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A review by towercity
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
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.