How does it compare to audio works by the same author?
Excellent
Advantages:
Dostoevsky's best - cleverly political, achingly tense
Disadvantages:
If you don't like Dostoevsky you won't like this .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
This is my favourite Dostoevsky novel - it combines all the elements of his complex characterisation, political satire and unusually cutting humour.
Devils is the funniest of his books (which, after Crime and Punishment, is probably very welcome), even though it is still technically a tragedy.
It is loosely based on a political murder that occurred at the time Dostoevsky was writing.
It combines a variety of characters' stories in a small Russian village - beginning with Varvara - the village's matriarch and her foolish, good natured political writer friend Stephan Trofimovich, who is financially and to a degree emotionally dependent on her. Both represent the shaky foundations of the village's/country's establishment.
Their respective sons, Nikolai Stavrogin, and Peter Stepanovich, return from separate educations abroad. Peter is intent on revolution. Nikolai is a confused, indifferent figure who is hounded relentlessly by Peter who seems him as a charismatic, messianic figure upon which he wishes to hang his revolutionary organisation.
The group, led by Peter, is a ragbag ensemble of atheists, nihlists and some good hearted but cynical and hopeless souls, who wish to stage a murder in order to shake up the little village, scandalise the area and cause the structure to come crashing down.
The story combines a fascinating tale of Russian society, with real and captivating characters, whilst exploring the themes of pre-revolutionary Russia, especially the nihlistic, atheistic groups that were rife before communism gripped.
If you love Dostoevsky as I do you will love this.
If you don't, you might find it written in a distinctively difficult and complex way, the story doesn't get going until about halfway through. But the tension builds brilliantly. The political machinations of pre-revolutionary Russia may not be the first thing you look for when you're browsing the bookshelves, but Dostoevsky is always worth reading.
The version I've found on Amazon is £7.19 Penguin Classics. It should be freely available in bookshops.
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