Did anybody here enjoy Dead Souls by Gogol

By SamReads

This is my first time reading Gogol (Dead Souls in particular) and I’m honestly not having a great time. I’m not really into most of the characters at all—Plyushkin is the only one that pops into my head—and I can’t say I care much about the plot either. There are a few moments early on where some of the places and how Gogol talks to the reader are kind of enjoyable, but after that it’s mostly just not landing for me. I’m about 300 pages in, and I’m supposed to start the second book soon, but I really hate stopping halfway through and moving on… I know it’s a classic and I get that Gogol’s life while working on it was pretty brutal right up until the end. Still, I feel like when I open the book I’m basically staring at blank pages. So for anyone who actually likes it: what did you enjoy about it? Am I missing something?