Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov

• ISBN-13: 9781593080457
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 8/1/2004
• Pages: 752

The last and greatest of Dostoevsky's novels, The Brothers Karamazov is a towering masterpiece of literature, philosophy, psychology, and religion. It tells the story of intellectual Ivan sensual Dmitri, and idealistic Alyosha Karamazov, who collide in the wake of their despicable father's brutal murder.
Into the framework of the story Dostoevsky poured all of his deepest concerns - the origin of evil, the nature of freedom, the craving for meaning and, most importantly, whether or not God exists. The novel is particularly famous for three chapters that rank among the greatest pages of Western literature: "Rebellion" and "The Grand Inquisitor" present what many have considered the strongest arguments ever formulated against the existence of God, while "The Devil" brilliantly portrays the banality of evil. Ultimately, Dostoevsky believes that christ-like love prevails. But does he prove it?
 A rich, moving exploration of critical human questions, The Brothers Karamazov challenges all readers to reevaluate the world and their place in it.
 
Whenever I review a classic, I am inevitably presented with the same problem: how does one review a classic that has stood for hundreds of years? Should I even try? Well, I like a challenge.
 The Brothers Karamazov is the story of a parricide, but that is only the culmination of events, not the driving plot of the novel. I would argue.  Rather, the story is a psychological survey of humanity centering on three brothers and their negligent father. I have a huge problem with separating fiction from reality - I just get too involved emotionally. So instead of taking a character's actions in stride, I become frustrated, or angry, or upset like I would in real life. Sometimes it gets really stressful for me and I need to take a break from whatever I'm reading. This was one of those novels.
 First of all, there's not a single character, aside from Alyosha and possibly Snegiryov and Ilusha, that you like. All of the other characters are ignorant, hateful, spiteful, willful, selfish, or rash, or a combination of any and all of those. Honestly, the ones that I wanted to throw under the proverbial bus most of the time were Mitya and Katya. Mitya because he caused all of his own problems and could have saved himself by being less incredibly stupid and rash, and Katya because she was just a hateful spiteful person.
 Dostoevsky's genius, though, lies in exactly that. As a study in humanity, the novel is brilliant. Human beings are frail and weak and often despicable. Then occasionally there are those moments of genuine compassion and the beauty of the human spirit. And the characters of Karamazov are perfectly formulated to showcase all the pathos of the human mind, in all its glory and despair. Forget the story - read it for that alone.
 The plot itself was not particularly well formulated as it was really more a vehicle for what I just talked about. The details of the murder and the characters' motivations were often convoluted at best, although the many monologues were formulated much like the speech of any person under severe duress. As a result, it was extremely difficult to explain why everything was happening. I found myself checking out mentally every so often just because they were babbling and I wasn't going to get much explanation out of their speeches. The truly excruciating speech was the prosecutor's final stand at the trial. All I can say is that the arguments he made based on the evidence they had, the evidence itself, would not hold up in a modern court of law, and so it was almost amusing how he presented his case. "He didn't have half of the money he supposedly stole on him - rather than believe that he's telling the truth and he really didn't have that sum to begin with, I believe he stashed the money somewhere in the walls of the inn. We haven't found it yet, but I'm sure it's there." I shook my head in disbelief.
 Overall: A-
 For pure readability, it wasn't great. The long passages that just seemed to be repeating the same thing over and over, the often incomprehensible dialogues and monologues, made you want to just skip to the important and interesting part. I recommend forcing your way through those particular passages, though. I think everyone should read this book at least once if you want to get a true view of the human psyche.