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A review by bruinuclafan
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
5.0
What can I say? This is one of the greatest novels ever written for a reason. Three brothers from two mothers, a father who is basically a 19th century Donald Trump, and a twisted love triangle involving two of the brothers and the father. And as a cherry on top, a murder.
But perhaps more importantly, the book is about the struggle between religion and existentialism. Whether "everything is permitted" or not. The characters themselves wage this war within the book as well. The outcome is unclear for me, having just finished the book.
Then there is the psychology. It's as if Dostoevsky ran with the idea he started in Crime and Punishment, and blew it up into a whole world, with every character having their own detailed and unique psychological profile. Everything is analyzed. Every action has an opposite reaction on all of the characters--a supernova with often unforeseen and devastating impact. And to go meta, the closing arguments in the trial offer an indictment of psychology itself!
Every lawyer should read this book, too. It is a handbook on cataloging, analyzing, and challenging evidence, of persuasion, and of morality--how all of this can sway a jury and society.
But perhaps more importantly, the book is about the struggle between religion and existentialism. Whether "everything is permitted" or not. The characters themselves wage this war within the book as well. The outcome is unclear for me, having just finished the book.
Then there is the psychology. It's as if Dostoevsky ran with the idea he started in Crime and Punishment, and blew it up into a whole world, with every character having their own detailed and unique psychological profile. Everything is analyzed. Every action has an opposite reaction on all of the characters--a supernova with often unforeseen and devastating impact. And to go meta, the closing arguments in the trial offer an indictment of psychology itself!
Every lawyer should read this book, too. It is a handbook on cataloging, analyzing, and challenging evidence, of persuasion, and of morality--how all of this can sway a jury and society.