Reviews

Fraţii Karamazov by Albert Kovacs, Isabella Dumbravă, Ovidiu Constantinescu, Fyodor Dostoevsky

he_dive_like_a_crazy_beef's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

kon_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.25

angie92's review against another edition

challenging reflective 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

frannerd's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

labelledamesansmerci's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A more interesting dilemma than the one presented in Crime and Punishment, though the latter is still the better novel by virtue of being much shorter and of having presented first the ideas that The Brothers Karamazov continues (without adding anything new or interesting) elaborating on. I love long books and many of my favourites are well above 500 pages, and I can handle a slower pace, but Dostoyevsky is an unbearable sentimentalist who trudges on the same ground constantly and, what's worse - either repeats himself unconsciously or is trying to drive a point home in a way which suggests he doesn't respect his audience very much. Or, not that, as he seems very sincere in his convictions and the way he presents them, but he certainly gets lost in the sauce of his own philosophical tangents. Frankly, if The Brothers Karamazov were about 300 pages shorter, it may have been much more impactful. Certainly it would have been infinitely less tedious. Beyond that I tend to dislike the inelegant way in which Dostoyevsky directs you how to feel about all his characters and almost pedantically refuses to leave space for ambiguity. As Nabokov correctly noted - a painfully didactic novel. Its importance in the literary canon is to be respected, but it did not sway my opinion terribly. 

zero_point_zero's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

dcunitz's review against another edition

4.0

“Have you ever felt, have you ever dreamt what it is like falling from a mountain into a chasm? Well, that’s how I’m falling now, but not in a dream. And I’m not a bit afraid, and don’t you be afraid, either. I mean, I am afraid, but I love it. I mean, I don’t love it, but I feel excited….Oh, to hell with it.”

sortulv's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

4.5

mittland's review against another edition

5.0

dostoevsky is such a tease with the way he's constantly adding "I could write a whole nother book about this side plot but I digress..." this is so long but it's comforting to be able to read a hundred pages at a time and still have so much left.
I love the messy, sort of abstracted writing style which manages to make things seem both funny and heartbreaking, I cried a lot reading this but statistically page for page it probably wasn't that bad.
waiting patiently for the sequel. very patiently
:(

creeb's review against another edition

4.5

alyoshka ☹️☹️☹️☹️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️