Rating: 
Summary: Trite but true: one of the best books ever written
Review: Even people who are intimidated by long books should be able to rip through this. The text is dense and every page is filled with importance, but instead of struggling to comprehend the message, you find yourself nodding along, thinking "Of course!" to every other sentence. This book asked question after question about life and personal responsibility, and gave very few answers. However, the best books don't shove a message down your throat but let you find your own way.
Rating: 
Summary: Slightly over the top
Review: There's really no point in arguing that this anything but a really great novel. It is an epic work, with an almost epic length as well; an the exploration of the relations between three (actually four, if the illegitimate house-servant is included) brothers, the sons of a selfish, greedy, conniving, morally and physically repugnant father. In many ways, "Brothers Karamazov" can probably be viewed as a reflection of Russian intellectual/spiritual culture in the 19th century, and perhaps even beyond. Like his other works, this book also contains Dostoevsky's literary musings on the state of Russian society as he saw it. Even so, this is also weighty book: in a fashion similar to Tolstoy, Dostoevsky was quite obsessed with the concept of personal redemption, the moral catharsis (or 'moral bath' as Tolstoy called it in "War & Peace"), atonement for sins, etc. and this, together with his religious mysticism (and the accompanying good vs. evil symbolism), can become quite tiresome at times. Dostoevsky was a very conservative Christian tormented by his own vices and a virulent opponent of Western European Enlightenment ideals (he viewed them as a threat to Russian culture and the Russian soul), and this is often reflected in "Brothers Karamazov." Personally, I think the best parts of the book are when Dostoevsky explores the mindsets of his various characters, creating a very psychologically tense atmosphere. Also, his portrayals of the interactions and conflicts between his various characters is superb. In this sense, it is similar to "Crime and Punishment," which is a better book - simply because it tends to focus more on one major theme. Thus, after reading "Crime and Punishment" one can easily be left with the impression that the "Brothers Karamazov" is a slight case of overkill in some aspects. However, on its own it is nonetheless a great book and definitely worth reading - although due consideration should be given to its historical context, meaning the place and time in which it was written (tsarist Russia in the 19th century).
Rating: 
Summary: Great novel, but read a different translation.
Review: Dostoevsky's original Russian is meaty. Constance Garnett's translation is Victorian. Garnett may well have thought that she was improving on Dostoevsky's cluttered and lumbering prose, but she did not. Garnett was the first person to translate many of the classic Russian novels (by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy) into English, and it is rare that the early translations of classic works are good. When buying a translation, if there is an option, you are overwhelmingly better off buying the most recent possible. Luckily, Dostoevksy does not now lack for translators, and the Brothers K is *at least* five stars when better translated. Nabokov & others have derided Dostoevksy for his deep and tormented characters and soul-bareing conversations. However, it is pointless to criticize Dostoevsky for not having shared in the form-enfatuation of the 20th century and not having joined the race of style that started three decades after his death. Dostoevsky most concerned himself with his characters. And for him, real evaluation occurs in extreme conditions and conflicting values. He helps himself to these circumstances with none of the frugality of many modern novelists. Although many judge The Brothers as Dostoevsky's greatest novel, it is not the most Dostoevskian of his great novels. That would be The Devils, where the strange workings of his characters and the originality of his social insight are most clearly and uncomfortably evident.
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Summary: Of Hope, of Love, of Life
Review: There are stories, then there are books, and then there are novels. Fyodor Dostoyevsky incorporates all three entities and transcends all three entities in his masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov. To call his obra maestra a story is both a compliment and an insult. The piece is relatively simple; its plot describes three brothers, their relationship with one another, and the murder of their father. Simple, yet far more elegant than a single descriptive sentence. There are numerous stories that pervade The Brothers Karamazov-some tell stories of fear, some tell stories of hope, some of love, some of resurrection, but all tell something of life. To call The Brothers Karamazov a book is to call the Mona Lisa a painting, or to call the pyramids a building; the word does not accurately describe the subject. "Book" indicates merely the physical qualities-the thousand pages, the creased corners, and the weight of the book in your hands. But it is far more than that. As you turn each page, you turn pages through Dostoyevsky's own difficult life. As you crease each corner you acknowledge some of his sacrifices. And as you feel the weight of the book in your hand, you hold the culmination of his spirit and his revelations. To call The Brothers Karamazov a novel relates this piece to all the paperback romance novels that sell for two dollars in a supermarket aisle, or the generic horror story, or the faddish detective thriller. And yet, to call it a novel also relates it to War and Peace, to Ulysses, and to Shakespeare, and to other worthy pieces. Though The Brothers Karamazov shares the title "novel" with the former, it is clearly written with the heart and passion of the latter. I read The Brothers Karamazov two years ago, in my sophomore year of high school. It took me many days to plod through the first chapters, the plot not especially keeping my attention. But I persevered. As I progressed further and further, it became less difficult-less of a challenge-and became more of a joy. By the end, when I read, exhaustively, the last line "Hurrah for Karamazov," I felt that I had completed a moral and spiritual pilgrimage-I felt endowed with a knowledge, a wisdom, a feeling of satisfaction. And though I had finished The Brothers Karamazov after many months of reading, I am still not finished learning from it. Any recommendation now would be redundant...
Rating:
Summary: Dostoyevsky's last novel
Review: There can be no argument that Dostoyevsky is one of the finest novelist in literature. It is so rare that you can read a novel and see reflections of yourself as well as being so true and exacting as far human nature is concerned. This novel will make you ask questions of yourself. Do reflect those positive values expressed by Dostoyevsky? Am I a good person? Does pride get in the way of person being truly happy or do many of us live as tormented damned souls who "live on their vindictive pride like a starving man in the desert sucking blood out of his own body" as he puts it? The point of the book is that in order to have happiness and peace you must have love and love can only be achieved by accepting the love of Christ, and worldly cynacism and pride are barriers that separate us from divine love. These self created barrirs lead to despair and death. This novel can never become dated. It is a masterpiece for all the ages.
Rating:
Summary: The soul of Dostoyevsky
Review: No doubt. This is the best book of the minded- novel. All the pages of this book have their own essnce, their moral message, a message that can be uselful today. This book with an argument based on a novel written by Schiller, copies the romantic essence and transforms it into a realistic scenario with 3 sons, each one with a very defined personality: Dmitri, the body, the sensuality as his father, Ivan, the mind with a dosis of atheism and Aloysha, the spiritual son, this is a book with a high level in its content. I recommend to read carefully to understand the depth of Dostoyevsky's mind and purpose
Rating:
Summary: Lucid elixer for the soul...
Review: This is my second time reading this book, and I must say the effect this time around was tenfold. No one wrote of the struggle toward belief, the soul simultaneously running for and from God, with such pith as Dostoyevsky. It's no wonder Woolf found her muse in this great Russian's works. Crime and Punishment sank into the darkest reaches of a criminal mind. This book is C and P on a grander more spiritual scale, taking a fine-toothed comb to the contradictory souls and dashed spirits of all its characters. Even Alyosha Karamazov, an aspiring monk and by far the purest of the four brothers, has dreams of devils, even he is courted by evil. Even Ivan, who rejects God and believes "all things are permitted" falls ill from the affliction of conscience. Good and evil assume no neat dichotomy in this book; characters are walking contradictions. This makes for fascinating reading. Something that could never be said for the overrated, one-hit-wonder hack Bulgakov, whose devil is much less interesting and intricate as Dostoyevsky's sly dark angel who has an intriguing debate with Ivan.
This is an extremely ambitious book, and Dostoyevsky's finest. Family, individualism, the mind, spiritualism, love, betrayal, depravity, monasticism--all are weaved into a plot which at once moves along expeditiously and excitedly, as well as takes into account the full depth of each character's psyche. Not an easy undertaking. Something that Nabokov did well, but only in the realm of evil and absurdity; something that Tolstoy did convincingly but not as deeply; something the wretch Bulgakov failed completely to do.
"The Brothers Karamazov" is one of the greatest spiritual novels of our time and is a shining example of how superior to Western fiction Russian novels can sometimes prove to be. If I could give it six stars I would.
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Summary: They're not Mad..they're Murderers...!!
Review: When this book was first given to me, I thought, oh no, not another boring Russian novel wherein all the characters have multiple names that all sound the same, are either demented or consumptive, or poor.. I was encouraged to read 'The Grand Inquisitor' and was told offhandedly that I reminded the person who lent me his copy, of Ivan Fyodorovich. I had to investigate. I could not put the book down.. the intricate plots, the humour, the characters and buffoonery.. the fact that long after I read it the first time, I finally discovered that it was satire...? that every character reminds me of someone I now.. I read and re-read that beat-up old paperback until the binding fell apart.. so I endeavoured to buy my own.. and treated myself to a hardcover copy! The Everyman Library copy. Not only is it appealing aesthetically, but it is concise and the translation captures the genuine Dostoevskian language (i.e actually using 'rubbish' where it is implied, rather than 'nonsense' as some others would write..) At first, one may find it a challenge, but there is something for everyone.. and yes, there are SCORES of people with multiple names that sound the same, demented whackos, consumptives galore and the poor folk. The best book I've read in my entire life!!
Rating: 
Summary: bad translation
Review: no need to talk about the greatness of this book. indeed it is worthy of the Uber-classic status it enjoys today. i am writing this review as a service to potential customers. do buy the book. read it, stop to think about it, take notes, but dont do so with the penguin edition. i picked up this edition because it was cheaper than some of the others i had to choose from and because i thought it had a cool cover photo, i didnt take translation into account. never had untill then. the penguin edition is longer and whoever translated it over-intellectualized it. its a tougher read than the vintage edition, which flows better and will be much more enjoable. so i urge you all to get the vintage classics edition. it'll cost you a bit more but its well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: The meaning of life?
Review: I recently read a book so amazing, so well-written, and so memorable that I simply must tell you about it. It's The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. After reading another of Dostoyevsky's novels, Crime and Punishment, a while ago, and thoroughly loving it, I had to get this one, for I had heard it was his best work. And I can't disagree. To sum up the premise quickly, the novel takes place in Russia circa 1890, and tells the story of four brothers who become involved in the murder of their own father. That is the most basic summary of the plot I can give; but it doesn't even begin to give you an idea of the territory covered in this massive, sprawling novel. (Over 700 pages of great literature.) There are other things going on besides this murder, and eventually the novel is about so much more than this. This novel has possibly some of the best characterization I've ever seen for any book, period. This is not an exaggeration. First, the four brothers are each given their own distinct personality and background (even though they are brothers they come from different pasts) and become some of the most developed, recognizable, and memorable characters I've ever encountered. In addition, the father is one of the most pathetic, funny, and evil characters in literature. But even then, Dostoyevsky does not stop. There are probably ten or fifteen secondary characters that appear a lot, and even more third-tier figures that don't have much time in the book but are still memorable. This is because whenever a new character is introduced, the author devotes at least a couple of full, developed passages telling the reader about the person, and reveals even more through the many conversations and speeches people have. Remarkably, there are never any repetetive characters. Dostoyevsky manages to create a new, unique, living, breathing person out of every character. This is also one of the most thematically inclusive books I've ever read, one with such depth. Thanks to the incredible characters and well thought-out plot, the novel discusses a whole range of themes. Dostoyevsky must have been a philosopher or psychologist just as much as he was a writer. Through his characters he expounds on the idea that people have the uncanny ability to harbor opposite and contrasting values within themselves at the same time. Good and evil exist side by side in the hearts of men. Dostoyevsky also shows us that some people are never happy because they don't want to be, and that this fact makes them happy. As long as they are unhappy in their own way, they remain happy, even if they know it's not to their advantage. Dostoyevsky was so ahead of his time with this novel- his deep knowledge of humanity is so evident. Years before Freud, he develops the idea of punishment as a way to alleviate guilt and love as a way to cure shame, or as he puts it, "self-laceration." He was probably one of the very first to fully implement into his characters the concept of the split personality. At one point, one of the characters has a conversation with his alter-ego, fully aware that he doesn't exist. It's so impressive, it really puts some modern stuff into perspective. Death, love, forgiveness, immortality, religion, God, the Devil, all of these things are more than briefly touched upon in the course of this narrative. At one point, a character remarks, "I don't know whether God created Man or Man created God, but if the Devil exists, he was created in Man's image." In one chapter, Christ comes back to earth and is challenged and shunned by the religious community. The Devil himself even appears as a person to discuss philosophy and religion with one of the characters. When he's asked, "How are you able to take on human form?" the Devil replies, "Nothing human is beyond me." Powerful, chilling moments like these fill the book. There are so many moments of pure, unfiltered humanity in this novel, it's as if the author's whole life is bleeding through in the pages. When he creates an evil character, we believe in him, and when he creates the opposite- a truly pure figure- we believe in him, as well. In fact, this book has one of the most believably good characters of all stories. Dostoyevsky plunges the depths of man's soul, and what he brings up is sometimes scary, sometimes beautiful. If there are any stories out there that can come close to showing us the meaning of life, The Brothers Karamazov is one of them.
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