The Idiot
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The Idiot
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Narrated by:
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Simon Vance
Summary
In The Idiot, a saintly man, Prince Myshkin, is thrust into the heart of a society more concerned with wealth, power, and sexual conquest than the ideals of Christianity. Myshkin soon finds himself at the center of a violent love triangle in which a notorious woman and a beautiful young girl become rivals for his affections. Extortion, scandal, and murder follow, testing the wreckage left by human misery to find “man in man.”
The Idiot is a quintessentially Russian novel, one that penetrates the complex psyche of the Russian people. “They call me a psychologist,” wrote Dostoevsky. “That is not true. I’m only a realist in the higher sense; that is, I portray all the depths of the human soul.”
(P)2002 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Critic reviews
“My intention is to portray a really beautiful soul.”
“Nothing is outside Dostoevsky’s province…Out of Shakespeare there is no more exciting reading.”
“I think The Idiot to be a masterpiece…a fact of world literature just as important as the densely dramatic Brothers Karamazov or the brilliantly subtle and terrifying Devils.”
“Rivals any modern soap opera for complexity.”
I found that the story to be quite complex with a lot of characters, so I struggled to keep up with everything going on to some extent. However, this didn’t prevent me enjoying it, but often left me thinking and trying to make sense of everything.
Complex and fascinating
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Recommended
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Absolutely amazing! What a storyteller/author! 
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Im not a fan of Dostoyevsky's comedy plots, i prefer his more philosophical novels.
this seems to be a story of a collection of idiots and absurd cartoon characters that would leave Dickens embarrassed.
Good narration apart from some if the pantomime interpretations if the female characters. It's all a bit Hinge & Bracket.
Hard going pantomime
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I struggled with this book. I found the characters hard to believe and very shallow-especially some of the supporting ones. I should say this was not helped by the fact I listened to this as an audio book, and the narrator made many of the characters sound like something out of a Monty python sketch. I also found the book incredibly long with many of the passages being an excuse for Dostoevsky to tell a yarn of some sort. Having said that I did enjoy General Ivolgin-retired and unfortunate- and his tall tales of his exploits in the army and his time as a child with Napoleon in Moscow.
I also thought the explanation at the start of part 4 as to why you cannot write a novel about ordinary people was fantastic. But as a novel I did not like it.
Hard going for this idiot
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