Reviews

A Faint Heart by Fyodor Dostoevsky

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sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

4.0

"Yes, this happiness has upset him, I was right there," he said to himself. "Upon my word, he has made me quite depressed, too, that man will make a tragedy of anything! What a feverish creature! Oh, I must save him! I must save him!"

When we think of a faint heart, we usually take it to mean one who gets nervous while facing a danger of some sort … but there are people, some of the best, who can’t feel equal to happiness that might fell their way, especially if the happiness has come suddenly after a long period of suffering. The emotional turbulence might just be too much for them

“you would like there to be no one unhappy in the whole world when you are getting married.... Yes, brother, you must admit that you would like me, for instance, your best friend, to come in for a fortune of a hundred thousand all of a sudden, you would like all the enemies in the world to be suddenly, for no rhyme or reason, reconciled, so that in their joy they might all embrace one another in the middle of the street, and then, perhaps, come here to call on you ……. Because you are happy, you want every one, absolutely every one, to become happy at once. It hurts you and troubles you to be happy alone. And so you want at once to do your utmost to be worthy of that happiness, and maybe to do some great deed to satisfy your conscience”

I wonder what hope can such a person has to survive. It is such a sad little story. Vasya’s character is a little like Myshkin – both have great hearts, lack confidence due to their lack of physical well being, are easily excitable and both end up with similar fate. Once again, FD is reminding us that there is such a thing as too much of sensitiveness.

22andrea22's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

mions's review

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emotional sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

Thinking back on this story, all that comes to mind is “ :( “
I have a tendency to find some kind of underlying glimmer of hope in stories people call depressing, but A Faint Heart doesn’t really offer a chance to do that. It’s like watching a candle’s fuse slowly drown in its wax, the well meaning warmth of the faint flame inadvertently digging itself into a grave and dwindling away in the process.

Just a sorrowful story with surprisingly lovable characters. The most heartbreaking part of it all lies in the fact the suffering isn’t rooted in someone’s cruelty or malice, but in kindness, love and gratefulness.

Content Warnings

sarah011101's review

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informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

saaraa96's review against another edition

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3.0

داستان واسیا که آنقدر کارش رو جدی گرفته بود و میترسید که در نهایت زندگی و مغزشو از دست داد و ارکادی ای که کنارش بود و نمی‌فهمیدش.
امیدوارم انقدر غرق کار و جدی گرفتن کارمون نشیم که زندگیمون رو از دست بدیم .
ادیوبوک فارسی رو گوش دادم؛ برا ایران صدا بود و با اسم «بزدل» ترجمه شده بود.
چقدر آهنگ ها و افکت های وسطش بی کیفیت و بد صداگذاری شده بودن. ولی صدای خود گوینده خوب بود.

emms4's review

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dark hopeful sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

So so sad. Especially at the end when Lizanka teared up thinking of him. My heart broke when he gave her the hat that he could just about afford and she was ungrateful then he worked his life away and went insane.