Scan barcode
Reviews
Fraţii Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Albert Kovacs, Isabella Dumbravă, Ovidiu Constantinescu
annacrowley's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ele_ares's review against another edition
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
jordi's review against another edition
2.0
This novel is full of:
- Repetition. For some reason everyone in that village thinks that others are deaf. And they should repeat any important sentences twice. It would be cool if only one character did it, but it seems it does not matter how well or bad educated you are. Repeating sentences is cool.
- Sick people. Main reason of sickness is being worried. No less than three characters would get fever and bed rest for weeks after worrying too much. There are also other source of sickness to the point of wondering if the water around there is drinkable at all.
- Unrealistic dialogues. Monologue is the main way of conversing, it seems. Always about God, ethics or any other abstract topic, of course.
- More repetition. I hope not to reveal much saying there will be a trial in the novel. Witnesses will repeat everything which had happened in the novel till that point. Then the public prosecutor will summarize it again and then the defense lawyer will repeat it for the fourth time. Each with a slight different angle and explaining about the Russian soul. This part is so dry that even people giving 5 stars to the novel complains about it.
- Exaggeration. This is the pattern used by half of the characters around 40 or 50 times in the novel:
I will unless . Serious guys, you are way too dramatic.
- Lack of speech. Often, way too often something happens and some character is speechless. Which is cool because some other will start its 10pages monologue so someone has to give room.
- Lack of resolution. Sure Dostoyevsky wanted to make a second and third part of this, but could have rounded up this one a little bit more. Like, what happened with Liza, she disappears 300pages before the end and there is no hint of what's going on with that.
I could continue. I've seen the rest of the reviews. Lots of 5 stars. I've read them, I can't buy the arguments.
For instance: "It has friendship, family, doubt, self-sacrifice. Everything what's being human"
Sure, but so does other many many books. Damn, Hyperion, a sci-fy book, read it, the consul story only got all that. And that's one of 7 pilgrims.
Other argument "Very realistic" . Come on, the conversations there were ridiculous as well as most of the characters. They are extreme characters to represent ideas "the passion" "the rationale" "the faith" etc. It was everything but realistic.
I've also seen reviews of people saying things like "slow, boring, took me forever" and give it 5 stars...
If anything I can buy it made you think. Nice. I like that, extra star for it.
But Dostoyevsky totally blew up this one. He needed more sun there and going out for a walk instead of so many hours writing, would he have finish this book at a 200 pages mark, it would have been good. Delete monologues and repetitions, that's 400pages off at least.
- Repetition. For some reason everyone in that village thinks that others are deaf. And they should repeat any important sentences twice. It would be cool if only one character did it, but it seems it does not matter how well or bad educated you are. Repeating sentences is cool.
- Sick people. Main reason of sickness is being worried. No less than three characters would get fever and bed rest for weeks after worrying too much. There are also other source of sickness to the point of wondering if the water around there is drinkable at all.
- Unrealistic dialogues. Monologue is the main way of conversing, it seems. Always about God, ethics or any other abstract topic, of course.
- More repetition. I hope not to reveal much saying there will be a trial in the novel. Witnesses will repeat everything which had happened in the novel till that point. Then the public prosecutor will summarize it again and then the defense lawyer will repeat it for the fourth time. Each with a slight different angle and explaining about the Russian soul. This part is so dry that even people giving 5 stars to the novel complains about it.
- Exaggeration. This is the pattern used by half of the characters around 40 or 50 times in the novel:
I will
- Lack of speech. Often, way too often something happens and some character is speechless. Which is cool because some other will start its 10pages monologue so someone has to give room.
- Lack of resolution. Sure Dostoyevsky wanted to make a second and third part of this, but could have rounded up this one a little bit more. Like, what happened with Liza, she disappears 300pages before the end and there is no hint of what's going on with that.
I could continue. I've seen the rest of the reviews. Lots of 5 stars. I've read them, I can't buy the arguments.
For instance: "It has friendship, family, doubt, self-sacrifice. Everything what's being human"
Sure, but so does other many many books. Damn, Hyperion, a sci-fy book, read it, the consul story only got all that. And that's one of 7 pilgrims.
Other argument "Very realistic" . Come on, the conversations there were ridiculous as well as most of the characters. They are extreme characters to represent ideas "the passion" "the rationale" "the faith" etc. It was everything but realistic.
I've also seen reviews of people saying things like "slow, boring, took me forever" and give it 5 stars...
If anything I can buy it made you think. Nice. I like that, extra star for it.
But Dostoyevsky totally blew up this one. He needed more sun there and going out for a walk instead of so many hours writing, would he have finish this book at a 200 pages mark, it would have been good. Delete monologues and repetitions, that's 400pages off at least.
hannahgruber's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.5
this one really just wasn’t for me, glad i gave it a chance but also glad to be done, russian lit ain’t for me. especially the philosophy parts like i really dgaf
i’m ivan fr fr though, like over intellectualizing everything and getting so into the weeds of theory you just forget to be happy
i’m ivan fr fr though, like over intellectualizing everything and getting so into the weeds of theory you just forget to be happy
mariathemillennial's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ols_333's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
chrisspeckwriter's review against another edition
5.0
I read this when I was a young teacher living in Hungary in 1996. The iron curtain had only fallen a few years previous, and I spend the dark nights reading this massive book and drinking heavily. I also fell in love with a Canadian girl. All in all, with the cold and the Hungarian spirit palinka, the blonde hair of that lass from Winnepeg and the strong emotions, I felt like I was living parts of the story.
Huge, vivid and passionate, The Brothers Karamazov is worth your time and effort, your life will be better for having read it.
Huge, vivid and passionate, The Brothers Karamazov is worth your time and effort, your life will be better for having read it.
towercity's review against another edition
4.0
If you can get through the first half of this book, you're in luck. Despite its over-dramatic, Victorian prose style (I'm talking Constance Garnett translation here), The Brothers Karamazov is a strongly plotted family/court drama with characters who seem real, maybe not by their conflated speeches (Constance Garnett translation again) but certainly in their actions. Never before have I been so enraptured in listening to overly wordy conversations (again, Constance Garnett. I mean this as praise) about a murder and its trial that, quite frankly, I know the end result of. Still, the plot moves forward naturally, as if knowledge of its ending has no impact on its power (which it doesn't).
But then, the first half. almost four hundred pages (not exactly half, ok) of characters telling you their exact opinions on Christian religion without sparing any detail. The worst example of this is probably the Grand Inquisitor chapter, in which Ivan tells of a poem he wrote but didn't exactly write but would like to, then describes its meaning.
That said, if you like the first book, you'll like the whole thing. Just stick through it. It's totally worth it.
But then, the first half. almost four hundred pages (not exactly half, ok) of characters telling you their exact opinions on Christian religion without sparing any detail. The worst example of this is probably the Grand Inquisitor chapter, in which Ivan tells of a poem he wrote but didn't exactly write but would like to, then describes its meaning.
That said, if you like the first book, you'll like the whole thing. Just stick through it. It's totally worth it.