From a bookshop in Buenos Aires.
Finally finished this, as it is dense fiction, it is not the kind of book you can read in a oner.

Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin is the titular Idiot, the novel starts with his return to the Motherland after spending time overseas at a Swiss clinic. He is a nice man, and very self-conscious of his fits and his status as an idiot, but it is he is not just the main character of the book, but also for the people around him. His goodness attracts people, positively and negatively. Myshkin has no family, so falls on the mercy of his distant relative, Lizaveta Yepanchin, a strong woman with 3 daughters.
Nastasya Filipovna is also a pivotal character, she is a fallen women, having been groomed into a mistress by her guardian. She is one corner of a triangle involving Myshkin and Rogozhin, which brings society of the time under the microscope to be examined.
There is a lot of drama here, and comedy, amongst the tragedy.
A worthy entry on the 1001 list, though the many names and patronyms can be hard to get down.

on the counter with the straws, etc