The Idiot is killing me!

I am still reading Dostoyevsky's The Idiot. It's been months now (or seems that way), and I'm only 60 pages away from ending (600 pages total), but I read a few pages and then pass out on BART. Sorry Mr. Dostoyevsky, but if this is how the Russians really were in the olden days, with their long speeches and weird intellectual games of tag, then I'm so glad I was not born during this time. Or born a Russian.

Half the time I don't understand why everyone thinks Myshkin is an idiot, and then the other half of the time I don't get why everyone doesn't get annoyed with him. I mean, he seems like a nice enough fellow, but he just needs to learn to shut up sometimes.

I get all the things you're supposed to get; that Dostoyevsky is examining the Russian elite, politics, religion as well as studying what a truly innocent and pure of heart person would be like when thrown amongst an amalgamation of different society classes. I get this. The plot is archetypal: Good, evil and the innocent. Much like other plots. Take a look at Star Wars.

I've heard that The Idiot isn't the best of Dostoyevsky's work. It's got its merits. Just a tough read to get through while sitting on a train at 6am in the morning.