This novel is always interesting, but often difficult to follow and I think many people will be tempted to give up in a few spots. I would concur with the other reviewers that the narrator did a good job with a challenging cast of characters to distinguish. I would also suggest that this is not the easiest introduction to Dostoyevsky -- Crime and Punishment or even Notes from the Underground would be better.

We all know this is a masterwork. This reader is very talented and brings the story to life.

Absolutely!
Steller performance and incredible story.

Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment

Excellent pronunciations of Russian names etc, different voices for different characters and a very good steady rate of delivery of the content. Sounded like a play almost!

Both laugh and cry... took me to a time and place where I have no past experience with yet made me feel home.

Can't believe I waited so many years to read this book.

Well, I think Dostoievski is the best writer of all times. This is one of his best books, after Crime & Punishment and The Karamazov Brothers

The whole book

Excellent narrator. I liked the way he use his voice to intepretate different characters

No moment in particular

I love Dostoevsky. But I wasted my money on this audiobook because of the narration. Robert Whitfield is technically excellent: his enunciation, his voices which vary according to character, his fluidity. All this is great. For me, however, there was one big drawback which is a deal-breaker: the super fast, breakneck speed at which he reads the book. Actually, I listened to the sample first, and choose it because I really did want a narrator who read relatively quickly. I have a restless mind and do not like slow poke readers. And in the sample this sounded good. But when I began listening for long periods of time I realized that I hated the way Whitfield rushes through everything with barely a pause for a breath. In a novel with Dostoevskian depth, this just will not do. One has no time to appreciate subtleties, nor even non-subtle, grand sweeps of emotion, because everything gets breathlessly passed by in what quickly begins to feel like a rush through the text. I had almost no time to absorb the feeling of the narrative, or appreciate the import of events. I kept thinking, "My God, man, slow down just a bit!" Eventually I gave up listening. It was a painful $20-something lesson.

I'm fairly liberal with 5 star reviews, If I thoroughly enjoy something it gets 5 stars.

The Idiot was the first time I had to re-think my practice because it is so fantastic I feel as though I should be able to rate it higher.

The narration is superb and Robert Whitfield does an excellent job of making every character spring immediately to life and the extended dialogue in many of Dostoevsky's scenes is a real treat.

I recommend this 100% without reservations.

Please, can anyone tell me which translation Mr.Robert Whitfield is narrating? I like to listen and read the same time.

Dostoevsky is never easy, but always rewards the patience and diligence it takes to deal with a long book and cope with those Russian names. Generally, I find audiobooks resolve most of these difficulties, however this recording has proven otherwise. I find the narrator's style to be stiff and hurried - its as if he knows the story and is just busily getting a long job done.

The main character was interesting. However after the 1000th 19th century drawing room conversation I finally gave up 3/4 of the way through. From the publisher's description I may really have missed the good part, but it just wasn't worth it. My only other exposure to this author was "Crime and Punishment", and I loved it, so I don't think it was my shortcoming. I don't know, maybe I'm the Idiot but I gave it a good try.

I cannot listen to another rushed, jumbled word. I am about 2 hours in and the narrator seemslikeheisreadingthebook just like I typed that. No pauses, no breaks just one long run-on sentence. The book it's self is not amazing but that is common at this point in the novel, I can't go any further to see whether it is a book I would enjoy.