It has always fascinated me that no matter what book you read, movie you watch, game you play, etc. there are several million people who were affected by it in precisely the opposite way as you. If you hated it, many people loved it. If you loved it, many hated it. 
 This is one of the worst books I've ever read. The characters were unbelievable, their actions unrealistic. The writing was tedious and almost wholly lacking in excitement (not to mention paragraphs). It goes on, and on, and on, probably since Russian writers of this period like Dostoevsky were actually paid by the page, which of course would encourage you to write as much as you could, regardless of quality. 
 I read it on the strength of recommendations from people who loved it, and I stuck it out until the very end hoping that there might be something on the last page that redeemed it. There was not - when I finished this book I threw it across the room. I'll donate it to a charity shop though, because there's undoubtedly someone who will experience it in exactly the opposite way as me.