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josefinessen's review against another edition
2.0
Jag vill sammanfatta denna bok med ett citat: ”Det är bara käbbel” (Stefan Löfven). Vanligtvis uppskattar jag verkligen dialogdrivna böcker men här är det en lååång radda babbel, mycket långa monologer och sidoberättelse som det ofta är svårt (för mig) att förstå om de har något med någon form av röd tråd att göra.
Ett gäng mycket dramatiska män som gör en stor sak av minsta lilla och verkligen har behov av att lägga ut texten vid varje tillfälle. Finns även några kvinnor inströsslade som rekvisita i berättelsen.
Det var en kamp (utsträckt över sommaren) att ta mig igenom detta och jag gjorde det enbart pga bokklubben. Samtidigt kan jag förstå varför den blivit en klassiker, det rör vid många stora teman som tro, tvivel, svek, plikt, girighet, familjeband. Men jag lyckades ändå inte ge boken tillräckligt mycket av min uppmärksamhet för att få en bättre läsupplevelse.
scemokite's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
aezar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
4.25
remjunior's review against another edition
4.0
**3.5 stars**
This book is often referred to as the best book ever written and I can see why. It is packed with beautiful dissertations on human nature, religion, psychology, and death. It is well written and the central story (when we finally get to it) is compelling. Understanding the history and life of Dostoevsky is, I would argue, a requirement here. It sheds like on why he's writing what he's writing and why it matters. The final scene (a funeral) is tragic but inspiring.
I've read two other Russian literature books: War & Peace and Crime & Punishment. I prefer both of those books to TBK. TBK, while it has these pockets of absolute brilliance is overstuffed at nearly 900 pages (1,200 on my kindle). The "story" doesn't really get going until the last 1/4 of the book, but I don't really think Dostoevsky cared about the story to begin with. It was simply the vehicle to philosophize and expound.
Crime & Punishment is very similar but it is MUCH more to the point and moves along at a brisk pace. War & Peace, while much longer, was so inspiring to me when I finished it and I think I prefer Tolstoy to Dostoevsky at this point.
I'm glad that I read this. I think that enjoying a book and a book being a great book are not always compatible, in rare cases, and this is one that is simultaneously difficult to read due to its length and wandering narrative while also a beautiful, philosophical treatise.
This book is often referred to as the best book ever written and I can see why. It is packed with beautiful dissertations on human nature, religion, psychology, and death. It is well written and the central story (when we finally get to it) is compelling. Understanding the history and life of Dostoevsky is, I would argue, a requirement here. It sheds like on why he's writing what he's writing and why it matters. The final scene (a funeral) is tragic but inspiring.
I've read two other Russian literature books: War & Peace and Crime & Punishment. I prefer both of those books to TBK. TBK, while it has these pockets of absolute brilliance is overstuffed at nearly 900 pages (1,200 on my kindle). The "story" doesn't really get going until the last 1/4 of the book, but I don't really think Dostoevsky cared about the story to begin with. It was simply the vehicle to philosophize and expound.
Crime & Punishment is very similar but it is MUCH more to the point and moves along at a brisk pace. War & Peace, while much longer, was so inspiring to me when I finished it and I think I prefer Tolstoy to Dostoevsky at this point.
I'm glad that I read this. I think that enjoying a book and a book being a great book are not always compatible, in rare cases, and this is one that is simultaneously difficult to read due to its length and wandering narrative while also a beautiful, philosophical treatise.
annguyen98789's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely love this book. I saw a little bit of myself in each of the brothers. The story isn’t important at all, it mostly serves to give the characters room to speak their minds and express themselves. It’s incredible how little plot there was considering how long the book is. Characters go on monologues for pages (reminded me of Atlas Shrugged, especially considering the court room/prosecution parallels), even minor characters seem fleshed out and real. Characters are introduced with so much backstory even if they have seemingly little importance in the overall plot. Dialogue is smart and oh-so clever.
In short, The Brothers Karamazov is an experience. The characters drag you from one story to another, pulling you into their world and their life and their perspective.
It’s a complete fiasco of absurdity and passion. And what passion! Each of the brothers is more passionate than the last. At the helm, we have Dmitri (Mitya) who bounces between depression and ecstasy, broke and extravagant, scoundrel and honored, love and heartbreak. He is so violently in love with life and so caught up in his own play that there is no time to reflect or ponder, only to take action. Everything is grand and important, everything life and death, there is no break, no intermission, not time time to waste. Mitya in a word would be Emotion.
Compare it to Ivan, the middle child, who has a cunning logical clear-cut mind who reasons through and through, writes papers on religion that seems to defend it yet rebels against it. When speaking of life, he says he was handed a ticket by God and would like to return the ticket, which can only mean suicide, a conclusion that much be reached by any mind that is thinking too much and the logical conclusion of reason. For the function of God and religion in society, he brings out the story of The Grand Inquisitor, the differences between the church, a political entity that serves the people through happiness, and Jesus/God, an entity that serves the individual through freedom. What an insight! And what a way to frame an insight. I know this all to well, who would have thought that freedom is completely opposite to happiness. I would say the highest and most important value of my life is freedom, yet look how much pain and suffering it has brought me. How much easier is life when you move through a set curriculum, when an authority tells you what to do, and how easy it is to shy away from any responsibility or decision-making. Any man like Ivan you would have to say much be unhappy even if he smiles on the surface because it is an individual completely without purpose or future or hope or God or even morality. As he says, all things are moral without a God, and an individual like this certainly could not believe in a God. He rejects life, talking of the atrocities committed in the world from children being hanged by their ears and soldiers killing mothers before their children. Ivan defined by a single word would have to be Logic.
And, at last, we have the youngest (yet, most wise although naive and innocent), Aloysha, a pure-hearted cherub who speaks with such candor and honestly it is remarkable that such a person could exist. Alyosha is the hardest for me to describe, and even though he is regarded as the hero by the narrator, he is the least attached to the drama and conflict. In fact, Alyosha’s primary role in the novel is to serve as a messenger between all the other characters, carrying notes to and fro, and at times serving as a moral compass for our sensualists. He is someone who sees things as they are, without prejudice, can recognize the good and evil in a person simultaneously and still love him for who they are. Alyosha above all is beloved by every single character in the book. If we characterize the brothers by emotions, Mitya would represent Lust and Violence, Ivan would be Guilt and Cynicism, and Alyosha would be Sadness and Love. In terms of sensitivity, Dmitri is absolutely sensitive but extremely defensive, quick to violent outbursts, while Ivan is outwardly cold and unfeeling, inside he is remarkably sensitive but hides it to protect himself, while Alyosha is very outwardly sensitive. He is quick to say he loves a person with unwavering confidence and is never ironical. Alyosha, in a word, would then be Spirit.
In myself I would say I have been Ivan for most of my life. Ideas of free-will, determinism, religion and faith, morality have circled around my brain and tormented me for as long as I can remember. I was absolutely a cynic and ironical. I could at one point by talking to a religious person with a sardonic tone in which they would agree with me while I said something completely antithetical to their beliefs, and turn around and treat an atheist the same. At heart I would have definitely considered myself an atheist, deeming logic as the principal trait. I had deemed that life was purposeless, heaven and hell a myth, free will an illusion, and suicide was the logical conclusion to a life devoid of meaning in a galaxy of stars that was continuously expanding, and expanding. On the surface I was snarky, cutting, glib, but underneath was a darkness and lost feeling. Outwardly I knew everything but down inside I was very restless and unsatisfied. Which isn’t to say that my life was bad. By all means I had been in this state of mind up until 1 or 2 years ago.
Of Mitya, I will make a brief note because by all means he is the brother I am least identified with. I can only say that I see and understand Mitya from my brief moments of intense love and intense hatred. I know all too well the feeling of falling head over heels for some girl wherein I suspend all rationale thought and every action I take is utterly stupid and ridiculous for anyone looking in. At the same time I also know what it feels like to want to murder someone for wronging me and the rage and power one feels in such a moment. I can only say that these states of mind are extremely temporal and are not qualities I identify with on an everyday basis.
Oh Aloysha. For the last 1-2 years I would my spirituality has been the defining path I have explored. I have meditated and thought and read and listened and pondered. There is an absolute innocence and good-faith-ness to Aloysha that one admires while at the same time wondering if such a person could exist in the modern world. As much as I would like to embody the qualities of Alyosha, I am also a man who works and pays bills. For my current state I would say I’m split between perhaps 70% Ivan, 20% Alyosha, and 10% Dmitri. I would absolutely agree that love trumps everything, a statement that I would have scoffed at many years ago. In Alyosha I would say I have expressed my simpleness. Life is simple and only through thinking is it complicated. In life we have moments of laughter and joy and ecstasy that are balanced by periods of depression, tragedy, and pain. It’s not that we should avoid one and seek out the other but that we can find the beauty in both. One of the remarkable qualities of Alyosha is his balance between innocence and love, and genuineness. He can love and accept his brother while at the same time conceding his weaknesses and faults. It is completely whole and accepting, it’s not the idealistic cliche of a young person who only sees good in the world through distortion and positive belief. The mind is so fraught with cognitive biases and irrational thoughts. For me I would say Alyosha would represent the witness, the third eye, the conscious observer. He is not attached to the play but yet is in the play.
I could go on far too long about many parts of the book that I love, from the conversations with the Devil, the twisted love triangle, and of course the ongoing theme in the book, free will, determinism, and all that fun stuff. I will only say that the characters are incredibly real full of contradictions and personalities that change organically throughout the book, and above all full of Passion, the one single quality I love and admire most in any person. This is definitely one of those books I will be re-reading as I grow as a person to see how it resonates with me differently with each read.
Reading this, I realize how much I love passion. Tell me anything, only, tell me it as if it’s the most important thing in the world. Be so violently alive and in love with the moment when you speak to me and I will love you for it. Be absurd, be controversial, say something stupid, just don’t say something boring. Don’t say something that isn’t real and alive for you in that moment. Don’t parrot, don’t pretend, don’t impress, don’t fill up the silence. Above all, express yourself fully and hold back nothing. These are my people, and all else are unimportant to me.
In short, The Brothers Karamazov is an experience. The characters drag you from one story to another, pulling you into their world and their life and their perspective.
It’s a complete fiasco of absurdity and passion. And what passion! Each of the brothers is more passionate than the last. At the helm, we have Dmitri (Mitya) who bounces between depression and ecstasy, broke and extravagant, scoundrel and honored, love and heartbreak. He is so violently in love with life and so caught up in his own play that there is no time to reflect or ponder, only to take action. Everything is grand and important, everything life and death, there is no break, no intermission, not time time to waste. Mitya in a word would be Emotion.
Compare it to Ivan, the middle child, who has a cunning logical clear-cut mind who reasons through and through, writes papers on religion that seems to defend it yet rebels against it. When speaking of life, he says he was handed a ticket by God and would like to return the ticket, which can only mean suicide, a conclusion that much be reached by any mind that is thinking too much and the logical conclusion of reason. For the function of God and religion in society, he brings out the story of The Grand Inquisitor, the differences between the church, a political entity that serves the people through happiness, and Jesus/God, an entity that serves the individual through freedom. What an insight! And what a way to frame an insight. I know this all to well, who would have thought that freedom is completely opposite to happiness. I would say the highest and most important value of my life is freedom, yet look how much pain and suffering it has brought me. How much easier is life when you move through a set curriculum, when an authority tells you what to do, and how easy it is to shy away from any responsibility or decision-making. Any man like Ivan you would have to say much be unhappy even if he smiles on the surface because it is an individual completely without purpose or future or hope or God or even morality. As he says, all things are moral without a God, and an individual like this certainly could not believe in a God. He rejects life, talking of the atrocities committed in the world from children being hanged by their ears and soldiers killing mothers before their children. Ivan defined by a single word would have to be Logic.
And, at last, we have the youngest (yet, most wise although naive and innocent), Aloysha, a pure-hearted cherub who speaks with such candor and honestly it is remarkable that such a person could exist. Alyosha is the hardest for me to describe, and even though he is regarded as the hero by the narrator, he is the least attached to the drama and conflict. In fact, Alyosha’s primary role in the novel is to serve as a messenger between all the other characters, carrying notes to and fro, and at times serving as a moral compass for our sensualists. He is someone who sees things as they are, without prejudice, can recognize the good and evil in a person simultaneously and still love him for who they are. Alyosha above all is beloved by every single character in the book. If we characterize the brothers by emotions, Mitya would represent Lust and Violence, Ivan would be Guilt and Cynicism, and Alyosha would be Sadness and Love. In terms of sensitivity, Dmitri is absolutely sensitive but extremely defensive, quick to violent outbursts, while Ivan is outwardly cold and unfeeling, inside he is remarkably sensitive but hides it to protect himself, while Alyosha is very outwardly sensitive. He is quick to say he loves a person with unwavering confidence and is never ironical. Alyosha, in a word, would then be Spirit.
In myself I would say I have been Ivan for most of my life. Ideas of free-will, determinism, religion and faith, morality have circled around my brain and tormented me for as long as I can remember. I was absolutely a cynic and ironical. I could at one point by talking to a religious person with a sardonic tone in which they would agree with me while I said something completely antithetical to their beliefs, and turn around and treat an atheist the same. At heart I would have definitely considered myself an atheist, deeming logic as the principal trait. I had deemed that life was purposeless, heaven and hell a myth, free will an illusion, and suicide was the logical conclusion to a life devoid of meaning in a galaxy of stars that was continuously expanding, and expanding. On the surface I was snarky, cutting, glib, but underneath was a darkness and lost feeling. Outwardly I knew everything but down inside I was very restless and unsatisfied. Which isn’t to say that my life was bad. By all means I had been in this state of mind up until 1 or 2 years ago.
Of Mitya, I will make a brief note because by all means he is the brother I am least identified with. I can only say that I see and understand Mitya from my brief moments of intense love and intense hatred. I know all too well the feeling of falling head over heels for some girl wherein I suspend all rationale thought and every action I take is utterly stupid and ridiculous for anyone looking in. At the same time I also know what it feels like to want to murder someone for wronging me and the rage and power one feels in such a moment. I can only say that these states of mind are extremely temporal and are not qualities I identify with on an everyday basis.
Oh Aloysha. For the last 1-2 years I would my spirituality has been the defining path I have explored. I have meditated and thought and read and listened and pondered. There is an absolute innocence and good-faith-ness to Aloysha that one admires while at the same time wondering if such a person could exist in the modern world. As much as I would like to embody the qualities of Alyosha, I am also a man who works and pays bills. For my current state I would say I’m split between perhaps 70% Ivan, 20% Alyosha, and 10% Dmitri. I would absolutely agree that love trumps everything, a statement that I would have scoffed at many years ago. In Alyosha I would say I have expressed my simpleness. Life is simple and only through thinking is it complicated. In life we have moments of laughter and joy and ecstasy that are balanced by periods of depression, tragedy, and pain. It’s not that we should avoid one and seek out the other but that we can find the beauty in both. One of the remarkable qualities of Alyosha is his balance between innocence and love, and genuineness. He can love and accept his brother while at the same time conceding his weaknesses and faults. It is completely whole and accepting, it’s not the idealistic cliche of a young person who only sees good in the world through distortion and positive belief. The mind is so fraught with cognitive biases and irrational thoughts. For me I would say Alyosha would represent the witness, the third eye, the conscious observer. He is not attached to the play but yet is in the play.
I could go on far too long about many parts of the book that I love, from the conversations with the Devil, the twisted love triangle, and of course the ongoing theme in the book, free will, determinism, and all that fun stuff. I will only say that the characters are incredibly real full of contradictions and personalities that change organically throughout the book, and above all full of Passion, the one single quality I love and admire most in any person. This is definitely one of those books I will be re-reading as I grow as a person to see how it resonates with me differently with each read.
Reading this, I realize how much I love passion. Tell me anything, only, tell me it as if it’s the most important thing in the world. Be so violently alive and in love with the moment when you speak to me and I will love you for it. Be absurd, be controversial, say something stupid, just don’t say something boring. Don’t say something that isn’t real and alive for you in that moment. Don’t parrot, don’t pretend, don’t impress, don’t fill up the silence. Above all, express yourself fully and hold back nothing. These are my people, and all else are unimportant to me.
_first_but_not_foremost's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
With each rereading, I find myself asking new questions. Might there actually be a god? Is righteous direction and a sound mind superior to a wealthy education? Are all men of existential ideas truly unhappy? There are so many questions and defiant contradictions in *The Brothers Karamazov* that you find yourself repeatedly questioning the reason behind all supercilious acts of glory, and the untouchable philosophies of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Foucault. I could rave forever about the wealth of knowledge and the cunning (yet equally devastating) punishments of Ivan Karamazov, leading into the infamous "Ivan's Nightmare" chapter, easily the most chilling chapter in the timeline, with an ending so spine-tingling that I almost crashed my Chrysler Town & Country into an oddly-placed mailbox upon my first listening.
Yet there's much more to this novel than just its chilling narrative. I relate heavily to the incoherent and blind lifestyle that Dimitri indulges in and tiptoe into the intellectual rumblings of the paranoid Ivan. What am I to do about reputation, and is it escapable? Is the inevitable consequence of societal influence all by design, so that I, too, might suffer from brain fever (the 19th-century nickname for schizophrenia), dance around my room, converse with the devil, and be frightened by the weight of the world?
But despite the frightening consequences of sensualism, hope rests in the faith, the "memory," as Alyosha would have it, that this moment here occurred. The fact that, despite everything, I've completed this story many times, even having the energy to journal my thoughts in this review.
And if my world were to collapse completely, here it would remain—the comprehensive proof that they struggled for a better life, the final, indefinite, unmovable token of brilliance.
"Ah, children, ah, dear friends, don't be afraid of life! How good life is when one does something good and just!"
Yet there's much more to this novel than just its chilling narrative. I relate heavily to the incoherent and blind lifestyle that Dimitri indulges in and tiptoe into the intellectual rumblings of the paranoid Ivan. What am I to do about reputation, and is it escapable? Is the inevitable consequence of societal influence all by design, so that I, too, might suffer from brain fever (the 19th-century nickname for schizophrenia), dance around my room, converse with the devil, and be frightened by the weight of the world?
But despite the frightening consequences of sensualism, hope rests in the faith, the "memory," as Alyosha would have it, that this moment here occurred. The fact that, despite everything, I've completed this story many times, even having the energy to journal my thoughts in this review.
And if my world were to collapse completely, here it would remain—the comprehensive proof that they struggled for a better life, the final, indefinite, unmovable token of brilliance.
"Ah, children, ah, dear friends, don't be afraid of life! How good life is when one does something good and just!"
_first_but_not_foremost's review against another edition
4.0
With each rereading, I find myself asking new questions. Might there actually be a god? Is righteous direction and a sound mind superior to a wealthy education? Are all men of existential ideas truly unhappy? There are so many questions and defiant contradictions in *The Brothers Karamazov* that you find yourself repeatedly questioning the reason behind all supercilious acts of glory, and the untouchable philosophies of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Foucault. I could rave forever about the wealth of knowledge and the cunning (yet equally devastating) punishments of Ivan Karamazov, leading into the infamous "Ivan's Nightmare" chapter, easily the most chilling chapter in the timeline, with an ending so spine-tingling that I almost crashed my Chrysler Town & Country into an oddly-placed mailbox upon my first listening.
Yet there's much more to this novel than just its chilling narrative. I relate heavily to the incoherent and blind lifestyle that Dimitri indulges in and tiptoe into the intellectual rumblings of the paranoid Ivan. What am I to do about reputation, and is it escapable? Is the inevitable consequence of societal influence all by design, so that I, too, might suffer from brain fever (the 19th-century nickname for schizophrenia), dance around my room, converse with the devil, and be frightened by the weight of the world?
But despite the frightening consequences of sensualism, hope rests in the faith, the "memory," as Alyosha would have it, that this moment here occurred. The fact that, despite everything, I've completed this story many times, even having the energy to journal my thoughts in this review.
And if my world were to collapse completely, here it would remain—the comprehensive proof that they struggled for a better life, the final, indefinite, unmovable token of brilliance.
"Ah, children, ah, dear friends, don't be afraid of life! How good life is when one does something good and just!"
Yet there's much more to this novel than just its chilling narrative. I relate heavily to the incoherent and blind lifestyle that Dimitri indulges in and tiptoe into the intellectual rumblings of the paranoid Ivan. What am I to do about reputation, and is it escapable? Is the inevitable consequence of societal influence all by design, so that I, too, might suffer from brain fever (the 19th-century nickname for schizophrenia), dance around my room, converse with the devil, and be frightened by the weight of the world?
But despite the frightening consequences of sensualism, hope rests in the faith, the "memory," as Alyosha would have it, that this moment here occurred. The fact that, despite everything, I've completed this story many times, even having the energy to journal my thoughts in this review.
And if my world were to collapse completely, here it would remain—the comprehensive proof that they struggled for a better life, the final, indefinite, unmovable token of brilliance.
"Ah, children, ah, dear friends, don't be afraid of life! How good life is when one does something good and just!"
theoryofabook's review against another edition
5.0
Comment trouver les mots pour rendre justice à un tel chef-d’œuvre? Dostoievski a créée des personnages tellement résonnants et intéressants. Ivan et Dmtri me suivront toute la vie. Ce livre m’a émue et m’a fait remettre en question plusieurs choses. Dostoievski est un maître de la littérature et ce livre est le meilleur livre dont j’ai lu de toute ma vie
tipostrambo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
eschwartz1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
5.0