"I like revisiting, at certain times, spots where I was once happy; I like to shape the present in the image of the irretrievable past."

white nights is a gorgeous but heart-wrenching novella. it's a story of love, ramblings, and experiencing that "coming-of-age" romance, but as an adult. i could read it a million times over and it would still leave me aching.

our protagonist is an isolated dreamer who spends most of his time on the outside looking in. the world is a snow-globe and he is the person looking through the glass.

he remembers minute details like house colors, their furnishings, & strangers' facial expressions. it's impossible to read dostoevsky and not see something in his characters that you see in yourself. they're so real.