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Ken's Reviews > The Karamazov Brothers
The Karamazov Brothers
by
by
Ken's review
bookshelves: finished-in-2022, world-literature
Feb 26, 2022
bookshelves: finished-in-2022, world-literature
Read 2 times. Last read January 22, 2022 to February 26, 2022.
Second reading, different translator, eleven years apart. Oddly, I remembered little from the first reading. I cannot deny it is a first-rate work of imagination, that it is huge in its ambitions, that it encapsulates so many of Dostoevsky's opinions and philosophies and religious thoughts.
That said, I also feel more so than in the past that Tolstoy is his superior. Tolstoy's characters seem more realistic to me. I was struck more this time than last that the Karamazov world was overly melodramatic, almost to the point of undermining its own ambitions and agenda. Like people waving their arms for no reason, it distracted to both story and themes' detriment.
Kudos to D., though, for the architecture in this book, the homework that went into it, the allusions, the way he circles back to words, gestures, symbols, even numbers (most especially the trinity of three, starting with the brothers).
That said, I also feel more so than in the past that Tolstoy is his superior. Tolstoy's characters seem more realistic to me. I was struck more this time than last that the Karamazov world was overly melodramatic, almost to the point of undermining its own ambitions and agenda. Like people waving their arms for no reason, it distracted to both story and themes' detriment.
Kudos to D., though, for the architecture in this book, the homework that went into it, the allusions, the way he circles back to words, gestures, symbols, even numbers (most especially the trinity of three, starting with the brothers).
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Quotes Ken Liked
“[T]here is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and good for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home.”
― The Brothers Karamazov
― The Brothers Karamazov
Reading Progress
July 6, 2009
– Shelved
(Other Paperback Edition)
Started Reading
(Other Paperback Edition)
July 20, 2009
– Shelved as:
classics-newly-read
(Other Paperback Edition)
July 20, 2009
– Shelved as:
finished-in-2009
(Other Paperback Edition)
July 20, 2009
–
Finished Reading
(Other Paperback Edition)
January 22, 2022
–
Started Reading
January 22, 2022
– Shelved
January 30, 2022
–
30.83%
"Reached the dreaded Grand Inquisitor chapter. More listening to Ivan, my least favorite brother to listen to."
page
312
February 26, 2022
– Shelved as:
finished-in-2022
February 26, 2022
– Shelved as:
world-literature
February 26, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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Barbara
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Feb 26, 2022 06:37AM
I've always had a hard time reading Dosteovsky. I think I can see the reasons for his greatness but it's always a struggle and I don't remember a lot when I finish. Tolstoy, on the other hand, was like an exploding star for me. I didn't discover him until I was an adult and then I became obsessed for a while. Various phrases and characters still pop into my head unexpectedly.
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Tolstoy is the one for me, too. Agree with your sentiments though, Ken: a great read and certainly important for world literature but all the dramatic characters were a huge turn-off for me here, but not in Crime and Punishment. Some bits of this were just too long.
It was interesting to read the thoughts that accompanied your second time around, Ken. Among other things, the book offers a measure of our own changed perspective and maybe that's where the real beauty of the classics is to be found.
Huge in its imaginations is right. Great review of a great book.
Great review, Ken. I agree that Tolstoy was his superior � by far, I would like to add. When I read Dostoyevski, it always seems to me that I do not have to get further than the first chapter to learn everything there is to be learned from his work. He is good in the beginning, it seems to me, and then he loses momentum.
I also favour Tolstoy's writing over Dostoevsky's, Ken.This classic is undeniably feathered with greatness, but I think that Fyodor must have kept forgetting that the primary purpose of fiction is to enthral.
Excellent review!
Well done finishing, Ken, and you've summed this up beautifully. I am also finding the melodrama grates on my nerves a bit more than I remembered.
Barbara wrote: "I've always had a hard time reading Dosteovsky. I think I can see the reasons for his greatness but it's always a struggle and I don't remember a lot when I finish. Tolstoy, on the other hand, was ..."In college I can remember supporting Tolstoy over Dosty and being in the minority. Dostoevsky was definitely the cool intellectual's pick, but then I was neither cool nor an intellectual. I knew how to tap a keg, though.
Odd one out, I much prefer Dosteovsky. I began obsessively reading his novels in early college. For decades, Crime and Punishment was my favorite novel. But this book, which my husband keeps reading in different translations, I never could get into. Now I prefer 20th and 21st c. reading on the whole, but love to watch the older novels adapted to film.
