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leighnonymous 's review for:
The Idiot
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Not having known what to expect with this one, I went in with an open mind and stayed assiduous during the reading, thinking there might be something fascinating to make this one top the "Best Books" lists I'm always reading. Not so. It's a good book and craziness abounds in the last section, but it didn't enchant me. It's essentially the story of a good, honest man cast in with a group of people overly concerned about society, scandals, money, drama, and themselves. Poor Prince Myshkin, having just spent some time in a sanitarium for his epilepsy, was ill-prepared to handle the sideshow that these people called their lives.
One character loses something from the pocket of his pants and goes through an accusatory and inflammatory tirade in his head about the substance of his peers. Turns out the man was just drunk and dropped it beneath a chair.
The women involved with Myshkin in this made me shake my head; one is flighty and stupid, the other…well, that girl? She crazy. She needs meds. Well, needed them before she was killed by a psychopath who was in love with her and also tried to kill Myshkin. Why Myshkin would sit around comforting this attempted - and successful - murderer is beyond my grasp.
What I didn't like was the speech Myshkin made at the party; he busted on atheists for a good deal of the novel but seemed to let loose in his speech. Strangely, he hated Catholics for apparently the same reason. Despite this, I liked Myshkin; he was a truly nice guy and honest to a fault. No character deserved his affection. However, he truly was an idiot not for falling in love with the wrong woman or being epileptic, but for hanging around those acrimonious people. I will fault him for that. It's a shame they collectively quashed the good from him and left him a shell of a man.
One character loses something from the pocket of his pants and goes through an accusatory and inflammatory tirade in his head about the substance of his peers. Turns out the man was just drunk and dropped it beneath a chair.
The women involved with Myshkin in this made me shake my head; one is flighty and stupid, the other…well, that girl? She crazy. She needs meds. Well, needed them before she was killed by a psychopath who was in love with her and also tried to kill Myshkin. Why Myshkin would sit around comforting this attempted - and successful - murderer is beyond my grasp.
What I didn't like was the speech Myshkin made at the party; he busted on atheists for a good deal of the novel but seemed to let loose in his speech. Strangely, he hated Catholics for apparently the same reason. Despite this, I liked Myshkin; he was a truly nice guy and honest to a fault. No character deserved his affection. However, he truly was an idiot not for falling in love with the wrong woman or being epileptic, but for hanging around those acrimonious people. I will fault him for that. It's a shame they collectively quashed the good from him and left him a shell of a man.