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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF after "the grand Inquisitor" (part 2, book 5, chapter 5).
The author is philosophizing too much about Christian or biblical topics that have little relevance if one is not Christian. It's like me watching someone invent the wheel while I already know the details of building a wheel. The experience is frustrating and boring.
I also already got bored of the rather limited character portrayals: spiritual/emotional Alyosha, intellectual/analytical Ivan and reckless/physical Dmitri. Same goes for the side characters.
The author is philosophizing too much about Christian or biblical topics that have little relevance if one is not Christian. It's like me watching someone invent the wheel while I already know the details of building a wheel. The experience is frustrating and boring.
I also already got bored of the rather limited character portrayals: spiritual/emotional Alyosha, intellectual/analytical Ivan and reckless/physical Dmitri. Same goes for the side characters.
Very long, mostly boring. There are enjoyable scenes; the best part is probably the trial in Book 12 with its contrast of two persuasive speeches for opposing interpretations of events. I think if this had been edited aggressively so that that section made up, say, half the book, it would have been a better novel.
The book is famous for the statement that if there's no God, "everything is permitted." So I shouldn't be surprised at how aggressively it pushes the perspective that society would crumble catastrophically without Christianity. But it doesn't have much interesting to say on the subject; just the same sort of taken-for-granted assumptions and longwinded self-assured rants you can find in any fundamentalist apologetics today.
Part of what makes this so difficult to get through is that nobody except Alyosha seems to behave in a remotely reasonable or believable way. The level of melodrama is pathological and most of the characters' problems could be solved by just, like, chilling out for a bit.
The book is famous for the statement that if there's no God, "everything is permitted." So I shouldn't be surprised at how aggressively it pushes the perspective that society would crumble catastrophically without Christianity. But it doesn't have much interesting to say on the subject; just the same sort of taken-for-granted assumptions and longwinded self-assured rants you can find in any fundamentalist apologetics today.
Part of what makes this so difficult to get through is that nobody except Alyosha seems to behave in a remotely reasonable or believable way. The level of melodrama is pathological and most of the characters' problems could be solved by just, like, chilling out for a bit.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes