As part of a LibraryThing Group read of all of Dostoevsky's novels, in chronological order, this is the second. There are pros and cons to this book in my opinion. I did not like that all women are depressive and overwhelmed by emotion. I thought the ending was quite abrupt, but that is probably due to the fact that this book was intended to be a character study and was never officially finished. I did, however, enjoy the story and the development of the title character, Netochka Nezvanova, which is "loosely translated as 'nameless nobody' ". She lives a bleak life epitomized by passionate love for her stepfather, her adoptive sister, Katya, and adoptive mother, Mikhaila, and passionate despair at the loss, pain, and betrayals in her life. Everything is left unfinished in this book, which leaves me wanting just a bit more of it all! ( )

The story consists of three episodes in the life of Netochka, with a prologue detailing the life of her stepfather. The first episode details her grim childhood, the death of her parents and her subsequent adoption by the philanthropic Prince X. The second describes her intense friendship and infatuation with the Prince’s daughter, a girl roughly the same age. In the third episode Netochka is adopted by a relative of the Prince, a married woman with a secret past, which Netochka finds out about by accident. It depicts a strange love triangle between Netochka, her patroness, and her patroness’s husband. Notwithstanding the fact that all three tales are narrated by the eponymous Netochka, the narrative does not really succeed in uniting these four units into a coherent and novelistically complex whole. The work remains rather obviously three separate povests linked by a common narrator.

However the novel is interesting for two connected reasons: the development of Dostoevsky’s prose style, linked to his growing interiority, and the theme of the awakening consciousness.

Read the full review on The Lectern:

http://thelectern.blogspot.com/2009/0... ( )