lynneelue 's review for:

The Karamazov Brothers by Fyodor Dostoevsky

3.0

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It felt like this was two separate books. A huge chunk of this book was characters engaging in philosophical and religious conversations. I thought about why this was important, and partly I think the author was using this as a platform to work through ideas he was very interested in. Partly, too, though, the characters' beliefs underpin their actions. For example, Ivan clearly thinks through a lot of theory to better understand the world around him and hours under character. And because this demonstrates him as such a thoughtful character, it sort of makes him crazy by the end. And it's more tragic that he, an "intelligent person", is outwitted.

I did enjoy the plot and the ever-worsening downward spiral of Dmitry's mistakes. It was fun to root for a character who was stupid but had good intentions. He felt so human. I also enjoyed finding out what happened and then seeing how the court trial plays out wrongly.

The format of the book was cool--it was serialized so each book felt like a separate thematic piece. We got to examine the characters individually and as a familial relationship. The chapter titles were perfectly attuned to the most relevant part of the chapter. The Oxford translation had some good footnotes to better understand Russian history.