Rating: 
Summary: Unfinished Business
Review: This is an incomplete early novel by Dostoyevsky, in which Annetta (or "Netochka Nezvanova" as she is known) recounts her unfortunate early life. Her natural father died when she was very young, and her stepfather Efimov is an alcoholic musician with delusions of grandeur. Efimov leads the family into abject poverty. Even after her mother and stepfather die, and Netochka Nezvanova's luck seems to change, that's not really the case as life with her new family presents different tortures: her relationship with Katya then with Alexandra Mikhailovna and her husband Pyotr Alexandrovitch are deeply troubled.Particularly in Efimov, I could see the germs of later Dostoyevsky characters - he is desperately self-delusional, intent upon his own self-destruction. Yet Netochka Nezvanova is irresistably attracted to him, as indeed she is to the other characters who do her ill. Logically, this is puzzling - the reader might be tempted to think why on earth does she put up with such treatment (even given the fact that she is a child in a very vulnerable position). But perhaps love and attraction are not as simple as all that. The scenes with Katya make for strange reading. I couldn't help thinking that the attraction between Netochka Nezvanova and Katya was more than just a childhood friendship - there seemed to be lesbian lust there too. Something of a surprise! It's a shame that the novel is incomplete. There are poor sections - the bits with the dog, Falstaff, are pretty ropey, especially the river rescue. I thought the end was over-melodramatic too. Yet, overall, and interesting read. G Rodgers
Rating: 
Summary: Young and Healthy
Review: To think a book that was to be the first long novel of Dostoyevsky turned out to be unfinished baffles me! I found this book compelling, well though and a dominate novel of Dostoyevsky's library.
The young girl, improvished and amnesiac of anything that happened to her before she was nine was fasinating. Her life, in one word was horrible. Her father, a semi-talented violinist realizes he is not as good as he thinks he is upon hearing a virtuoso of the art. A 'master' of his instrument, no one understood him and feels completely tortured. Eventually, though fits of rage that lasted through his entire life, he dies. Netochka mother kills herself, thus, leaving her orphaned. A prince takes her, and a life that was once imaginary for her, has now come to life.
The pure genius and dedication Dostoyevsky puts into this work proves his unfailing love for writing. Nechocka, the protagonist, is a lonely spectator of life but this book is far from it. This novel, will leave the heart and mind well satiate.
Rating:
Summary: Young and Healthy
Review: To think a book that was to be the first long novel of Dostoyevsky turned out to be unfinished baffles me! I found this book compelling, well though and a dominate novel of Dostoyevsky's library.
The young girl, improvished and amnesiac of anything that happened to her before she was nine was fasinating. Her life, in one word was horrible. Her father, a semi-talented violinist realizes he is not as good as he thinks he is upon hearing a virtuoso of the art. A 'master' of his instrument, no one understood him and feels completely tortured. Eventually, though fits of rage that lasted through his entire life, he dies. Netochka mother kills herself, thus, leaving her orphaned. A prince takes her, and a life that was once imaginary for her, has now come to life.
The pure genius and dedication Dostoyevsky puts into this work proves his unfailing love for writing. Nechocka, the protagonist, is a lonely spectator of life but this book is far from it. This novel, will leave the heart and mind well satiate.
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