Date Started - 5/16/12
Date Finished -- 6/8/12
Woo-wee, I finally finished this one. It DID end up taking me a bit longer and I have to say, it wasn't my favorite. Read on for more...
I found this book to be...jumpy. Characters cut each other off, interrupted each other and dropped sentences in the middle of what they were saying. Normal everyday behavior, for sure, but the kind that makes reading more difficult.
As for the story, it revolves around the Prince, an "idiot", who returns to Russia after being treated abroad in Switzerland for his idiocy. He has epilepsy, and apparently much of the story is autobiographical of the author, including that bit (which I never knew). He meets a whole cast of characters who themselves are all interconnected and the story goes from there. The Prince was meant to be a "perfect" man and this is aptly conveyed through numerous references to his innocence and naivete. The other two most dominant characters are Rogozhin (who one can immediately tell is evil and will murder someone) and Ippolit (who is a dying nihilist, and super annoying to boot). The women are Nastasya (the ill-treated, mentally ill but beautiful formerly "kept" woman) and Agalaya (the fiery, innocent, well-to-do, beautiful third daughter of the Epanchin family).
The whole book leads up to a thrilling conclusion and when it is over Nastasya is dead at Rogozhin's hand and he is sentenced to hard labor in Siberia, the Prince is back in Switzerland for treatment, having forgotten all of his former friends, Aglaya is married to a fraud and the whole thing just seems depressing.
For whatever reason this one didn't resonate as much with me. I read in the introduction that it was written while Dostoevsky was actually living in Italy and that gives the book a certain disconnect in that it isn't as descriptive of Russian places and life. That might be part of the reason I didn't like it as much. Who knows. I'm certainly glad I finally read this one, and would welcome recommendations of other Russian literature.
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