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The Idiot cover art

The Idiot

By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Narrated by: Constantine Gregory
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Summary

Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Myshkin is one of the great characters in Russian literature. Is he a saint or just naïve? Is he an idealist or, as many in General Epanchin's society feel, an "idiot"? Certainly his return to St. Petersburg after years in a Swiss clinic has a dramatic effect on the beautiful Aglaia, youngest of the Epanchin daughters, and on the charismatic but willful Nastasya Filippovna. As he paints a vivid picture of Russian society, Dostoyevsky shows how principles conflict with emotions - with tragic results.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2017 Naxos AudioBooks

What listeners say about The Idiot

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good but not his best

Having heard this, "Crime and Punishment" and "The Brothers Karamazov" I'd say this was the least satisfying in terms of philo/theo logical content and less enjoyable in terms of depth of characters involved.
Constantine Gregory (the narrator) is, as always, great, although the quality of this particular recording was poor - reverby and glitchy.

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78 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

easier to listen to than I expected

narration was excellent and made the Russian names easier to deal with than I expected in my first Russian literature audiobook. Got a little tedious in the middle but mostly enjoyable and was definitely worth sticking with to the end. I see the same narrator has read some more Dostoyevsky audiobooks so after a break I'll be back for more.

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8 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

So-so

The first quarter of this book was enjoyable as was the last quarter, but the half in the middle was lots of long and drawn out conversations, deliberations and musings. I found it difficult to stay focused and struggled through the lengthy rhetoric. I’ve read that this book closely mirrors Dostoevsky’s own thoughts and beliefs which is plain to see. I can’t fault the narration which was strong and precise.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Bad reverberation and echo from the Narrators mic

Got less than 5 minutes in before I could no longer tolerate the poor audio quality.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

You're not done once you're finished reading...

I don't know if I can say I enjoyed this books as its really long and boring. But that's not the purpose of reading this. Some of the character traits and themes went right over my head and the story at face value often had me thinking "this is so stupid". Which in retrospect is the authors intention.

I'm now reading cliff notes and listening to book and character analysis on YouTube, which definitely helps to appreciate "The Idiot" by shining light on the social, interpersonal and Christian themes that I may have omitted while reading.

I would recommend this book if you are willing to study a large chunk of support material which elaborates on the purpose of the book and message of the author. And I would highly commend the performance of the voice actor who made this piece slightly more bare able to listen to. Although I still ended up wondering why do I put my self through this in pursuit of intelligence. And for godsake, Prince Myshkin is such an idiot...

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    3 out of 5 stars
  • BH
  • 27-11-21

Awful recording quality.

I can’t get beyond the terrible quality of the recording. Is there no QC at Audible?

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Meh.

I listen, work and have dyslexia so struggle with names. Russian names where tough and the voice acting though good a lot of the characters sound similar making it hard to follow.

The story also doesn't help, there's some great moments, but on the whole long and dull, which is what the books about. Normal people living kinda normal lives.

Amazing glimpse into a different time but will take a certain type to enjoy this book for it's entirety although there's snippets of gold to the end.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Bit hard to follow

The performance is good but the Russian names sometimes make the characters in the story hard to follow.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

excellent performance!

The performance of this great book is excellent, I definitely recommend it. Looking forward to listening to other books of the same performer

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

inconsistent, disorganised narrative

can't help but feel that the main reason for this novel's persistence on 'must-read' lists of classics, is Dostoevsky's fame from his four great novels. Taken alone, this novel is disorganised, directionless, and incoherent. Characters, even when they provoke sympathy, are too remote or underdeveloped to deserve much thought - I am not even convinced Dostoevsky cared enough to give them any complexity, overall. I'll probably never bother reading this work again.

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