Dostoevsky in Love

An Intimate Life

De: Alex Christofi

Narrado por: Jonathan Keeble

Dostoevsky's life was marked by brilliance and brutality. Sentenced to death as a young revolutionary, he survived mock execution and Siberian exile to live through a time of seismic change in Russia, eventually being accepted into the Tsar's inner circle. Somehow, amidst all this, he found time to write short stories, journalism, and novels such as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov, works now recognized as among the finest ever written.

In Dostoevsky in Love, Alex Christofi weaves carefully chosen excerpts of the author's work with the historical context to form an illuminating and often surprising whole. The result is a novelistic life that immerses the listener in a grand vista of Dostoevsky's world. Along the way, Christofi relates the stories of the three women whose lives were so deeply intertwined with Dostoevsky's: the consumptive widow Maria; the impetuous Polina who had visions of assassinating the Tsar; and the faithful stenographer Anna.

Christofi reconstructs the memoir Dostoevsky might have written had life-and literary stardom—not intervened. He gives us a new portrait of the artist as never before seen: a shy but devoted lover, an empathetic friend of the people, a loyal brother and friend, and a writer able to penetrate to the very depths of the human soul.

©2021 Alex Christofi (P)2022 Tantor

The rawness

This is a beautiful book, and I now despise everyone a little more, yet, I am also somehow filled with more hope.

"The novel is rather boring and so-so, I don't understand what they're so excited about."
- Dostoyevsky on Anna Karenina

Very enjoyable

Enjoyed it quite a bit. Story, narration, all. I had not realized how autobiographical his novels were.

I love the book and narrator

I could not stop “Dostoevsky in Love” until it was over. Significant experiences and relationships throughout Dostoevsky’s life are presented so that they are both interesting on their own as well as interwoven to create a rich portrayal of Dostoevsky. My awareness of the man, his life and works have been gratefully and immeasurably enhanced. The narrator is wonderful.