The Brothers Karamazov
Rating: Average 4.38 / 5
Author(s): Fyodor Dostoevsky
Genre(s): Fiction, Russia, Classics, Russian Literature, Literature, Philosophy, Novels, 19th Century, Classic Literature, Religion
Type: Novel
Length: 796 Pages
Release: 1880
Status: Finished
The content :
The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons―the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy, red-cheeked young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, is social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture. This award-winning translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky remains true to the verbal inventiveness of Dostoevsky’s prose, preserving the multiple voices, the humor, and the surprising modernity of the original. It is an achievement worthy of Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel.
Reviews
Rating: ★★★★☆
Threaded through the novel is the main plot filled with as much suspense as the cleverest of modern thrillers, and this is surrounded by a wealth of incident and a series os subplots of great intricacy. But central to the work, as to all of Dostoevsky's novels, are the questions of good and evil and of the necessity for suffering and avowal as the ultimate road to redemption.
Rating: ★★★★★
“You wanted to regenerate another man within yourself by means of suffering; in my opinion, if only you will remember that other man all your life and wherever you may flee to- that will be enough for you.” Dostoyevsky successfully captivates a narrative of futility and resentment, while exploring the notion with beauty. To say a book with such gritty topics is bizarrely beautiful feels ironic, but the craft of this novel really generates a sense of emotion that I did not anticipate. From the depiction of religious and societal questioning, to the changeability of romantic and familial relationships- The Brothers Karamazov is a Journey, a long journey, but filled with the type of moral profundity that almost makes you forget that pages are passing by. Each character serves a purpose, each brother is a personality worth exploring, every chapter presents new questions, new answers. The ending, a minefield of conflicting emotion. This book is a long read, but entirely worth it.