The Idiot (AmazonClassics Edition)

I first read this when I was 17. I'm 75 and have just finished it for the ? 5th time. The end is as great a shock as it ever was. For me it's THE book and Myshkin a truly unforgettable character along with 4 or 5 others that stay in the mind forever. Read it.

I have started reading this book as I loved Crime and Punishment and remembered a librarian telling me that she like Idiot better. I was working in this place where I would have a lot of free time and so wanted to read some short stories but came across this loooong novel and decided to give it ago. Well, it was okay. I found it a bit repetitive and unbelievable (how can they still call Prince an idiot 500 pages into the book?!). I was waiting for something big to happen for so long and it did but in the very end only!

Definitely a good read, however this translation differs slightly to the one made by Penguin Classics... even so, a very good read, I would recommend it if you're looking for something to read while traveling.

It is quite beyond me to review a masterpiece; I just defer to the brilliance of Dostoyevsky, and wish I had kept up my Russian studies. That being said, I haven't yet read this book!! So unless the translation is inadequate, which I doubt, I defy anyone to give it less than 5 stars.

This is a complex book with a very common and basic premise. One man. Two women. But health issues, class structure, politics, insanity and many other factors are very cleverly woven into the storyline.This is a long book which will take patience to read and get the best out of it.There are a number of typing errors which probably occurred during the translation period.If you like a novel that requires thinking and work on your part, this is the book for you.

A masterpiece! The Idiot is the story of one of western literature's damned characters and the book beautifully written... for some I guess hard going because it has the kind of heart and soul which is not always recognised by all...

I was so in to this so good you don't wont to put it down so I read it all the way through

I am reviewing the kindle version here and the rating isnt related to the book itself. it says it is x-ray enabled in the description. It is not.

Honestly, I have skipped some pages to finish the story. But trust me it's an excellent book. Just stay with the author and be patient

As neither a Dostoevsky scholar, nor someone who understands Russian, I cannot say how faithful Eva Martin's 1915 translation really is.For all I know (and I am just making this up), she translated from the French or German instead of from Russian.Nonetheless, I found her version of Dostoevsky's novel quite readable- and when a passage wasn't clear, and I turned to the P/V translation, I actually found their version LESS clear. Eva Martin seems to know what is going on better than her contemporary, Constance Garnett, or than our contemporaries, Pevear and Volkhonsky. I won't claim it's the best translation. I know it's not the worst.Here is an excerpt, from the great confrontation at the end of part one- where Dostoevsky piles false climax upon false climax:"Prince," said Nastasia Philipovna, unexpectedly turning to Muishkin, "here are my old friends, Totski and General Epanchin, who wish to marry me off. Tell me what you think. Shall I marry or not? As you decide, so shall it be."Totski grew white as a sheet. The general was struck dumb. All present started and listened intently. Gania sat rooted to his chair."Marry whom?" asked the prince, faintly."Gavrila Ardalionovitch Ivolgin," said Nastasia, firmly and evenly. There were a few seconds of dead silence. The prince tried to speak, but could not form his words; a great weight seemed to lie upon his breast and suffocate him."N-no! don't marry him!" he whispered at last, drawing his breath with an effort."So be it, then. Gavrila Ardalionovitch," she spoke solemnly and forcibly, "you hear the prince's decision? Take it as my decision; and let that be the end of the matter for good and all.""Nastasia Philipovna!" cried Totski, in a quaking voice."Nastasia Philipovna!" said the general, in persuasive but agitated tones. Everyone in the room fidgeted in their places, and waited to see what was coming next.I won't be out on a limb if I say that the ideas conveyed by the novel as a whole are almost inexpressible, and far beyond any 'ideas' consciously expressed by any of the characters. That the plot is melodramatic and profound, mad and satirical, makes it something like HAMLET.

Not a read for everyone. The plot is slow with long thought provoking analysis on various subjects. You will find the familiar Dostoyevcsky statements on the cruelty that capital punishment inflicts on the mind. The knowledge of inevitable death is well illustrated by one of his characters, also condemned to death by an incurable disease. The generosity and unselfish actions of the Prince, brand him as an idiot by "good" society, and as often happens in life, they produce the opposite of his noble intentions. Despite his unique intelligence he is incapable of changing the results.,,,These are only some of the conflicts of the drawn out plot... I read this book many years ago, at a very young age, and went back to it in search of the beauty I remembered of some passages...such as the stories Muishkin tells of the children and a poor lost soul named Maria. It still captivates me.

You should ‘like’ a literary masterpiece more than 3-stars: apologies to Fyodor but this was not one of my favorites. The Brothers Karamazov and the Crime and Punishment set up my expectations for more - the swirl of mischief, or mystery, or even murder. And while murder does finally appear, Dostoyevsky, uses this novel to play with the relationships of a dozen (or more) personalities that span the full spectrum of 19th century Russian society. The protagonist, Prince Lef Nicolaievitch Myshkin is afflicted with epilepsy and the effects of that condition cause others to presume his idiocy. In fact he is no idiot at all but his naive ‘simplicity’ (honesty) becomes an obstruction for many of the cast of characters.“A special characteristic of his was the naive candour with which he always listened to arguments which interested him, and with which he answered any questions put to him on the subject at issue. In the very expression of his face this naivete was unmistakably evident, this disbelief in the insincerity of others, and unsuspecting disregard of irony or humour in their words.”The Prince represents a purity, or goodness that counter’s the selfishness or deviousness of the other characters, and that interaction is what Dostoyevsky plays-out for the reader. Characters can move past quickly in this novel- then disappear for chapters - and reappear by last name, or first & middle, or a diminutive name for which Russians seem to have a fondness. The swirl of personalities - some only very briefly described - can be confusing. And the “Sophie’s Choice” (W. Styron-esque) conclusion seemed… well artificial after all that proceeded.More interesting than the “plot” are the many philosophical observations of the characters. The Prince to Parfin Rogojin:“The essence of religious feeling has nothing to do with reason, or atheism, or crime, or acts of any kind—it has nothing to do with these things—and never had. There is something besides all this, something which the arguments of the atheists can never touch. But the principal thing, and the conclusion of my argument, is that this is most clearly seen in the heart of a Russian.”or from Hippolyte to The Prince:"It is much simpler, and far more likely, to believe that my death is needed—the death of an insignificant atom—in order to fulfil the general harmony of the universe—in order to make even some plus or minus in the sum of existence. Just as every day the death of numbers of beings is necessary because without their annihilation the rest cannot live on…”There was always a readiness to close the book by the end of a selected chapter and that - great literature or not - is a reason for the tepid 3-stars I offer for your consideration.(Translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky)

Before the Kindle, there was television. Before television, there was radio. And before radio, there were magazines. While we are fascinated watching the depection of high society in dramatic and reality television (think Dynasty, Mad Men, Real * of *), people used to engage in entertainment of this sort by following serialized stories in magazine. And in Czarist Russia, the era from where Dostoyevsky wrote, people apparently had the same fascination with this type of culture as we have today.I read prior to going to sleep mostly, and at times this book was difficult to stop reading. It's that good. The plot is a joyously guilty pleasure: three men want to marry the most beautiful women in all of St. Petersburg. But who will win her affection? Reading a novel that people found fascinating 150 years ago gives us an idea of what people valued in that society--at least as entertainment, because we don't know if the behavior of fictional characters would be accepted in reality or not.What I found most fascinating about this book is the description of what we would now call autistic behavior: the inability of the main character to identify and understand with the covert emotions of communication, while still being able to understand and excel at the overt technical details. The Idiot is called that not because he lacks IQ, but because he lacks emotional intelligence.Next on the list is the behavior of a character who is suffering from consumption, and what we would call cancer, in an era where there is no treatment for the disease: people just died from cancer, coughing blood, pain, and all.And the descriptions of how people travelled by rail shows us that even in Czarist Russia, the Iron Horse had brought Europe together: people (at least those with means) did travel across the conteinent and interact with one another. Which is an interesting comparison with how isolationist the US was at that time.Five stars because it was more then well worth the investment of time to read this novel. And a wonderful contrast to Austen's Pride and Prejudice when read back to back.