The Brothers Karamazov in Around the World in 80 Books

Oct 24, 2012 Sera rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, kindle, 1001-books, own, literary-fiction, favorites, religious

What an excellent book by Dostoyevsky!

Overall, I believe that Dostoyevsky used the 3 brothers as a mirror of Russian society that had different views about what type of nation Mother Russia should be.

I think that the 3 brothers each in his own way symbolizes the different types of people in Russia. Aloysha is the traditional, religious type who is happy with the status quo and doesn't feel the need for progress. Ivan is the opposite. He represents the revolutionary part of the Russian communit ...more

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Aug 16, 2014 Mansir rated it it was amazing

I ended up tackling it mainly because a few people, whose opinion I really respect, said it was one of the best books they’ve read.

I really recommend you read this - it’s book long enough that you’ll need to just live with it for a bit. It took me a month and I had moments where I just enjoyed its company when I visited most nights. It’s not a page turner but it’s somehow compelling even though the plot is epic and slow moving at times. What fuels a lot of the book is the dialogue and thoughts o I ended up tackling it mainly because a few people, whose opinion I really respect, said it was one of the best books they’ve read.

I really recommend you read this - it’s book long enough that you’ll need to just live with it for a bit. It took me a month and I had moments where I just enjoyed its company when I visited most nights. It’s not a page turner but it’s somehow compelling even though the plot is epic and slow moving at times. What fuels a lot of the book is the dialogue and thoughts of the characters - their perspective of life and ultimately what they think. It’s a rich bouquet of diverse reactions to this thing called life. Dostoyevsky captures quite well the human condition - particularly the human condition taken over and swept away with emotion.

I read the Pavear and Volokhonsky translation. I really enjoyed the P & V translation of Anna Karenina. This is the first time I’ve read this book and a long time since I’ve read Dostoyevsky. My impression or sense when reading this book was that the magic of the it wasn’t necessarily in the writing or at least in the individual words or the construction of phrases and sentences but more in the larger picture - the characters, the thoughts expressed, the themes of religion and how we live our lives and our relationship with hardship, uncertainty and difficulty.

I really enjoyed the characters and how their thoughts and philosophies filled up the pages. I loved Father Zosima and Alyosha or Alexei.

Ivan’s poem The Grand Inquisitor is one of the most power pieces of writing I’ve ever read - amazing ideas and original thoughts expressed.

This book easily requires a second reading to gleam more meaning and interconnections from it but I walked away from this book amazed by the portrait of free will and choices we make. Each of the brothers had a different relationship in a fundamental way with life, with uncertainty and with what activities are worth doing.

And even with the glorious and realistic uncertainty of life portrayed in the book, it ends with hope and solidarity. ...more

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Nov 19, 2017 Ra rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook

A huge tome of a book that has high value for philosophical debate and analysis of character's emotions, motives and moods. There is little in terms of actual events and happenings and a lot of drama.

As an enduring work of literature, I did endure with it for many months but most of the debate on philosophy, culture and religion went straight over my head. I will give Fyodor a break before I try again any of his other works like Crime an Punishment or the Idiot. I would also try some other auth ...more

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