A review by dutchlee
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4.0
The Brothers Karamazov was written in 1880 by Fyodor Dostoevksy, shortly before his death. It is regarded to be his last and greatest book.
I was uncertain about the novel at first. There was a lot of background and introductory material to the story that did not seem to make a coherent plot at all. Yet about halfway through the book it all comes together and begins to make sense. Unfortunate though that it had to take so long to get there! At times I was annoyed by how he could spend a whole chapter introducing a person, and other times I was glad for the extra information that made the plot come so much more alive. Indeed, at times I wished that other books, like Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia, could have gone into such depth!
I really like the strong contrasts between the three brothers as it provides interesting dynamics in the novel: Dmitri is emotional/sensual, Ivan is intellectual, and Alyosha is spiritual. The reader, therefore, will likely see themselves partially in one of the three brothers and cannot with him. I am least like Dmitri and more of a combination between Ivan and Alyosha: the intellectual capacity of Ivan yet the gentle, easy-going and spiritual characteristics of Alyosha.
Dostoevsky has a lot of interesting discussions in his books between the characters. The chapter on the Grand Inquisitor (pp. 227-242) was very insightful and thought-provoking. It is a poem that Ivan tells about what would happen if Jesus came back in the 16th c.
In the end I really liked the book. It was fascinating and I found the book harder to put down the more I read. Although it certainly is not a book for everyone. Russian novels, especially ones like this one from the 19th century, are quite different. The way characters talk and relate to each other is especially quite distinct and I’m not sure if that is characteristically Russian, 19th c. Russian, or Dostoevskian.
Some quotes that struck me:
“As a general rule, people, even the wicked, are much more naïve and simple-hearted than we suppose. And we ourselves are, too.” (5)
“People talk sometimes of bestial cruelty, but that’s a great injustice and insult to the beasts; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel” (220).
“And we are all responsible to all for all, apart from out own sins, you were quite right in thinking that, and it is wonderful how you could comprehend it in all its significance at once. And in very truth, so soon as men understand that, the Kingdom of Heaven will e for them not a dream, but a living reality” (281).
“For every one strives to keep his individuality as apart as possible, wishes to secure the greatest possible fulness of life for himself; but meantime all his efforts result not in attaining fulness of life but self-destruction, for instead of self-realisation he ends by arriving at complete solitude. All mankind in our age have split up into unites, they all keep apart, each in his own groove; each one holds aloof, hides himself and hides what he has, from the rest, and he ends by being repelled by others and repelling them. He heaps up riches by himself and thinks, ‘how strong I am now and how secure,’ and in his madness he does not understand that the more he heaps up, the more he sinks into self-destructive impotence. For he is accustomed to rely upon himself alone and to cut himself off from the whole; he has trained himself not to believe in the help of others, in men and humanity, and only trembles for fear he should lose his money and the privileges that he was won for himself. Everywhere in these days men have, in their mockery, ceased to understand that the true security is to be found in social solidarity rather than in isolated individual effort.” (281)
“… tragic phrases should be forgiven, they must be. Tragic phrases comfort the heart… Without them, sorrow would be too heavy for men to bear.” (335)
I was uncertain about the novel at first. There was a lot of background and introductory material to the story that did not seem to make a coherent plot at all. Yet about halfway through the book it all comes together and begins to make sense. Unfortunate though that it had to take so long to get there! At times I was annoyed by how he could spend a whole chapter introducing a person, and other times I was glad for the extra information that made the plot come so much more alive. Indeed, at times I wished that other books, like Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia, could have gone into such depth!
I really like the strong contrasts between the three brothers as it provides interesting dynamics in the novel: Dmitri is emotional/sensual, Ivan is intellectual, and Alyosha is spiritual. The reader, therefore, will likely see themselves partially in one of the three brothers and cannot with him. I am least like Dmitri and more of a combination between Ivan and Alyosha: the intellectual capacity of Ivan yet the gentle, easy-going and spiritual characteristics of Alyosha.
Dostoevsky has a lot of interesting discussions in his books between the characters. The chapter on the Grand Inquisitor (pp. 227-242) was very insightful and thought-provoking. It is a poem that Ivan tells about what would happen if Jesus came back in the 16th c.
In the end I really liked the book. It was fascinating and I found the book harder to put down the more I read. Although it certainly is not a book for everyone. Russian novels, especially ones like this one from the 19th century, are quite different. The way characters talk and relate to each other is especially quite distinct and I’m not sure if that is characteristically Russian, 19th c. Russian, or Dostoevskian.
Some quotes that struck me:
“As a general rule, people, even the wicked, are much more naïve and simple-hearted than we suppose. And we ourselves are, too.” (5)
“People talk sometimes of bestial cruelty, but that’s a great injustice and insult to the beasts; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel” (220).
“And we are all responsible to all for all, apart from out own sins, you were quite right in thinking that, and it is wonderful how you could comprehend it in all its significance at once. And in very truth, so soon as men understand that, the Kingdom of Heaven will e for them not a dream, but a living reality” (281).
“For every one strives to keep his individuality as apart as possible, wishes to secure the greatest possible fulness of life for himself; but meantime all his efforts result not in attaining fulness of life but self-destruction, for instead of self-realisation he ends by arriving at complete solitude. All mankind in our age have split up into unites, they all keep apart, each in his own groove; each one holds aloof, hides himself and hides what he has, from the rest, and he ends by being repelled by others and repelling them. He heaps up riches by himself and thinks, ‘how strong I am now and how secure,’ and in his madness he does not understand that the more he heaps up, the more he sinks into self-destructive impotence. For he is accustomed to rely upon himself alone and to cut himself off from the whole; he has trained himself not to believe in the help of others, in men and humanity, and only trembles for fear he should lose his money and the privileges that he was won for himself. Everywhere in these days men have, in their mockery, ceased to understand that the true security is to be found in social solidarity rather than in isolated individual effort.” (281)
“… tragic phrases should be forgiven, they must be. Tragic phrases comfort the heart… Without them, sorrow would be too heavy for men to bear.” (335)