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emily1602 's review for:

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Felt like an idiot myself with how long it took me to get a handle on the names of all the characters, but once I did it became a much easier read. Could almost understand a quote I came across once about Dostoevsky being the perfect author for when you are sick in bed and need to read something easy. Boring in some parts but mostly interesting. I don't know maybe it was never boring, and I am just impatient for easy entertainment because of my social media addiction. Relatedly, that is another thing I like here. Characters are constantly contradicting themselves. Giving an opinion and two sentences later 'well, perhaps that is wrong.' Though, on the other hand, they also often are furious when someone else tells them their opinion is wrong. Which, relatable.  Also, I was sure Rogozhin was going to murder Myshkin at the end. Really great ending. Like a horror movie. Has there been a movie version of this book? (I just checked and yes). The moral of the story as I read it is, either (a) Myshkin is an idealist and because of this does not treat people as people, which hurts them or (b) Myshkin is naive, kind and innocent which is more important than his ideological framework, but hurts people because of his own complete lack of understanding of 'badness' and what might feel bad to another person. I suppose I think the second is more what Dostoevsky was going for  In whichever case, here, bad people make the world a worse place and good people, accidentally, make the world a worse place also.