elchivovivo's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It is hard to rate what one knows to be a tower of Literature. And I could not and would not attempt to compartmentalize the reading of the Book with the knowledge of its importance. 

Dostoievsky sits with the absolute greatest of the Letters, and his Novels stand on pedestals. The pedestal of a trophy. The pedestal of a monument.

On the contrary, the knowledge of its importance was the driving excitement behind it. By reading it I felt to be swimming in the River of History, and swimming along the greatest minds, allowing myself to be passed the same Fire. 

And it is Fire. One can feel the pages bursting through centuries of old form, as the thoughts of its characters are splattered into the pages like the splatter of an axe-murder and the crumbling of a thousand year dinasty, and the underground rumblings of a still far-off revolutions.

Reading the two Russians shakes the soul. What Tolstoy does in landscape  strokes, Dostoievsky does in VanGogh-like manic splatters of thought.

And it is a perfect and complete novel, in the sense that it is absolutely closed and tied down. It does not have moments, but its full force only arrives at the very last word. And it makes the body tremble.


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miss22's review against another edition

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

4.0

the fact that the murderer was not the worst person in the book was shocking

if svidrigailov has no haters, i’m dead

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seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-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

4.75


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sendnunes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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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hellioux's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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caffeinatedbookwoorm's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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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rallsley's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

3.75


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wyabook234's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense 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


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shibbie's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5


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sofipitch's review against another edition

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3.0

Given how universally loved I was not ready for how conservative Christian this book is. This book is fascinating in how it portrays a very real very harsh reality in it as a part of it's moral dilemmas, but the solutions Dostoyevsky proposes are just meaningless in a way. I will say I spent a lot of time thinking about this book and also feeling crazy bc of it's acclaimed status and just not jiving with it, so in terms of making me think, it did a good job. I'm just too much of a commie and with a strong belief in moral relativism

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