Anyone read this? It's by Dostoevsky, but even the best writers (...like Dostoevsky, I guess) could have fluke stories. Is it worth reading?
I've read it, and it's one of my favorites. I highly recommend it. If you want to buy it, it's actually very cheap. Last time I checked on Amazon, it was going for less than $5.
Only thing is, with books in translation you can get some dodgy ones if you go for the cheap options. Not always, of course. Just depends who translated it. There's a Penguin copy of the Notes that also includes The Double, not the sort of book you'd think of buying alone, Dostoyevsky himself hated it, it's a bit of a Gogol imitation but I loved it. The main character has that peculiar Dostoyevskian patheticness. Anyway it's worth reading, depending upon your tolerance for philosophy. The first half is essentially just philosophy. It's not like you can ignore it, its rather essential to the point.
True, translations play a big role. The best translation is the one by Levear and Volohonsky. Another good translation is by Constance Garnet although it's fairly old and has been criticized as being too Victorian.
