Editions)
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway
This item: The House of the Dead (Dover Thrift Editions)
Set up a giveaway

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

Pages with Related Products. See and discover other items: classics literature