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Summary: Absolutely wonderful.
Review: I thought this book was great. Its an extremely long read but it makes you question the death penatly, because one of the brothers (I won't give it away) is framed for his father's murder by his disgustingly clever and immoral brother who decieves everyone around him equally. Well worth reading!
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Summary: pierce to your heart deeply and eternally
Review: Although this book is the greatest masterpiece of his writings and easy to read as well as "Crime and Punishment" and more completed, I hesitate to advise to read it. The reason is that its themes are too deep for the common people to understand. Rather, they could live a happy life without it. Since I read it twenty years before, I have sometimes remembered Ivan's second story to reconsider what it really means, even if his first episode has become to mean little. Therefore, I can't say that take it easy and let's begin to read it anyway. My way to advise is to suggest to read it only for the particular persons who need some relief. This book seems to work well for such people, though I don't know why. Then, it will pierce to your heart deeply and eternally.
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Summary: If you haven't read the book yet, DON'T read the next review
Review: "gcfuss" wrote a review on August 8 about "The Brothers Karamazov". It is placed directly under mine. Overall, it's not a bad review at all, but it reveals much of the plot, something you shouldn't realy know if you haven't yet read the book. So just skip it.
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Summary: Boldly sums things up
Review: "The Brothers Karamazov" is an ethical compendium and certainly one of the greatest novels ever written. Other reviewers have done a better job than I could of summarizing the complexly layered plot and symbolic nature of the characters. I might depart from them a bit by suggesting that each of the brothers is confined to a specific role and might be viewed as a prisoner of sorts.The radical, revolutionary brother Ivan is a prisoner of his intellect. His essay on "The Grand Inquisitor" is the second of his two-part assault on his brother Aleosha's belief in Christ. Dimity, the lover of women and eruptive speaker is a prisoner of his passion. Aleosha, who worships his spiritual mentor, Father Zosima is a prisoner of his faith, while Smerdyakov, the ill begotten son of Fyodor Karamazov and a street woman is a prisoner of his circumstances. Each brother is a unique and integral component of the human condition. But a novel cannot work through symbolism and personification alone. Like Tolstoi's 'War and Peace" this book is also a series of essays. The chapter in which Father Zosima discovers his faith on the evening before his is supposed fight a duel is an essay of courage and integrity that far outstrips any thing written by "macho" authors such as Hemingway and Camus. In this chapter, Zosima is a carousing young military officer who discovers his faith in God on the evening before he is to fight a duel. This puts Zosima in a quandary since his faith now prevents him from killing another human being but he still does not want to appear a coward. Zosima solves this problem by offering his opponent the first shot. When his opponent misses, Zosima declines to take his shot. Instead he throws away his pistol and asks "am I worth it?" Zosima has transcended his ego and followed his conscience while still preserving his honor. This brief, action packed chapter summarizes the complexity of spiritual evolution. Zosima's faith does not give him an easy way out or solve all of his problems. He must still deal with the consequences of his previous actions even after discovering God. Faith in his case is hardly a narcotic. The Grand Inquisitor chapter on the other hand clearly separates the sort of faith experienced by Father Zosima from the more cynical manifestations of organized religion. In this chapter Ivan tells Aleosha a story about Christ returning to Earth during the height of the Spanish Inquisition. Christ is arrested and brought before the Grand Inquisitor who clearly recognizes Him for who and what He is. Far from fearing or rejoicing in Christ's presence, the Grand Inquisitor threatens to try him for heresy and burn him. Since the Grand Inquisitor is primarily interested in the power and authority he derives from his position, the last thing he wants is a true believer let alone Christ himself to appear on the scene. The Grand Inquisitor tries to bate Christ into rebutting him, but Christ's silence frustrates him and eventually the Grand Inquisitor releases him. From these brief descriptions, one can hopefully grasp the range of this work as a novel of ideas and a panoramic essay on the nature of faith and the human condition. In illuminating the struggles born by every human being in their physical and spiritual lives, Dostoevsky offers no easy solution. Dostoevsky's emphasis on the silent, invisible nature of courage and the folly of institutionalized belief make him the spiritual father of thinkers such as Nietze and Sartre. The ideas this book illuminates and questions it raises are universal and relevant to this day.
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Summary: Unforgettable
Review: This is, quite simply, the greatest book ever written. It is about many things, but most of all about guilt - what constitutes it and how it affects us all. The main characters are three supremely different brothers - Dmitri, a hedonist; Ivan, a sharply intelligent cynic; and Aloysha, the gentle youngest brother studying for the monastic life who provides their only bond. The three are subjected to the most horrible father in all literature, and the story revolves around their reactions to his murder. None of them dealt the death blow, but there are other ways of being guilty of a crime. Is Dmitri guilty because he was on the way to kill his father himself? Is Ivan guilty because he left the house knowing what was going to happen? The tension mounts as Dmitri is arrested for the crime and Ivan's whip-sharp mind becomes his worst enemy. Can Aloysha, facing his own spiritual crisis, convince Dmitri to defend himself and also save Ivan from encroaching madness at the same time? It's hard to pick a favorite character because we love them all in such different ways - Dmitri for his innate warmth, Ivan because his cynicism masks a deep pain that he can't stop the atrocities that mankind commits against itself, and Aloysha for his innocence and desperate need to believe in his brothers' essential goodness. Like life, the novel provides no neat, pat answers - it's the journey that counts. Readers too wrapped up in the plot will miss the development of three of the most fascinating and moving characters in literature.
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Summary: The Brothers Screwed Up
Review: there are numerous versions of this masterpiece. try to read a translation that is on your level because it would be a shame if one didn't truly appreciate and understand this book. the search for faith is an underlying theme: ivan repudiates god, alyosha is a man of god and dmitri after much suffering discovers god. we get to know these men after their depraved father is found murdered. during the investigation each person is scrutinized and the mystery unfolds until one brother is wrongly accused of the crime. at the end of the book, as in "crime & punishment", the sufferer becomes a new and better man. this novel has it all: family rivalry, parricide, mystery, an exciting trial and a somewhat positive ending. it sums up russia at the end of the 19th century and the major societal changes just over the horizon. read this book for it is a true classic.
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Summary: The Fulfillment of Artistic Vision
Review: "I would die happy if I could finish this final novel, for I would have then expressed myself completely." This statement from Fyodor Dostoyevsky helps elucidate both the theme and purpose of the The Brothers Karamazov, one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature. Superficially, the novel deals with a patricide and how each of the book's characters contributed directly or indirectly to that murder. Yet, The Brothers Karamazov, at its heart, is so much more. Its underlying theme deals with the drive for self-redemption in the eyes of both God and man and the role suffering plays in facilitating that redemption. Fyodor Karamazov has fathered four sons, Dmitri, Ivan and Alyosha, by two wives, and one, Smerdyakov, with a peasant woman known as stinking Lizaveta. Fyodor Karamazov, a vulgar and ill-tempered man represents, for Dostoyevsky, the Russian government of his times. Like the government, Fyodor shuns his children, preferring instead the materialistic, but joyless, life of wealth and possessions. His union with Lizaveta, who comes to represent all the peasants of Dostoyevsky's Russia, produces Smerdyakov, a bastard child who, in his own turn, will be raped and pillaged by the government and will go on to give birth, metaphorically, to bastard children of his own. Karamazov's eldest son, Dmitri, an impulsive sensualist, finds respect as an overbearing soldier but one whose inability to pay his debts eventually turns him into a poor and irrational man. Ivan, Fyodor's second son, is a cold intellectual who finds his fulfillment in his literary and creative abilities. He becomes famous through his writings, especially those concerning the Russian Church. The youngest son, Aloysha, finds temporary fulfillment in the cloistered, monastic life. Outwardly innocent and naive, Aloysha struggles with his desire for spiritual fulfillment in the monastery and the joys and excitement of the secular life. The character who provides the catalyst for change is that of Father Zosima, a character who seems to embody the strong spiritual sense that was Dostoyevsky, himself. Father Zosima, who has lived a pure and spiritually-nourishing life, has the gift to sense both a man's motivations and his needs. Zosima tells the brothers Karamazov that a sheltered, monastic life is not a prerequisite to the achievement of spiritual riches, a fact that seems to be proven true when Zosima's corpse rots after his death in direct contradiction to Russian belief at the times regarding spiritual purity. It is Father Zosima who, throughout the book, expounds Dostoyevsky's theory that it is suffering that will purify and cleanse our soul, thus bringing us peace. Each brother, in his own fashion, undergoes his own trial by fire, and, in the end, is better for it. One brother, tormented by a guilt he does not deserve, must live his life in unwanted exile, or not at all, though he possesses the heart and soul of a true Russian. Another suffers the torments of a complete nervous breakdown that leaves him grappling on the very edge of sanity. Only a third son seems to find the answer he is seeking and the novel's uplifting final scene epitomizes Dostoyevsky's eternal belief in the importance of Russia's children in her future, as children hold their hands high and shout, "Three cheers for Karamazov," ending this essentially depressing masterpiece on a joyous note. An extraordinarily complex and rich novel, The Brothers Karamozov also deals with man's response to death. All of the characters, each in his own way, attempts to flee from death and only those who can finally accept the finality of death and the suffering of living find justification and fulfillment in life. Dostoyevsky uses many stylistic devices to expound upon his theme of redemption through suffering: imagery, irony and dreams are three of the most prominent, however, it is Dostoyevsky's wonderful ability to manipulate the third person subjective that serves to illuminate each character and bring him to life. The Brothers Karamazov is a book that delves deeply into the heart of man and the soul of Russia. Dostoyevsky, as any true artist, presented facets of himself in all of his characters who each manages to see the world in a different way and finds redemption through his own unique vision. Ironically, one of the brothers Karamazov is portrayed as a young man who begins to instill the seeds of change in Russia through its children, something Dostoyevsky, himself, thought was needed if Russia was ever to make the transition from a backward country to a global power. That it did, although the children Dostoyevsky envisioned as spiritual visionaries became instead, violent revolutionaries. They sought to free the peasants, not through enlightenment but through the establishment of a totalitarian state Peter the Great would have envied. Today, however, Russia tragically lies amidst the same poverty in which it was dwelling one hundred years earlier. Clearly, Dostoyevsky's path to enlightenment, illuminated brilliantly in The Brothers Karamazov, has not yet been fully assimilated by either the people of Russia or the people of the world in general. A sad and ironic twist to the vision of a master writer and a truly prophetic man.
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Summary: book for confused
Review: I picked up this book for pleasure reading, and it turned out to be the most involved book I read so far. This book has intense philosophy about religion, the existence of God and the relationship between mankind and God. It's a good book if you ever wondered about those thing, and it makes you think deeper. The characters, especially Ivan, in this book are interesting, and I feel I somehow can relate myself to Ivan. I don't want to give away the story, so I will limit myself to basic sketch. Ivan is a skeptist who wants to believe in God but cann't because of his cynical outlook of life and influence of Enlightenment. I don't believe in God, but I was and still am confused if He does or doesn't exist, and I understand well what Ivan is going through in the novel. This book didn't prove or disprove the existence of God to me, but I keep in my mind what this book says. This is a book for people like me, people who want to know the truth about God, but don't know where to start. I think it's a great book, even though it's a bit long, but it's worth every page.
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Summary: These words are an author¿s tears to the world¿
Review: Fyodor Dostoevsky truly poured his soul into writing The Brothers Karamazov. That is my impression of this novel. If you read it, and give it all of your attention, then you too will agree. Now first off, there are some things that those of you that haven't read the book will need to know. Take my word that this novel is excellent; many others think so on amazon.com--and throughout the world--as well. Don't read a lot of reviews here because people tend to give away some of the plot. This book is not an easy read when compared to some other novels. That shouldn't discourage you, but it's better to know it coming in. (Just to let you know, if you read a lot, or even often, this book won't be that hard. However, I do recommend it to those that rarely read and that is why I make sure to note that it isn't the easiest of novels.) Surprisingly, the writing is very personal and anyone will grab onto his style and enjoy the way he warmly tells his Russian story. Another thing to know is that a dictionary will most likely be necessary if your vocabulary isn't large. I'm sure everyone will need one for a few words. The last thing worth hearing is that you will not want to miss this book. It's one of my favorites. In the end, my recommendation is to give this novel a chance. If you're intimidated, which I can see happening, don't be. It's really worth your time and I reassure you that you will learn many things from Dostoevsky's masterpiece. One note of importance: Read the version translated into English by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. It is the truest translation.
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Summary: Thematic Perfection.
Review: What more can be said about this book? It weaves story, character development, philosophy, and of course, humanity better than any book I have ever read. Its questions, thoughts are ubiquitous. It performs the chief and only possible function of philosophical fiction: not finding an answer, but making one think.
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