The Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.29 You Save: $9.71 (54%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.95 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Brothers Karamazov
Book Review: War and Peace
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Brothers Karamazov" is Fyodor Dostoevsky's final, unfinished masterpiece. One could see it as the counterpoint to War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics), with the empathetic Alyosha, capable of feeling the sufferings of others&a lover of life, a counterweight to the cerebral, cold, merciless Prince Andrei. While both Alyosha and Andrei experience the infinite, Alyosha lives it. The dying Andrei sees feelings as unnecessary; Alyosha embraces life, even in the midst of death, affirming it even when a young child dies. While Pierre Bezhukov is held up as Tolstoy's ideal of passivity, Alyosha is vividly described as active in his love for others.
"Brothers K" is a sprawling work. It's about Fyodor, a drunk philanderer who's fathered sons with different women. There's the sensual Dimitri, the intellectual Ivan, and the devout Alyosha. Smerdyakin, the epileptic son of a madwoman, may or may not be his son. Fyodor is mysteriously murdered (he also happens to be immensely rich)... and the novel manages to center itself not only on the murder trial, but rivalries over women, debates about existence, and Alyosha's struggle with his monastic vocation. While Dostoevsky's characters are in a sense allegorical, they are fully realized.
"Brothers K" manages to weave in philosophical debates, Father Zosima's homilies, politics, it is a panorama of Russian life, on the brink of revolution. Its most famous highlight is "The Grand Inquisitor." It's a gem in a goldmine. Dostoevsky's philosophical ruminations aren't separate from the text like those of Tolstoy's in "War and Peace" (especially in the second epilogue);they flow, alive, from the characters.
Dostoevsky's troubled characters are alive and fully realized. It's one of the masterpieces of Russian literature, and unfinished symphony in prose.
The Brothers Karamazov (MGM/UA Great Books On Video)-This version stars Yul Brynner (The King and I (50th Anniversary Edition)) and William Shatner (Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) - Three Season Pack) as the saintly Alyosha.
Book Review: The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky
Summary: 5 Stars
Yeah you've got to read Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov
Yes I know its long (indeed, it was intended to be the first book of a trilogy) and the names can be hard (Smerdyakov, Kolya Krossotkin) and characters can have more than one name (Dmitri, Mitya)
But just stick with me here. The books incredibly moving. You finish reading it, it knocks you over like a pile of bricks. POW!
I've read the book twice. Its a long one, make no mistake. HUGE. Books like this can be used as doorstops, stop up the winter draft
Not to give anything away, but the book is the story of a family. The father is a rather nasty piece of work, and you won't care what happens to him. "Why is such a man alive?" one of the character asks early on, and noone really cares for him except Alexey (more often called Alyosha)
Not to give away the plot, but there are sons of the lecher and all of them are vividly drawn. You have the young novice Alyosha, brother to Ivan (they share the same mother). You have the illegitimate son, and the intellectual. To write about the relationship between those two would be a sin, suffice it to say that terrible thoughts will find someone to act upon (Raskolnikov in Crime & Punishment is similar - fixated on an idea)
I was saying the book was powerful. This is so. So many high points! In his letters Dostoyevsky wrote of the book having its climax - in 2 different points!
He was referring to the Zossima narrative and the Pro & Contra chapters, but its all strong
Pro & Contra is probably the most famous section of the novel: Ivan and his Alyosha relax with one another over a meal, and talk. And argue (although Alyosha for the most part listens)
To tell more would be unfair, Alyosha loves his brother Ivan, but has to call what his brother suggests Rebellion, and the relation between the 2 will become even more sundered
You get vivid characters (even the minor characters, like the dreamer and the nihilist Rakitin are well drawn). A powerful plot (a character is murdered, and thats all I'll say about that). You get deep intense conversations about God and the devil (and Ivan returning his "ticket" as a matter of course, since its the suffering of children he cannot abide)
So powerful its beyond words. And this was just going to be the first of a TRILOGY. Amazing
Book Review: Long Live Karamazov
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the story of the murder of Fyodor Karamazov, an irreverent, pathetic, sex-obsessed voluptuary without a single redeeming trait, and of the subsequent trial of his explosive son Dimitri, for that murder.
Well, that's one of the novel's stories. There are many, many more. What strikes me, in fact, at this reading, is the remarkable number of the novel's episodes that stand completely on their own: the encounter of Katherina and Grushenka, both romantically tied to Dimitri, and of how Alyosha Karamazov, supposedly naïve, pegs Katherina's character at once as a self-lacerating, spiteful human being; Alyosha's poignant initial encounter with Captain Snegyirov, who has been publicly humiliated by Dimitri; the atheist brother Ivan's compelling insistence upon a justice here and now, a balancing of accounts that we can see, and his fervent, rebellious rejection of any other kind.
All of these episodes, with a little background, could stand as self-contained, highly absorbing stories. Woven into the structure of the novel, they motor it through its occasional tiresome stretches (Zossima's retrospective, Dimitri's trial).
And then there are the smaller jewels. Did anyone ever illustrate better than Smerdyakov the fact that ideas matter? Is there a more pricelessly prophetic metaphor than the prosecutor's invocation of Gogol's characterization of Russia as a galloping troika before which all nations "will cease one day to stand aside and will form a firm wall confronting the hurrying apparition and will check the frenzied rush of our lawlessness, for the sake of their own safety, enlightenment, and civilization"?
It occurs to me that Dostoevsky's well-deserved stature is a marvelous joke on how we might incline to rate novelists. As a stylist, he never approaches the skill of a Tolstoy or a Proust. As a narrator, he is often hopelessly undisciplined. He seems often all out of sympathy with his readers.
But he is always, always, always worth reading, mainly because he understands and paints human nature, and particularly human perversity, more recognizably than anyone else.
One last thing: you should read G.D. Brennan, below. He's right about the whole book, but particularly about the Grand Inquisitor chapter. It really is celebrated all out of proportion to its importance in the novel.
Book Review: Perhaps the Best Translation of the Greatest Novel Ever Written
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a special affinity for Dostoevsky's writings due to their dark, yet philosophical nature. His books usually contain the sort of philosophy that probes questions of a spiritual, humanistic nature, and no other work perhaps addresses the most crucial questions to life like his last novel, the Brothers Karamazov. Since this book is so popular with audiences, I need not expound on the plot. Instead, I would like to focus on the translation at hand and say why this version of the book deserves to be read by people not only searching for answers to these deep questions, but also for those who want to learn why Dostoevsky was known as Russia's greatest prose writer of the 19th century. Pushkin, Chekhov, Tolstoy, and Gogol were great, but Dostoevsky was a highly different breed of writer. His language flows like music, yet it is not verselike in the way that Pushkin is. For this reason, especially for those who do not know Russian, it is essential that a person read a translation that clearly represents Dostoevsky's complex literary language. This is not to say that other translations are not as good. I am just saying that of all of the translation that exist, this is, in my opinion, the best. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, two of the greatest translators of Russia's great novels, hit the nail on the head every time they publish a translation of a great author's book. Their Anna Karenina is superb, their Crime and Punishment a model of literary translating, and their Chekhov stories the benchmark upon which all other English versions must be judged. This Karamazov then, is perhaps for me their greatest achievement so far. I absolutely adore the way they make the verses come to life without adding any Victorian pretense or awkward phrasing that would seem anachronistic or foreign to the period in which the novel was set. They not only convey accurately the kind of philosophy that Dostoevsky is known for, but they also give the words a kind of poignancy that characterizes the novel's dark themes. I await the War and Peace that these two fascinating translators are about to release this October. As for this book, I recommend it to those wish to know why Dostoevsky's last novel is regarded by many to be the greatest novel ever written. In fact, Kurt Vonnegut himself lauded this book as the one that has everything you ever need to know about life.Book Review: 5 Stars....and I haven't even finished it yet....
Summary: 5 Stars
...BECAUSE MY LOUSY LIBRARY WOULDN'T RENEW! And you know why, because they are bastards who arose from the mildew on the bathouse floor. AND, the copy that I had was only 1 VOLUME which ended after 338 pages! BASTARDS! SELFISH BASTARDS!
I only had the chance to read about 180 pages...yeah, that's just grazing the tip of the iceberg that this awesome saga by one of the greatest novelists of all time has to offer. What I did read was very entertaining and it really exceeded my expectations and pulled me into the world of the Great Titans of 19th century Russian Literature such as Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Gogol, and Chekhov.
Dostoevsky really pulled you into the world of the Russian world and the Karamazov family. I think I am the only one who feels sympathy for Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, the very "despicable" father of Alexei, Dimitri, and Ivan, the main characters. Fyodor reminds me of Homer Simpson with his drunken episodes and buffon outbursts like the part when he was in the monestary at the beginning of the book visiting Alexei, or Alyosha, as he is more often called. Dimitri is a very interesting character, since he has a very complicated personality. One thing I found funny about him is that him and his father fight (literally and physically) over the same woman, Grushenka. Ivan is more friendly to Fyodor, but he is kind of smart assy and is an atheist who represents Dostoevsky's nihilistic past. (Dimitri represents his romantic side and Alexei, the hero of the novel represents Dostoevsky's defence of the Russian Orthodox faith, which is a beautiful faith) Speaking of the Russian Orthodox faith, I really loved the scenes of Alexei in the monastary tending to the aging Elder and the Elder giving guidence to visitors.
Russian literature, novels in particular, has been stereotyped as very long, tedious tomes like War and Peace, but once you get into them, you will inevitably find them to be dear friends that will entertain you for years to come (and...that's probably how long it will take you to read novels such as The Brothers Karamazov or War and Peace or Anna Karenina...)
Since I was about 12 or so, I've always had a facination of Russia, its hisory especially, the literature, and the people. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky represents life seen through Russian eyes.