I did say that I was excited about the feelings between Dunia and Rodia's friend, but I am going to take it back. It is really lame. Awfully so. It is like reading Atlas Shrugged again, with all of its crappy romance between Dangy and John Galt. Except now it is being written in Dostoevsky's style which makes it seem somewhat sillier.
Another thing is the way these people talk. Do they have any filter? They just blurt out their entire thoughtstreams and everyone acts as if it is normal. It is like they are in a musical, singing songs that everyone can hear, but for some reason will not react to or acknowledge later. And then, there are tensions seeming to be built between Rodia and Sonia, the girl he was disgusted by. There are so many perspectives changing, so everything gets muddled, but it seemed to be that Rodia was entranced when Polenka ran to him saying that Sonia wanted to know more about him and see him again. These books we have read this year have had really weak takes on romance. It is as if they begin depending on romance to stir up some drama and plot. Now, I am not saying that Crime and Punishment would have been a better book without its romantic elements (as I have said for Atlas Shrugged), but they do lessen the obnoxious dragging along this book does. But honestly? Is this the way this story is going to save itself? Why do writers have to do that? It infuriates me that even in Dostoevsky's time writers were already injecting their novels with shitty romance.
Of course, I do find this entertaining at times. This did bring out more of Dostoevsky's humor, especially with the quote "The minute I've taken you home, I'll pour a couple of bucketfuls of water over my head in the gutter here, and then I shall be alright..." Honestly I thought it was entertaining to read this in a much older book, but sadly that is the maximum amount of entertainment I have obtained from this book. Rodia's friend is an obnoxious, horny, drunk who seems like an idiot, yet he is supposed to be wiser than Peter. Him and Peter are two extremes. Peter is an asshole, but Rodia's friend is childish. Then Dunia, I have no clue what to make of her. The book does an awful job of putting anything into her. She seems so quiet and the way her name is always changing is obnoxious. But I am done with my rant for this weekend. Hopefully it proved to be more positive than my former rants.
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