Karamazov Brothers (Wordsworth Classics)

The Brothers Karamazov is classic story. While Fyodor Dostoevsky is not easy to read, this book is worth the effort. I was looking for a readable used copy at a reasonable price and this copy was exactly that.

Great read, in any era.

I had read The Brothers Karamazov a few years ago. Recently I read it again. This time, as I read the book, I read commentary on it in Dostoevsky's biography by Joseph Frank, in parallel. In Dostoevsky's books, particularly in his four masterpieces, each character is a school, and each situation an argument. While reading the book there were times when I felt I was reading Les Miserables (Victor Hugo), or Crime and Punishment, or The Demons, or The Idiot - the last three of these I had read in the run up to this book. Having read the book before, I knew the plot. The rivalry, the murder, and the trial, therefore, did not claim my attention at the cost of the book's message. The book is an amazing disputation between faith and reason. To get the most out of this book, read it twice, with a gap of a few years in between.

Received this classic quickly for a great price. Now it may take a year to read it.

The Borthers Karamazov is a dense philosophical novel, of the sort only Dostoyevsky is capable of writing. It is often acclaimed to be his best work. The tale is set in 1800s Russia, consisting of: three brothers, their amoral father, and a tragic murder. Each brother represents a worldview. Dmitri, the eldest, is the hedonistic sensualist, who while he may claim to believe in God, lives subject to his impulsive passions. Middle child Ivan is the atheist intellectual who sports the “everything is permissible” moral ideology Dostoyevsky is most critical of, though Ivan thankfully does not live by the philosophy he promotes. Only the sickly Smerdyakov has the courage to fully enact the conclusions of Ivan’s worldview. Alyosha, the youngest, represents the Christian worldview as he follows in the vein of his great Elder Father Zossima, who I can only gather sports much of Dostoyevsky’s personal beliefs: sacrificial living, the brotherhood of humanity, the forgiveness and the suffering modeled by Jesus. So by clothing worldviews in human flesh, The Brothers Karamazov is truly a unique way to study beliefs and the implications of those beliefs. Dostoyevsky cleverly disguises his thinking as a novel, which makes him free to delve into the natural consequences of each worldview, show what happens when they clash with each other, and give a clue as to which holds the keys to deliverance in the future. He also displays an incredible cross-section of the complexity of the human mind, as well as the contradictory natures that are in the best and worst of us. And while Brothers Karamazov is a profound work, and rightly recognized as such, I admit that I struggled to fully understand and appreciate the weight of Dostoyevsky’s writing. I could track with the plot, and could identify the characters, I could even discern some of the undertones—but upon finishing the book I could only feel that I left sufficient meat on the bone. Without giving too many more spoilers, I could not understand why Dostoyevsky ended it the way that he did, or why the verdict of the trial was the way that it was, or why certain things befell certain characters. There is much in this book that I KNEW had a deeper meaning to, but for whatever reason went over my head. Still, I will not lower the rating of this book due to my own limitations. Dostoyevsky is an incredible thinker, and while I personally found Crime and Punishment to be more enjoyable and discernible—Brothers Karamazov is still worthy of the praise it garners.

From beginning to end this book is deep but nicely written and detailed in story. It keeps your brain off the reality around you and brings you into a different perspective and world.

The Brothers Karamazov is a masterpiece. It opens on a trial and has a cast of characters a la Dante in the Divine Comedy. Each chapter can be read on the factual level, the spiritual level, and the lyrical level of passion. The approach of Dostoevsky is almost that of a mind who sees society, its members and interactions, in fundamental, atomic terms. Characters cease to be just themselves to represent archetypes of human nature. It what makes this novel universal. What is described is a core of humanity that will always be a part of us. The story could happen now, it will certainly happen tomorrow. It should be clear that the 5 stars I'm giving are stars of enthusiasm. I have no pretension to be rating a novel which didn't wait for me to become a classic.

Just a heads up that this edition switched the name from The Brothers Karamazov to The Karamazov Brothers which really irked me