The Idiot ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Idiot is a Prince Myshkin who suffers from epilepsy where he has had it treated in Switzerland.  Returning to St. Petersburg he contacts a distant relative of his - a Princess Myshkin – she was my favourite character, she's very eccentric and has some of the best lines in the novel.

The princess has three daughters the youngest of whom falls in love with Myshkin, but she treats him quite strangley – leaving his feelings dangling much of the time.  Myshkin on the other hand, does love Aglaya but he wants to save Nastassya (a fallen women) and marry her instead to do her a kindness by bringing her to respectability.  But, Nastassya feels that she doesn't deserve his kindness, and wants to be with the dark and moody Rogozhin who truly loves her.  Rogozhin and Myshkin had first met on the train going to St. Petersberg at the beginning of the novel and they commence a dangerous and jealous friendship, with Nastassya being between the two of them.  No-one will win.

The theme is mainly light and dark (Myshkin and Rogozhin) – Christ & the Devil.  Myshkin is benevolent, makes friends easily and takes everything in his stride, but Rogozhin is jealous and will resort to murder. 

There are some very profound moments in the narrative.  One being the description of a man’s feelings whilst waiting to be executed – these are clearly autobiographical and chilling.  The other was a suicide note written by the consumptive Hyppolite and read by Myshkin. 

The tale was unusual, the characters strange, but you are drawn into their world by Doestoevsky’s brilliant writing.  I re-read the last few chapters several times as I did not want to say goodbye to them.

Crime & Punishment ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

A Russian novel written in 1866, Crime & Punishmentt tells the story of Raskolnikov, an impoverished arrogant Russian student, who plans and executes a murder.


Confessing his despicable act to a prostitute, Raskolnikov rationalises his crime by calling his victim a ‘louse’ because she was a pawnbroker, believing he has rid the world of a parasite.

Raskolnikov spends the first half of the book in a delirium, absolutely terrified that he will be found out. He begins to act irrationally going to the police and telling them that he knows that they know he is guilty of the murder. The police laugh at him, blaming his behaviour on his recent delirium. Believing this to be a trap, Raskolnikov waits for them to tighten the net…...

Crime & Punishment was originally serialised in 12 monthly instalments, which does make the full novel a little long winded. However, despite struggling with the Russian names, I must admit that I enjoyed reading this much more than I expected.