A review by dzengota
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
3.0
Part of my inability to 'get' The Idiot as well as I did for Crime and Punishment and certainly Notes From Underground is that The Idiot relies so heavily on having a stronger understanding of aristocratic Russian society. It partially critiques and satirizes it instead of diving deep into one character life and psychology like the other two Dostoevsky books I listed. The titular idiot is just not nearly as interesting as the other two protagonists.
Occasionally Dostoevsky would leave the noble minutia and start waxing philosophical about society writ large and the greater implications of the events of the book. These are by the far best parts of the book, but are vastly overshadowed by the machinations of characters that never really got all that interesting.
Occasionally Dostoevsky would leave the noble minutia and start waxing philosophical about society writ large and the greater implications of the events of the book. These are by the far best parts of the book, but are vastly overshadowed by the machinations of characters that never really got all that interesting.