Customer Reviews

The Idiot

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The praise on the back cover of "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky hearlds it as a novel that explores the psyche of the Russian people. The plot synopsis tells readers that the main character, Prince Myshkin, is a saintly man, who comes into society an innocent and must struggle to remain pure while coming to terms with two very different women who love him and the ways of the world. This prince is also the 'idiot' of the title, this idiocy due to the effects of epilepsy, but perhaps owing more to his naivete and general lack of knowledge.

Prince Myshkin, also known as Lyov Nikolayevitch, has spent the past four years in Switzerland, being treated for his illness. Upon his return to Petersburg, he seeks out a long-lost distant family member and susequently comes into wealth due to his benefactor's death. He is immediately thrown into a love triangle that involves his uncle's clerk and a woman who is known to be another man's mistress. Upon meeting this supremely beautiful woman, Prince Myshkin offers himself in marriage; the young woman accepts him at first, but then runs off with another man who has offered her a vast sum of money. Prince Myshkin follows them, but while thwarted in his efforts he is forever haunted by this notorious woman, even as he pursues the love of another.

While Dostoevsky is a great storyteller, and has written at least two masterpieces, the narrative of "The Idiot" does a lot more telling than showing. The reader is told an awful lot of things, like how Prince Myshkin isn't as idiotic as people think he is, and how good he is, but it doesn't show this through his actions or words. He is constantly taken in by people who want his money and he waffles excessively between the two women he supposedly loves. Indeed, there are few if any likeable characters within the novel, as they almost all try to take advantage of the prince or laugh at him to his face, including both of his love interests.

And while there is some examination of the Russian people, it seems rather disjointed from the narrative at hand. There is a wide cast of characters, each minutely described, and several who give speeches at great length that solely slow down the narrative and do not enhance it. At nearly six hundred pages in length, there is much that seems like it could have been edited, and it is at times difficult to keep the numerous characters straight due to Dostoevsky's simultaneous use of full names and nicknames. However, "The Idiot" stands as a classic of Russian literature, painting a stark picture of the haves and have-nots, and examining how those people treat a poor 'idiot' who is too good for his own sake.

This is a classic Russian novel. Great book, but it took me like forever to read. I had a bit of difficulty keeping track of which characters were which, due to the Russian names and the fact that most of the characters are also known by a nickname. I'm sure that Russian people know that "Ganya" is a nickname for "Gavril", just like Americans know that "Dick" is a nickname for "Richard". But I'm not Russian. Anyway, it's a classic book and it's worth the effort to read it.