Reviews - El Idiota: (Volumen II)

2.33k reviews for:

El Idiota: (Volumen II)

Fyodor Dostoevsky

4.04 AVERAGE

em_holborn's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I liked this a lot! I found it really interesting how the relationship between Myshkin and the narrator changed throughout the book and I was so so gripped by the ending. I’d definitely like to revisit this one day.

acraig5075's review against another edition

1.0

This one was a massive chore to finish. Complex, but dull at the same time. I remember enjoying Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, but this one I did not find nearly as accessible nor as enjoyable.

It is need of a list of characters at the front because the Russian way of people having both a formal name and a family name, and perhaps a diminutive name as well got exhausting trying to remember who's who.

It also didn't help that I was reading only a few pages a day. It needs more of a commitment than that because there is just too much going on.

luftmensch's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

youmi's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

a_here's review against another edition

5.0

"he told me that he was entirely convinced I was a complete child myself, a real child, that is, and that only in my face and figure I was a grown-up person, but as far as my development, my soul, my character and perhaps even my intelligence, I was not an adult, and would never be one even if I had lived to be sixty."
Part 1, Chapter 6, p 76
"'Have no fear! Though I take your cross, I'm not going to knife you for your watch!' He muttered to himself indistinctly, and suddenly laughed in a strange way. But then his whole face changed; he turned terribly pale, his lips trembled, his eyes blazed. He raised his arms, embraced the prince warmly, and said in a breathless voice: 'Well, take her, then, since it's fated to be! She's yours! I'm letting you have her. Remember Rogozhin!'"
Part 2, Chapter 4, p 233
"the majority of the guests, despite their imposing appearance, consisted of rather empty people, who in their self-satisfaction were themselves unaware that much of their superiority was only a fine surface for which they were not responsible, having received it unwittingly and through inheritance."
Part 4, Chapter 6, p 557

carvedspines's review against another edition

3.0

3.5/5

"The law of self-destruction and the law of self-preservation are equally strong in mankind!"

This story is carried forward by a naive man who is considered an idiot for his simplicity and honesty by almost everyone around him.

Love and greed are the leading themes in the book followed by religion and society.

This book gives us an insight into a scrutinising society and what it tends to do to those who are different. It also gives us a glimpse of the capability of humans' complex emotions to cause devastation in people's lives.

Although I do believe that Dostoyevsky has given an overly magnified view of human psychology through exaggerated emotions of his characters and the only subtlety I found was in that of the protagonist.