The Idiot [Blackstone]

By: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Narrated by: Robert Whitfield

Despite the harsh circumstances besetting his own life - abject poverty, incessant gambling, and the death of his firstborn child - Dostoevsky produced a second masterpiece, The Idiot, just two years after completing Crime and Punishment. In it, a saintly man, Prince Myshkin, is thrust into the heart of a society more concerned with wealth, power, and sexual conquest than the ideals of Christianity. Myshkin soon finds himself at the center of a violent love triangle in which a notorious woman and a beautiful young girl become rivals for his affections. Extortion, scandal, and murder follow, testing the wreckage left by human misery to find "man in man."©2000 Blackstone Audiobooks. Originally published in 1880 in Russia.

Critic reviews

"Nothing is outside Dostoevsky's province....Out of Shakespeare there is no more exciting reading." (Virginia Woolf)

Never Easy, But...

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.

Now THAT’S a book!

I read crime and punishment and didn’t care for it, but The Idiot makes me understand why Dostoyevsky has such a high reputation.

not as good as other works by Dostoevsky

I did enjoy the read. However, it was not as enjoyable as other works by Dostoevsky. Some may disagree. Enjoy.

Insightful-

Where does The Idiot [Blackstone] rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Would rank in the top ten-

What other book might you compare The Idiot [Blackstone] to and why?

It is a one of a kind book .....

What does Robert Whitfield bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He does a good job of separating the many characters

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

A bit of both, a really deep book-requires some focus or you quickly loose continuity-

Any additional comments?

Well worth the effort - much insight to be gleaned-

Excellent

This is another triumph for Robert Whitfield, the master narrator of the classic novel. Readers who assign a low rating to such a great work of literature and such a masterful reading should probably stick to popular, lighter modern works. There are lots of great pieces in that catergory.