Under western eyes

This is a depressing read about the Russians, Russia and the proverbial Russian soul. About the omnipresent material and moral poverty and alcoholism. About despair and futility. Applicable to modern-day Russia, unfortunately.

The story is irrelevant. There are no likeable characters. Conrad means to show the European and Russian worldviews not as competing, but as intrinsically alien to each other.

Couldn't finish till the end, but still rated 4 for the quality of the work, just that it doesn't speak to me, or I'm not it's intended audience.