Rating: 
Summary: A Classic with Great Personal Relevance to Me
Review: It's strange. I've always felt as if the title of this book was trying to say something to me. Speak, almost...as if it had some great insight into my incredibly complex personality to offer. Yet despite my extensive postdoctoral work on the book, the answer eludes me yet! This proves without a doubt the eternal mystery of this great Russian author.
Rating:
Summary: Divinely Inspired?
Review: It is said that if you take a zillion monkeys and set each of them clacking away at a typewriter then eventually one of them will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Well to produce such a book as "The Idiot," you would need to employ in place of the monkeys, a similar number of brilliant authors - genuises no less - and maybe, just maybe a book as excellent as Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot" might be produced. If some of the duller parts of the Bible are supposed to have been written under the guidance of divine inspiration, what then are we to suppose of a work like this that glows with spiritual power?
Rating:
Summary: excellent portrayal of human nature
Review: i was a bit reluctant to begin this novel after the reading of "the brothers karamazov" and "crime and punishment" because these last two i found colossal and was afraid to be dissapointed. The idiot turned out to be dostoievsky in his pure form, insightful, witty and exquisite in depicting the moral of every character. You can easily sense the true maturity of this man, his own vision of society, religion, and politics, and is difficult not to find out the strong resemblances between prince myshkin and him. A true russian novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Reader's Dilemma
Review: My comments and review are here based solely on the translation work of Constance Garnett, not the actual text behind it. I found this translation so stilted as to be almost unreadable. This problem was greatest in the short utterances of some of the charcters. They would respond to what the main character of that portion was saying, but I generally had no sense of what those responses meant. My guess is that Ms. Garnett, in her attempt to stay faithful to the Russian, stayed away from using English idiom, but this sadly resulted in severe loss of clarity. I would recommend that potential readers look for a more modern translation.
Rating: 
Summary: not my favourite: sometimes a bit boring
Review: I really like Dostoyevsky, but I consider 'The Idiot' a novel that sometimes gets too boring. It is magnificent the way Dostoyevsky portraits the Russian situation at the time, and Mishkin is really an interesting character, similar to my mind to Aliosha Karamazov. However, the book is, I think, unnecessarily enlarged, and gets stmes a bit dense and even boring. Maybe the next time i will like it best. Now I prefer 'Crime & Punishment' or 'The Brothers Karamazov', actually.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't trust Society!
Review: I always write my thoughts on the literature after it comes to its conclusion. It is a worthwhile practice and it may, perhaps, benefit you. For the Idiot: Nice guys do indeed finish last! (As one reviewer has already contributed) Again, suffering in apparent in this Dostoevsky novel. Prince Myshkin suffers by actually having qualities which we think would be blessings - actual intelligence and honest kindness. Myshkin starts our story as an "idiot," and he makes the journey to Russia (or Society with all it's evils and negatives - ego's that are impossible for one to actually be satisfied with, unrequited love, pride, greed, etc.,). And the story ends with Myshkin dying in the same Society of people, yet geographically he's in Europe. Nevertheless, he starts as an "idiot" and ends as an "idiot." He is Christ-like in that 1.)he is the sacrafice for acquantinces like Mrs. Epanchin, so that they may see the negatives of their Society 2.) He dies young as Christ did. Christ came to Earth to save but then he went to Heaven---Myshkin came to save a certain Russian society but he did his "leaving" elsewhere (Europe). This is a wonderful read and I know I'm not the best reviewer, but sharing comments on books is productive, as is reading them - flipping the T.V. remote is not. Carpe Diem.
Rating:
Summary: RUSSIAN BOOKS: UNREADABLE?
Review: Most of us have probably heard the phrase, "Why, that was as unreadable as a Russian novel!" Of course, they're probably thinking about Tolstoy's War and Peace. The fact of the matter is this: I was 18 or 19, in AP English, VERY skeptical about these so-called "classics". But then we read Notes from Underground and my view of Russian literature was permanently changed. As a matter of fact, I liked NfU SO much that I read THE IDIOT of my own initiative and--get this--liked it MORE than NfU. Hey, how can you resist a story about a diseased Prince who's coming home to Russia after being in an Asylum? There were just so many quotable and likable passages in this book. My bookmark soon became full with page numbers. Towards the beginning, the Prince and a servant have an interesting conversation concerning one of Dostoyevsky's main interests: Crime and Punishment. That particular scene details a French execution. Quite a while later, Dostoyevsky retells that French execution story and DOES IT BETTER THAN THE FIRST TIME. But the book is not always serious. One of the things that I like about Dostoyevsky is that he has a dark sense of humor. You would too, if you were in debt, epileptic, and were spared from the firing squad AT THE LAST SECOND. I laughed out loud when I got to the part about the Cigar and Poodle. You'll find it in Chapter 9 or so. Also, there's a character named Prince S. Now THAT is a pun. Of course, being a tranlated work, who's to say whether it was intentional or not? Yes, this is a very long book, but I REALLY enjoyed it. Hopefully you'll come to agree.
Rating:
Summary: For Development, for power.
Review: "Through the idiot, the endearing, translucent, Christ-like figure of Prince Myshkin, Dostoyevsky's other characters, and readers as well, experience moments of total insight." For all those who look forward to learn the ways of geniuses, only to eventually become them, and no, there is neither a writer nor any other book that is analogous to this one. Such a unique experience deserves attention, and devotion.
Rating:
Summary: A Tough One
Review: Dostoevsky's depection of the "positively good man" is much more fascinating, philosophically, than Crime and Punishment, but is also significantly harder to read. I suggest C&P instead, or the Brothers Karamazov if you have the time.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning Insights and Perfect Scenes
Review: Though this novel may not be as technically clear as /Crime and Punishment/ or /The Gambler/, it is an read indispensable for the true Dostoyevsky fan. More similar in style to Tolstoy, it employs a much greater sweep of characters and time than earlier novels. Some of the characters are absolutely fantastic, such as the Prince Myshkin himself, Roghozin, Ganya Ardalionovich, and Natassya Philopovna, and others are just a little bit too far over the top for my tastes, such as the old General and the mother of the three daughters (whose name escapes me). The Prince can be read both as a golden example of what an ideal person (a true Christian) should behave like, and an ironic comment on the superficiality and decadence of our society and the utter infeasability of the life of such a sacrificial lamb. Perhaps his undoing is his intelligence, if he wasn't so smart, he really would be an Idiot, but as it is, he is both too trusting and too discerning at the same time. Some of the scenes are magnificent, such as Hippolite's monologue, and the final tableau....I won't spoil them, but I must say that even if the entire book wasn't so good, it would still be worth reading to just imagine these scenes. This book, much more than /Crime and Punishment/, serves as a vehicle for Dostoyevsky to deliver his own views on nihilism, the death sentence, and various and sundry other topics. While interesting, he doesn't always manage to make them flow well into the story. For any fans of existentialism, this is a must read, as Albert Camus practically lifted many of his ideas for The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus from several sections of this work.
|
