>White Nights

I'm already finished the novel long time agoo. So basicly the novel is about the dreamer who wanders St. Petersburg's white nights. Btw, Dostoevsky crafted this novella in 1848, but it reads like a psychological blueprint for every hopeless romantic who's ever mistaken a moment of connection for a lifetime of possibility.

Much like Tom in "(500) Days of Summer," main character in this novel (the dreamer) falls headlong into an idealized version of love—projecting his deepest yearnings onto a woman who, while kind and genuine, never promised him her heart. The parallels are striking: both stories follow men who construct elaborate emotional narratives around brief encounters, only to learn that reality rarely conforms to our romantic fantasies.

What strikes me most about "White Nights" is how Dostoevsky maps the geography of isolation. The dreamer has lived for years in St. Petersburg without forming meaningful connections, yet he knows every building, every street, every window as if they were old friends. He's intimate with the city but estranged from its people—a paradox that feels remarkably contemporary.

The four nights gave emotional arc perfectly. Night one: the intoxicating discovery of connection. Night two: the deepening of intimacy through shared stories. Night three: the moment when reality begins to intrude. Night four: the inevitable return to solitude, but with a transformed understanding of both love and loss.

So, like I mentioned, the novel is about a girl named Nastenka and a guy called 'the Dreamer'. She tells him right up front not to get any ideas she's waiting for the man she was with before moving to St. Petersburg, and the Dreamer knows the whole story. The first twist? He falls for her anyway, of course. He gets locked into the role of the perfect, supportive friend, helping her chase ghosts and keeping her spirits up while she pines for this other guy. But, the 'guy' is a no-show. Just as her hope runs out, Nastenka decides to give her heart to the Dreamer. It’s this incredible moment of release. They celebrate by walking through the city all night, eventually finding themselves back on the exact corner where they first met. And just as they're standing there, basking in what feels like a new beginning, he appears. The guy. He's just... there. In that instant, Nastenka is torn. And the gut punch? She hesitates, then walks away from the Dreamer to go to him. And you won't even believe her parting words...

The tragedy isn't that Nastenka chooses her original lover over the dreamer. It's that the dreamer, like so many of us, falls in love with his own projection rather than the person before him. He loves the idea of saving her, of being needed, of finally having a purpose beyond his elaborate fantasies.