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Dec 10, 2011

Petra X rated it:

There are many reviews of this book making out that Prince Myshkin was Christ-like, a truly good man who lived for the moment. A holy idiot, or more accurately, wholly idiot indeed is what he really was. Why did they think Dostoyevsky entitled the book, The Idiot if he meant 'The Man who was Innocent and Really Good" or "The Man who was like Jesus"? The title wasn't any kind of irony, it was about an idiot.

Prince Myshkin had spent years in a sanitarium for his epilep More...

2 comments like (23 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2009

Michelle rated it:

I’ve been trying to review this book for over a week now, but I can’t. I’m struggling with something: How do I review a Russian literature classic? Better yet, how do I review a Russian literature classic without sounding like a total dumbass? (Hint: It’s probably not going to happen.)

First I suppose a short plot synopsis should be in order:

The Idiot portrays young, childlike Prince Myshkin, who returns to his native Russia to seek out distant relatives after he ha More...

22 comments like (66 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Andrew rated it:

I love this book because it made me think. Hard.

According to my understanding of "The Idiot," Dostoevsky's definition of an idiot is someone who actually believes that everyone is trying to do their best and do no harm. This is in utter ignorance, usually, of everyone's tendencies to do harm to others, regardless of intent. Hooray for idiots!

Ippolit Terentyev, one of the minor characters, is a socialist, and a suicide. He has one of the great lines in literature More...

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2008

Martine rated it:

Are there countries in the world which are more likely to produce depressing literature than others? If so, Russia must be pretty much top of the list. I have yet to read a Russian novel which ends well for all the protagonists. I can only think of a few in which things end well for even a few of the protagonists. And Dostoyevsky of course loves his tragedies. The Idiot is one of them. While it's not as tragic as, say, Crime and Punishment, nearly all of its protagonists come to a sticky end, an More...

13 comments like (18 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2009

Bonnie rated it:

I read The Idiot while I was in the hospital – in isolation, to be precise. What I remember is that the “idiot”, Prince Myshkin, lived in the moment; and that I became so absorbed in his ability to see good in others – no matter what they did – that I forgot where I was for long periods of time. I remember being very surprised – and thankful – for that. (Hence the 4 stars; not sure what I would give it if I were to read it again!)

2 comments like (14 people liked it)

Mar 14, 2010

Ameer rated it:

لئو میشکین آدمی نیست که هر جایی پیدا بشه ولی همه مون فکر می کنیم خیلی شبیهشیم

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Dianna rated it:

I liked the other two books I read by this author but I just could not get into this one.

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 02, 2011

Douglas rated it:

got to page 400, so even though i haven't closed the deal, i feel like i have.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 26, 2008

Kristina rated it:

I love how Dostoevsky's plots are driven not by external circumstances but by the internal workings of his characters' minds, and the choices they make.
There were a few times when I actually slammed my book angrily against a table or wall and yelling "you stupid a** what did you do that for???"...my paperback is now a little worse for wear.

People in this book make stupid choices, and their misery is primarily a result of these stupid choices. "The Idiot" More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jan 06, 2008

Glen rated it:

Another fantastic work by Dostoevsky that takes people from seemingly ordinary circumstances and weaves around them the most intricate webs of moral and ethical dilemma. In The Idiot, the protagonist (Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Mishkin) is portrayed as a truly good person. The theme of the novel is to examine the question of whether or not a deeply kind individual can actually survive in a world of vice. Myshkin is at all times open hearted about his feelings and honest with all about his conv More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Oct 20, 2010

Mad Dog rated it:

You could play a drinking game where you take a drink every time someone (during a conversation in this story) "blushes", "trembles", "quivers", "becomes pale", etc. But you would get drunk pretty fast. This is a book full of drama kings and queens. Everybody is so concerned with what 'so and so did' and who 'so and so talked to'. These characters need to center themselves, maybe they all need to attend yoga classes.

I have always stated this a More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 01, 2010

Allison (The Allure of Books) rated it:

While I can definitively attest to the fact that The Prince, who the book is named for, is indeed AN IDIOT, I think he can rest easy knowing that he is in good company. Seriously. I think every single personage introduced into the story, whether they only appear briefly or are prominent characters, are as completely off the deep end as The Idiot himself.

For about the first half of the book (give or take), I kinda felt bad for thinking that the Prince was an idiot. Don’t get me wrong, More...

6 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2011

Salma rated it:

لطيفة و رائعة هي الرواية. بطلها من أجمل و ألطف الشخصيات التي من الممكن أن يقرأ عنها المرء... تتحدث عن الأمير مشكين _و هو أمير لأنه ينحدر من عائلة نبيلة، بيد أنه فقير لا يملك شروى نقير_ بسيط طيب القلب جميل الروح و شفيف، مثالي حد السذاجة لا يعرف النفاق و الكذب و الخداع و لا تعنيه المادة، سمح دمث لطيف المعشر... و هذا ما جعله أبلها بحسب تعريف المجتمع... و كل من يقرأ الرواية يدرك أن الجميع كان بُلها إلاه... لكن كم تستطيع أن تحتمل روحا صافية كإياه الواقع المزري... للأسف ليس كثيرا...

صراحة ق More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 09, 2010

Ben rated it:

The Idiot is a remarkable literary feat; a true accomplishment. It not only shows and represents true human complexity, but it births it, both in the inner workings of its passionate characters, and in the overall story. It's replete with patient, mind testing issues that spring the reader’s level of understanding back-and-fourth; yet its emotional intensity is felt throughout. It speaks truth of our striving human conditions; our emotions which only know the truth of their existence in the m More...

33 comments like (46 people liked it)

Oct 14, 2008

Jed rated it:

Crazy about this book. I was sad to finish it.

It's been said that the character of the Prince is "Christ-like" and he is. Long-suffering, kind, gentle and given to "saving" people. It's easy, then, to make or call him a Christ figure or symbol, but I'm not keen to go that far. While I agree that his characteristics are Christ-like in that they enact His teachings, I'm not ready to accept the overwhelming futility of the Prince's actions in Petersburg as a symb More...

5 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2008

Bruno-Ken rated it:

i admit i enjoyed reading this one; it was hard to put down. and i admit i have not been reading much fiction lately, except for very modern stuff, so perhaps i am just not used to a somewhat "older" style of writing. but while the main idea of a "truly good human" being trying to survive in a morally corrupt, petty and vindictive society (that, to boot, is having a two-fold identity crisis regarding its position vis-a-vis the West and "modernization") is a great pr More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2008

bup rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 19, 2008

Cheryl rated it:

While it seems that most literary critics have dubbed Prince Lev Nikolayevitch Myshkin (the idiot) Dostoyevsky's Russian savior*, it seems far more likely to me that Dostoyevsky is using Myshkin as an allegory for would-be saviors who are too naive, too indecisive, weak rather than meek, foolish rather than wise, full of intellectual idealism without prudence and all-in-all completely incapable of doing what they propose. If Dostoyevsky intends the prince to be a savior, he either sees no hope More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 14, 2010

HM rated it:

وقتي بدانيم كه داستايوسكي خود بيماري صرع و حال غش داشته و روزگاري به راستي تا پاي جايگاه اعداميان پيش رفته، در مي يابيم كه چرا وضع و حال پرنس میشکین و خاطره ي آن اعدامي رهايي يافته را اين قدر زنده و مشروح باز مي گويد او خود اذعان دارد كه از زير شنل گوگول بيرون آمده ولي به گمانم سبك پيشنيان را با شناخت ظريفش از حالات دروني و بيروني انسان ها و بصيرتش بر محيط پيرامون، آشكارا به كمال رسانده است
همواره در آثارش شاهد گفتگوهايي دراز و شلوغ هستيم ولي جزيياتشان چنان پرداخته و مواج و پيش بيني ناپذير More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jun 05, 2008

Greg rated it:

Our protagonist here, Myshkin, is an example of a selfless love, moving to marry a woman to save her from falling into the arms of Rogozhin, who represents darkness. Remind any of you good ol’ boys of that girl in high school who kept running back to the man who didn’t deserve her affections? Well, in this case, the girl runs back to Rogozhin, who, in spite of, and perhaps because of, his deep passion, rewarded her by…killing her. Thanks, honey! Myshkin is considered the “idiot” because of his More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 11, 2011

Spencer rated it:

Not sure it's quite a book I "really liked," but it was compelling, excellently written, and quite sad. Opposite his guilty man, Roskolnivok, in "Crime and Punishment," this book seems to be about a completely innocent man, Prince Lev Nikolaivich, or simply 'the Prince.' He's a wonderfully innocent man who's not necessarily good, but amazingly frank, open, simple, kind, etc. His innocence includes a naivete and world view that clashes severely with those around him, so of cou More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2009

Natasha rated it:

930 pages of nonsense. A lot of worthless writing in this book that doesn't lend itself to plot or character, but rather seems long rants of personal views of the author. Story & plotline is really wanting and not at all strong. Not great character descriptions, and leaves a lot of storyline out to include all the rants. If I could only ever put down a book I've started this wouldn't have made it past the first chapter, but I keep reading thinking surely it will get better.....alas it doesn' More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 10, 2011

NicoleMichele rated it:

"A fool with a heart and no sense is just as unhappy as a fool with sense and no heart." p. 75

They say never to judge a book by it's cover. Never judge a book by it's title either. I feel like I've hit the jackpot in discovering phenomenal Russian novels this year, first "Anna Karenina" and now this one. It's not about your common love triangle. It's more of a complex love pentagon connecting Myshkin, Nastassya Filippovna, Aglaya Yepanchin, Rogozhin, and Ganya. I More...

11 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2010

julie rated it:

oh dear. apparently, i unwittingly began reading a book which is a metaphor for jesus. too late to turn back now, i'm pretty much married to it.

this translation has a lot of typos and chapters out of sequence at the end. beware. :/

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 17, 2007

Guido rated it:

This book is real close to not getting finished. How many extra characters that add minimally to the overly complex plot can we cram into each chapter? There are few moments of brilliance, but stick with Crime and Punishment or the Brothers Karamazov unless you are studying Russian lit.

Update: I toughed it out and actually managed to finish this book. It really just got worse is it went along, sort of a downward spiral. The writing isn't particularly bad, but the plot is terribl More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2009

Eldar rated it:

Ultimately the most tragic of all Doestoevsky's work I've read to date. The story while captivating for the most part does veer off course at times for reasons which are never fully explained. Perhaps I've come to expect complete perfection from Dostoevsky, Brothers Karamazov, Demons and his short stories come to mind immediately, which is why this work falls just short of a perfect rating from me.

The story is about a "positevely good person", the idiot, as Doestoevsky hims More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 13, 2008

Jim rated it:

Having just read a collection of reviews by Auden, Barzun and Trilling, I hesitate about putting attempting to record how I feel about this book. It would take a lot of detailed note-taking to sort it all out. It all seemed so convoluted that many times I couldn't resist the thought that severe editing should have been done, but then one reviewer commented that the book was published serially and therefore the plot had to come to a kind of conclusion over and over. That explains the book's re More...

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Feb 08, 2012

Erik rated it:

I'd give this book three-and-a-half stars if I could; I was under the spell of Dostoyevsky's language about 70% of the time. His descriptions of Petersberg and Pavlosk society held me fast, as did his sidenotes about human nature and existence. Had I picked this up as my first F.D. novel, I'd have been unequivocally impressed; confused over some of the choices, sure, but impressed nonetheless. However, having come to it directly from Crime and Punishment , though, I found it a letdown. After pe More...

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Jan 15, 2012

Scott rated it:

It is so difficult to write anything about a book by Dostoevsky. "Gee, it was really swell" doesn't quite cut it.

I first read the Idiot over 20 years ago. I didn't remember many of the details this time around, although I reread it knowing Myshkin = Christ and Ippolit is the ideological foil similar to Ivan Karamazov or the underground man.

So, rather than expound upon the well-deserved five stars, I will just say that reading Dostoevsky is never disappoin More...

0 comments like

Oct 04, 2011

J. Ergo rated it:

This review is specifically for the Richard Pevear/Larissa Volokhonsky translation and not the piece of crap Constance Garnett tank job. That woman did a number on Russian literature for many years, making it hardly coherent at times and almost unbearable to read. The Idiot and The Possessed were the only two Dostoyevsky's I read previous to the beautiful overhaul given by the new translations. I mostly liked The Idiot, but bumbled through The Possessed. It did me some good when I learned that G More...

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