Hands down, THE BEST NOVEL I'VE EVER READ!!!!! Dostoevsky, a realist in the highest sense puts charachters from all philisophical prejudices together in one litte town and watch them LIVE!! Phenominal!! Some say this work is dark and mystic. It is not dark; it is as real as the air around us introducing us to the human condition that we all share... I really am so thankful that I read this book... I would be missing so very much in life if I hadn't!!!