Book · 1967
The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov
The devil throws a ball in 1930s Moscow, a man is committed to an asylum for writing a novel about Pontius Pilate, and a talking cat shoots at a chandelier.
What does Reddit think of The Master and Margarita?
The Master and Margarita is the smallest book in this set by volume: 352 mentions across seven years, 286 of them on r/suggestmeabook, with r/printSF (49) and r/Fantasy (17) barely registering. The single most-upvoted line about it isn't really a recommendation, "Everyone looks cool reading {{The Master and Margarita}}" (↑157), and it reads as much like a joke about performative reading as an endorsement. The literary defense is more sincere elsewhere. A r/Fantasy comment uses it to argue against dismissing fantasy as childish, asking "What is The Master and Margarita if not fantasy?" before calling it "one of the greatest books ever written" (↑97). Another highlights it as one of the only non-English entries on a "Times list" otherwise short on translated fiction, alongside One Hundred Years of Solitude (↑170). Mention volume has stayed low and choppy the whole time, from 71 in 2020 down to 37 in both 2021 and 2024.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · status-symbol classic
- · genre-boundary test case
- · rare non-English canon pick
- · small but vocal readership
Common praise
- + A r/Fantasy comment calls it 'one of the greatest books ever written' while using it to argue fantasy isn't childish (↑97).
- + It gets singled out as one of the only non-English entries on an otherwise Anglocentric 'Times list,' alongside One Hundred Years of Solitude (↑170).
- + It's an easy repeat answer on r/suggestmeabook, appearing on its own with no elaboration needed (↑147, ↑93).
Common criticism
- − The most-upvoted line about it isn't a recommendation at all: 'Everyone looks cool reading {{The Master and Margarita}}' (↑157), read as a jab at performative reading.
- − Total volume is tiny next to the rest of this catalogue, 352 mentions across seven years, barely cracking 37 in both 2021 and 2024.
- − r/printSF and r/Fantasy combined add up to just 66 mentions, meaning nearly all its traction is suggestmeabook namechecks rather than sustained genre discussion.
Who it's for
Pick this up if you want a fantasy defense that r/Fantasy actually makes with a straight face, one commenter calls it proof fantasy isn't childish and 'one of the greatest books ever written.' It's also one of the few non-English classics that comes up when readers gripe about Anglocentric best-of lists. If the appeal sounds more like status than story, the 'everyone looks cool reading' line suggests you're not wrong to be suspicious.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Master and Margarita?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“One complaint a friend of mine had (re: the Times list) was that the list contained very little non-English content. Happy to see One Hundred Years of Solitude on this list, but I'd have considered The Little Prince (French) and Master and Margarita (Russian) as well. Maybe something from Italo Calv…
“Everyone looks cool reading {{The Master and Margarita}}.
“The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov
“I already have my tbr for 2025. The goal is one book per month, so 12 books in the year, and to read the whole of the Berserk Mangas. Everything else that I read is a plus. These are the books: 1. Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Murakami (my introduction to him) 2. White Nights by Dostoyevski (Ive rea…
“This. Pratchett masterfully details the error that both this interviewer and society at large make when they discount fantasy as "childish" or non-serious literature. What is The Master and Margarita if not fantasy? In my opinion it's one of the greatest books ever written.
“The Master and Margarita
“For me personally, I often reread works I really enjoy. All the Diskworld series. I have read them multiple times over the years. Iain M. Banks in general and *Look to Windward* in particular, which I read once a year for a decade or so. *The Saga of the Exiles* is another series I have read mor…
“Weird sci-fi is one of my favorite genres! I highly recommend any and all of these: *Concrete Island* by JG Ballard - A great weird '70s novel about the vast expanses of urban infrastructure that are remote and inaccessible. *Beauty Salon* by Mario Bellatin - A very short novella about a hair styl…
Convinced? Pick up The Master and Margarita
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with The Master and Margarita — counted from the comments, not curated.
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky
A father is murdered, three sons are suspects, and the real defendant is whether God exists.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez
The Buendía family founds a town, breeds seven generations, and repeats the same mistakes until Macondo forgets itself.
Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy
A teenage runaway joins a scalp-hunting gang across the borderlands, shadowed by a hairless giant who never loses an argument.
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry
Two aging Texas Rangers drive a stolen cattle herd a thousand miles north, hauling four decades of friendship and regret with them.
The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro
An aging butler drives across England to see an old colleague, insisting the whole way that he has no regrets about the life, or love, he didn't choose.
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
A broke ex-student murders a pawnbroker to prove a theory about great men, then spends 500 pages failing to live with it.
The Master and Margarita — frequently asked
Is The Master and Margarita worth reading, or just a status symbol?+
Both takes exist in the data. The top suggestmeabook line about it is a joke, 'Everyone looks cool reading The Master and Margarita' (↑157), but r/Fantasy makes a sincere case too, calling it 'one of the greatest books ever written' while using it to argue fantasy isn't childish (↑97).
Is The Master and Margarita fantasy or literary fiction?+
Reddit argues it's both, or that the distinction doesn't matter. One r/Fantasy commenter asks directly, 'What is The Master and Margarita if not fantasy?' while pushing back on genre snobbery (↑97). It gets discussed on r/suggestmeabook far more than on genre-specific subs, though, 286 of its 352 total mentions.
Why does The Master and Margarita come up in discussions about translated fiction?+
Because it's one of the few non-English entries readers can point to. One r/Fantasy comment criticizes a 'Times list' for having 'very little non-English content' but credits it for including Master and Margarita alongside One Hundred Years of Solitude (↑170), and floats The Little Prince as another obvious omission the list got wrong.
How much does Reddit actually discuss The Master and Margarita?+
Not much compared to the rest of this catalogue, just 352 mentions across seven years, the smallest total here, with volume staying choppy and dropping as low as 37 mentions in both 2021 and 2024. It's a niche pick people namedrop more than they analyze.