It was hard not to cheer for him throughout the course of the novel, and to feel his pain at the corrupt and confusing society that surrounded him. He is torn apart by his first love for the intriguing Nastasya Filippovna, and then later Aglaia Ivanovna, equally intriguing.I'll be the first to admit that though I loved this book I struggled through certain portions of it, namely nearly every scene Lebedev is involved in, and Ippolit's letter. The book has a very 'meandering' quality to it, and you get the feeling at times that Dostoevsky didn't have the slightest clue how he would finish it, and so stalled for time in certain areas. This didn't really diminish the book's quality, it simply made it harder to follow. Also, towards the end it seems as if Dostoevsky finally knows, and he finally hurries off.
But, there is, perhaps, some of the greatest writing ever put on paper within these pages. Scenes such as Prince Myshkin's oratory on capital punishment, the party at Nastasya Fillippovna's, Prince Myshkin in the house of Rogozhin, and the most chilling scene in Rogozhin's bedroom. The beauty, terror, and despair in these scenes are so genuine that it's impossible not to be swept into Dostoevsky's world.
So, would I recommend it? Of course, but not to someone unaquainted with Dostoevsky. Crime and Punishment is a much better place to start. But once you're acquainted with Dostoevsky's writings dive into this book, and you'll find yourself longing to help the poor Prince Myshkin, the idiot.
5 comments:
I had to read a selection of that in school last year. I suppose I would need to read the whole book to really get what it was about. I admire how you can read through all these books though...not enough people read books! Not enough people read old books either. Great review, keep up the awesomeness!
Hey!
I'm planning on getting one of his books next time i'm at the library. Seeing how you've read his books and recommmend Crime and Punishment, I think im going to start there. I'll let you know how that goes :)
I've always wanted to read Crime and Punishment, but never have gotten around to it. Right now I'm starting to read Memoirs of a Geisha though...it's actually been forever since I've read a fiction book...or really any book. I just read the news and blogs a lot lately. Anyways, everyone says Memoirs is like, the best thing ever, so we'll see.
So we've found each other. 0=) Just poppin' in. It's a good blog you've got going here; we'll see if I can make par.
I definitely liked this book, but I did find it hard to take in the extreme amounts of emotion that the characters display. It seems as though they are always screaming, shouting, shocked, angry, and generally worked up. Maybe this was the author's attempt to create a ridiculous world that his hero inhabits, but I found it to be distracting, because you tend to stop paying close attention whenever a character gets worked up, since it happens so often. Maybe this is simply a feature of Russian literature.
All in all, though, an excellent novel- I think above all it captured the seeming immpossibility to fully KNOW a human being, and the unbearable fascination of trying.
Post a Comment