Reviews with content warning for Murder - Brothers Karamazov

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Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

32 reviews

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was definitely worth the while, even if it took me a long while.

It's very slow paced, and sometimes you might think to yourself «Okay, but how does this affect the plot.» Fair point, definitely, but to me personally, such scenes meant everything in the parallel situations of these characters and for Dostoyevsky to explore some of his philosophy, which I think he has the right to with such reflections. Also, as my dad so rightfully reminded me, this book was written in a period where people had the time to read. Not meaning that they weren't as busy as we are now, but simply that their attention spans had not been abused such as ours have due to various categories of modern entertainment.
There is no shame in this, but it's important to note that if you're wanting to read this. I, too, found it boring at times, because no, I genuinely could not care less about Father Zosima.

And on the note of characters I couldn't care less about, we have Alyosha. Yes, I see Dostoyevsky praising and loving him, but I found him pretty whiny, actually. He was about as relevant as an emotional support animal, to be quite honest. That is until the epilogue, where I appreciated his part of the whole journey.

My favourite character was Mitya, though Ivan stands as a close second, and I'm not ashamed to admit that it is because I found them sexy. Not only because I found them sexy, but it was undeniably a factor in there somewhere, and I am young and gay, so who can blame me. Still, they were both fantastically written characters, both with depth and interesting plot lines.

Yes, my review has been mostly about the characters and what I thought of them, but they are the plot after all. However, I want to add finally that I noticed how the synopsis of the book leads with the murder of Fyodor Pavlovich, when that doesn't «come up» until a good... 500 pages in? A bit odd, but I suppose that was what brought the entire piece to a conclusion.

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suneaters's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A pivotal case study in family dynamics and the manifestations of parental failures upon children in adulthood, all culminating in the bitter but ultimately satisfying truth of who killed the Karamazov patriarch. Daddy Issues™️. Alyosha best boy confirmed.

In all seriousness, it’s a powerful exploration of family trauma, greed, guilt, and faith with a satirical overtone—don’t let anyone say Dostoevsky was gloomy! He posits important questions to the reader.

Can your daddy issues make your a murderer? Is that really the devil? Can you try to make your family come together before

your bastard half-brother kills your father because he mistakenly thought your other brother wanted him to and your other other brother is set up as the fall guy?

I liked how it ends without resolving everything.

We don't know if they're going to help Mitya escape and we don't know if Ivan will end up with Katerina after all or if Grushenka will decide she loves Mitya after all. We end with the funeral of a young boy called Ilyusha who fell ill at some point after seeing Dmitri beat up his military captain father instead of with some grand conclusion on the story of Ivan, Aleksy, Dmitri, and Smerdyakov. We don't know if Marfa and Grigory have been spoken to by Ivan or Alyosha after Smerdyakov confessed to Ivan.

The religious overtones are also very interesting. Alyosha is considered this pure being, so much so that Rakitin spends basically the entire novel trying to shake his faith whether by poking fun at elder Zosima's decaying corpse or trying to introduce him to Grushenka. Alyosha is clearly the author's thought of what people should be like with his innate goodness and love of mankind. He resolves any doubts he has with his simple faith and his belief in the goodness of mankind. He does good and tries to help bring his family together after. He isn't naive or innocent and while his brother sees suffering as a reason for atheism or a cruel God, Alyosha sees it as a resolve to try to put goodness out into the world.

Ivan is religiously and spiritually conflicted. He oscillates between a belief in a Machiavellian being and atheism. This turmoil from his own cold sophistication and eventual overthinking skepticism eventually leads to

his vivid hallucination of the Devil and his spiral into madness.

Mitya tries desperately to overcome his own jealous and angry nature to become a better man.

His and Ivan's optimistic endings can be seen as authorial optimism for the outlook of mankind overall.

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_quinnsreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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caitlynhm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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aislinn_mcd_harrison's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

How do you rate the brothers Karamazov? It is likely the longest book I’ve read as an adult and covers both a huge amount and a tiny slice of a family’s life. I wish I had read a better translation as some parts were very clunky and odd.
I was sceptical until the chapters “rebellion” and “the grand inquisitor”. From “Mitya” onward I was hooked, but I u der stand somewhat why the parts before were there. I read a review calling this maximalist literature and I definitely think that’s true but it was really an excellent experience and I am so glad I read it. It is my fathers favourite book and I made lots of notes and feel I understand both the book and my dad better in that context

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