Rating: 
Summary: One of the best novel's i've read so far
Review: The first thing one experiences when taking a look at the book is that it is long. The second thing, when starting reading it, is that it is good. The third thing, when you've finished reading, is that it is much too short. This book is the summary and the synthesis of all his ideas and beliefs as a writer. In Aljoscha, we find the naive, but loving character of Myschkin from "The Idiot. Iwan Fjodorowitsch is in some ways (especially his "euclidian" way of thinking)Radion Raskolnikoff. If you'd like to understand Dostojewski as a writer, read this book and you know what he represents. BUT, and this is very important, it is NOT a book written to convert atheists into christians. This is a naive way of thinking. NO author wants his readers to follow in his footsteps. This to some of the recent reviews: Find your own beliefs and don't let any book change your way of living by converting into a religios person!
Rating:
Summary: The best book ever written by a human being
Review: It is undoubtfully the best book ever written by a human being (though may doubt the premise that Dostoevsky is a human being after reading this one). Dostoevsky gives life the meaning the human race has been waiting for. I realise it all sounds so pompous and even flagrant and i'm startled and horrified by the way this criticism started - but this once sworn atheist who is writing the criticism now believes in god after reading it. I am not Objective. The mere existence of so elated an idea as dostoevsky presents us to, is a diety - for it gives way and meaning to all human existence. Dostoevsky's characters are mesmerising - the fight between the titans of existence is in full motion thorugh out the story. I have read the dostoevsky has intended to write a trilogy of Karamazov and that this was the first part - i feel that if he would have continued he would have completely divulged the meaning of human existence in this world. It's a reading you owe your soul - maybe the greatest experience for a human being. And about the comparssions to Ayn Rand - It's sheer blasphemy.
Rating:
Summary: It's impossible to get better than this
Review: This is the perfect novel. In his masterpiece Dostoyevsky gives the outright comprehension of human nature, by the way, all the books that I read from Dostoyevsky I consider as masterpieces. Exposing human characteristics that everyone knows but is afraid or ashamed to acknowledge, Dostoyevsky strips man from his pride and hipocrisy. The best novel I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: As engaging and engrossing as possible
Review: This book, perhaps the greatest novel all time, and certainly the greatest I have ever read, encapsulates such an immense base of emotion and appeal. The ways in which Dostoevsky incorporates true aspects of the human existence and experience, and the questions raised from it, all combine to make this book a "cannot not" read. It is deep on so many levels, you won't be able to put it down! Especially great for the aspiring existentialist. Enjoy, and peace be with you! Remember, the world is all about LOVE, and your definition of this word will certainly be changed after reading this masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Dark and Dreary, I loved it!
Review: Dostoyevksy has the ability to wrap plot around philosphy as few authors can. The Brothers Karamazov is more philosophy than plot, more ideas than action. Anyone who thinks that he or she is a stubborn, immovable atheist should read this book. It shows the imperfectness of humanity and the search for a life with meaning which is one of the most important foundations of religion.
Rating: 
Summary: A good philosophical read about 'truth'.
Review: A good philosophical read about 'truth'. Like bookends there are two specific gems of Dostoevsky's views on page 51 (about a man who lied to himself...) and almost near the end on page 934 (about a good rememberance of your childhood...). It is not surprising that the characters stating these views are the noblest and most truthful throughout the book. The book is quite daunting when you first approach it but somehow it kept me turning the pages. Dostoevsky states that this is the first part of a two-part novel. He never completed the second novel. It is a shame for I felt BK was left a bit disjointed. Almost as if he intentionally left many plothooks open. It was split in two, with the first half; its focus, plot and characters almost sidelined by the second part's different focus and character search. It literally split the book in half. Regardless of my opinions above, I'd still recommend this book highly. It is well written, engaging and explores issues that are as true today as in the 1880's. Its one of those books that you refer back to often and later say..."oh, that's what he meant."
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Philosophical Literary Fiction
Review: As a Christian, I consider this book essential reading for all Christians. Dostoevsky argues, sometimes covertly, for the essential tie between morality (conscience) and God. The famous quote, "If God does not exist, everything is permitted," assumes that without an objective moral God, everything is objectively amoral (even if subjective morals exist). To me, the novel shows how some (not necessarily all) professing atheists try to philosophically justify their actions that would otherwise be considered immoral. The way they justify their immorality is to subjectivize (relativize) all morality thereby making everything, including murder, inherently amoral. The problem with this approach is that the protest against evil becomes subjective and objectively collapses. Absolute good (God) defines absolute evil. Without God, absolute evil can't exist and Ivan's examples of human cruelty lose their force by becoming objectively excusable types of behavior. Dostoevsky also brilliantly shows the bankruptcy of human courts of justice. We the readers know that Dmitri is innocent of the death of his father, but the evidence makes him look guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt... If there is no just God and life after death (immortality), then we're stuck with human injustice masquerading as justice and no hope of the wrongs in this life being righted in the next. Aside from these Christian topics, the brilliance of Dostoevsky's work is that many atheists such as Camus, Sartre, Nietzsche and Freud have found this work a masterpiece. Dostoevsky showed that saints can look like sinners and sinners can look like saints and we are left wondering who is actually innocent or guilty of what. Read the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation. After reading this novel, check out Franz Kafka's "The Trial." Kafka was another great who learned from Dostoevsky. - Brad Clark
Rating:
Summary: The best novel ever
Review: The best novel ever written by anyone anywhere. As literature, only Hamlet is in the same class. This, Dostoyevsky's last and greatest novel, capitualutes his whole philosophy of life. Everything is covered here: faith, doubt, mercy, justice, love, jealousy, fanaticism, sin, mysticism - I could go on and on and on. And on. (And on.) As is usual with Dostoyevsky, saintly and lovable characters are juxtaposed with loathsome and horrid ones, and pretty much put on the same plane. In fact, the novel is full of closely joined opposites; it's a massive work of dialectic. And as is often found with dialectic, there are no easy answers given to life's great questions. The questions are posed, and many possible answers are given, but no pat formulae are given; they just don't exist. This is the kind of book that changes lives. I'm not the same for having read it.
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: Other reviews comment on the strength of this book, comparing it to religious texts in its power. Though I have never followed religion or supersticions, Dostoevsky has challenged my beliefs, for surely no human (but maybe a deity or an E.T.??) could write such an unspeakably admirable work, one so brain-popping in its breadth of thought. Nearly every page is a marvel, and -whereas in many other novels the climax holds the one packet of wisdom-, through-out this book there are passages that, even in translation, can do little else but boggle the reader, so powerful are the words and the impressions that they form.
Rating: 
Summary: supercilious
Review: I read this book because I had met someone who had named their firstborn after the hero and he felt it was the best book he had ever read so I had to read it. I think it doesn't translate very well from russian I think I counted the word , supercilious used at least 5 times. Its political and gives you a flavor of life in russia at that time but for asthetics it lacked evolution of character.
|
