The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Read for: Book club, The Orbis Terrarum Challenge – Russia, and The 1% Well Read Challenge
I’m not really sure what to say about this book. I’ll start with a short summary but there is so much going on that it’s not really going to cover much! The book is basically about 3 brothers (possibly four – an illegitimate son who is never confirmed to actually be one of the brothers) and their dead beat dad. The first half of the book introduces us to the characters and their relationship with their father (and a whole bunch of other stuff – political and theological ideologies and such.) Finally, halfway through the book, the father is murdered. The evidence points almost entirely to one of the brothers but as the reader, I had a hard time believing it was him. The second half of the book is dedicated to the gathering of evidence and the trial with a weird side story that I’m still unsure as to how it was connected to the main story.
First of all this book was LOOONG and there were a lot of parts that really dragged. I found myself reading the same sentence over and over several times and still not gleaning any meaning out of it. I have to admit that there were a few (a very few though) times that I allowed myself to skip a few pages of this. It took me two whole weeks to read this book, which for me, even with this many pages, is a really long time. I think if I’d had more time to read this week, I might have been able to get more involved in the story and might have enjoyed it more. (We moved this week though, so maybe not the best time to read this one!)
But, there were times in the novel that is was interesting and I felt compelled to continue reading. I can see why this is a classic and why it’s stood the test of time, I’m just not sure it was the time in my life to pick it up and get the full experience. I think it’s one that needs to be read without any interruptions and in a very quiet room. (Which, with two little boys is so not happening at this house! My best reading did seem to occur after they had gone to bed and my husband was at work.)
I didn’t really enjoy this book but as I mentioned before I think it was all about timing.
Tags: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russia
October 11th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I’ve not read this book, but always considered it to be a “classic”, or, if you read it, you’ll love it.
I really should give it a shot sometime soon, for I’ve not read anything by Dostoevsky, and this seems like a good place to start!
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October 12th, 2009 at 11:39 am
wow…that’s quite an undertaking, to be sure. somehow, i dodged the russian tome bullet while in college–no idea how! i keep thinking that i’ll pick one up and give it a whirl…but i never seem to have the time or focus.
sorry this one didn’t work for you…i’m going to steer clear too!
February 4th, 2011 at 10:57 pm
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