The Brothers Karamazov (Everyman's Library) | Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Brothers Karamazov (Everyman's Library) | Fyodor Dostoevsky | The Question of Life

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The Brothers Karam...

	The Brothers Karamazov (Everyman's Library) Fyodor Dostoevsky Everyman's Library, 1992 - 848 pages average customer review:based on 218 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This book is a gentle kiss on the forehead

Somewhere around page 200 of reading through this book I began to grow excited about getting to come to Amazon and write a review for it. I couldn't wait to come and praise it, to tell how wonderful it is, how believable the characters are, how enjoyable it is to watch them go through their lives...

But now I'm nervous. I've finished the book and for as much as I loved it at page 200, I've loved it that much more by the time I reached page 729. Hurray for the Karamazov's indeed!

First, let me tell you briefly what it is about: there are four brothers, each of which can be summed up in two words, though their personalities all cross each others lines, conjoined by their fathers blood; Alyosha is pious and kind, Ivan is intelligent and reserved, Dmitri is passionate and prideful, and Smerdyakov is resentful and sly...these four get caught up the plot to execute their father, Fyodor Karamazov, though not in concert with one another. Each of them strains against the others, trying to exert his own personality on the situation and to `save' himself, though each has a different idea of what this means. To Dmitri, for example, it means simply to not be a thief (though to be a scoundrel is okay). To Alyosha it means to serve others as best is possible, though this is more of a mandate handed to him than something pricked out by his own conscious.

And it is this word that leads me to not be able to praise this book enough: conscious. Each character has one, though they come off in different ways, manifested as different behaviors. As I said, Dmitri is okay with being a scoundrel, just not a thief- his conscious forbids it expressly. Manifestations such as this and the play between the various personalities give the novel it's taut structure; there is no page that is a waste to read, no side-track that is to be skipped over (especially `The Grand Inquisitor' chapter, which is a 30 page anecdote that will leave you breathless, wondering how the essence of kind-hearted Christianity could be summed up so magnificently- and this comes from an atheist!). As a whole this gives the novel itself a conscious all it's own- it stops being something that is read and begins to take a life that demands that the reader use his own consciousness to decide where he/she stands on the issues raised (salvation, duty, honor...).

Let me step back from that for a minute and explain it better: there is a series put out by Britannica called `the Great Books' and in this series Dostoevsky has a volume. When I first heard of these books I could not help but to wonder who Dostoevsky was and why he was included. I read some of his other books and found that they were not only entertaining but were literary tour-de-forces; Dostoevsky is not to be taken lightly and cannot be praised enough for his contributions to world literature.

Now, after reading this book, I wonder why he did not command more volumes than just the one (though that one is this novel). This book was, by far, the best novel I have ever had the pleasure to read in my entire life. It is a complete piece of art from the first page to the last, constructed from (stealing from the afterward, as it quoted the Russian literary critic Nikolay Mikhailovsky) `a sick, cruel talent' that has an unflinching, unapologetic ability to look deep into mankind's soul and find something that few other novelists/artists can: the truth.

Perhaps it took Dostoevsky all this life to find that. Perhaps he had to send a few Raskolnikovs to prison and put a few Mishkins beside their Nastasyas before he could finally hit upon this final truth- the summation of this book, as is given to us in the last two pages by one of the only good-hearted, believable characters in literature: Alyosha Karamazov (and I'll not ruin what that truth is to you). If that is so, then he is to be praised for always seeking after it, for taking his entire life to find it (this was his last novel)...and you, the potential reader of this book, should take time to pause and learn what this man can teach you. It is a long trip...but it is a worthwhile one.

Bottom line: There are some books that everyone should be made to read for the distillation of society and truths that the writer has managed to convey to the world; this is one of those books. It is a novel about Russia, by a Russian who loved his country dearly, but that is pertinent to us all.

PS- If you want to get the full impact of this novel, you may want to start with Dostoevsky's `Notes from the Underground'. That novella expounds the philosophy behind this novel, that salvation can be achieved through suffering, doing so a bit more clearly. That introduction should help to ease you into this book.

-LP

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The Question of Life

I first read The Brothers Karamazov in college over twenty years ago. Since then I have read it perhaps five or six times and have never wanted it to end. Reading it over the years has been a unique experience in itself as with each read I see myself identifying with a different brother. In college (I was in the seminary at the time) I identified strongly with Alyosha. I later became rather skeptical and saw a lot of Ivan expressing itself in my thoughts. Then I experienced a period of great personal moral failure and came to be good friends with Dmitri. Although, as the narrator himself says, Alyosha is the hero of the story, it is Dmitri I love the most. Having associated so much with these characters I only pray to God that I never encounter within myself the demonic Fyodor. Dmitri is a sinner yes, but he is driven by an immature, undirected love (Eros seeking Agape as Pope Benedict XVI would say - Deus Caritas Est). Fyodor on the other hand is Eros incarnate with no reference to or belief in Agape. He is lost. Alyosha is Agape seeking to express itself through Eros. And so as the story unfolds Dmitri and Alyosha are drawn to discover themselves in each other. This is why for Dostoevsky Alyosha rather than Dmitri is the hero. Alyosha is a Christ figure - Agape coming down from on high into the world of Eros and liberating Eros from bondage to itself so that its affections can be true. The two "fathers" in the story, Fyodor Karamazov and Father Zosima, are the characters Dmitri and Alyosha in the absolute. They are the antithesis of each other - the flesh and the spirit. In Dmitri and Alyosha they find a resolution and form the true man who is Christ, the God-Man.
So much for the meaning of the story. The story itself is just as great as its meaning. As much as I loathe Fyodor, he is undoubtedly one of the most excellent characters I have encountered in literature. He he he! Yes, and the intricacies of the plot and not a single word being lost or unaccounted for. The smallest detail is of the most significance! I firmly believe a work such as this is greater and involves more genius than any work of science. It is certainly more beautiful and a lot more fun! I cannot understand those who complain of the book's length. Its length is perfect. Dostoevsky's prejudices are perfect. His mistakes are perfect! I know there are many great works of literature I have never come across because now and then I do encounter another. At times I wonder if there is one that will move me more deeply than The Brothers Karamazov. No doubt I'll die wondering.

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Best Novel Ever!

I first heard about Dostoevsky's book in 1985; a young lady that I had my eye on at the time came across the street beaming. "I just read the best novel ever!" she exclaimed. "The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky!" Well, that got my attention, and I made a mental note to read that book. And I did read that book. And I agree with that cute lacrosse player, wherever she may be -- it is the best novel ever!

great book

alyosha,dmitry,ivan,and smerdyakov, really some of my favorite kooks. this is almost as good as beer.

one of the greatest novels ever written

Dostoevsky through his amazing and profound genius has just added another enlightened fan to his already huge international roster.It's so hard to express your feelings for a book this great and powerful, but I'll try y best.The characters in this novel are among some of the most interesting and multi sided charaters in world literature. The plot though very slow paced is a work of genius. There is so much more to this novel that I want to express, but if I did it would go on for at least 40 pages

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