I've only read about the first thousand words of this book (it takes me ages), but he has a great way of gently mocking his subjects, and his descriptions are concise, colourful and engaging. An enjoyable read. Just difficult for me to decypher some of the subtleties! I probably wouldnt get very far without the help I get here; I'd just get stuck and stay stuck, so thanks to all.

I think maybe Ivan Nikolaevich's Jesus could be described as 'unpreposessing;' lacking any memorable qualities, maybe a bit bland...
If you describe someone as 'unnapproachable' (недоступный?,) it usually means that they look like they would be unfriendly; maybe because they are obviously high status, beautiful, or they just look arrogant or think they are better than you. But you may have a point; неприветливый and колючий seem to mean something similarto unnapproachable, except that 'unnapproachable' suggests that the unnapproachable one is of higher status than the person wanting to approach them, rather than being 'undesirable/unattractive' and beneath them. Maybe Bulgakov did mean that Jesus was depicted as an 'undesirable'.