Snoozy Review - The Brothers Karamazov

Tackling a real doozy today! The Brothers Karamzov is perhaps the most acclaimed novel by everyone's favorite Russian, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Like most of his works, The Brothers K uses a complex array of characters and events to illuminate philosophical arguments about life, love, and the human psyche. This novel is particularly ambitious in its attempts to address universal moral questions, such as the nature of good and evil and the existence of a good God. Evidently, it's not exactly the ideal beach read--but I'll include some highlights here, and maybe you'll be inspired to pick this book up on your next rainy, existential day. Read on!

Review: The Brothers Karamazov 

Author and Year:
Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1880

Finished just about four months before his death, this book is truly Dostoevsky's magnum opus. 

Plot:

The Brothers Karamazov opens with the brief origin story of three brothers (four, if you count the strongly suggested illegitimate son). They've all unfortunately been born to Fyodor Karamazov, the dankest goon of a father on the block. Due to their father's shenanigans and other life circumstances, all the brothers grow up apart from each other and develop starkly different personalities. Fast forward 20 years and a situation concerning an inheritance, a monastery, and an apparently really attractive woman reunite all four for a plot that wildly expands until it hits the book's breaking point: a murder. 

By The Cover:

This book took me so long to read that I ended up switching between two different copies--the first was borrowed from the university library, so it was just a green leather bound. The one pictured here is the Norton Critical Edition--not the most fitting image, in my opinion, but I guess it captures the setting okay. 

First Line: 

"Alexey Fyodorovich Karamazov was the third son of Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, a landowner well known in our district in his own day (and still remembered among us) owing to his tragic and obscure death, which happened exactly thirteen years ago and which I shall describe in its proper place."

Quite a mouthful, but it does it gets the expositionary job done. Though the topics he deals with are some of the most difficult in literature, I think Dostoevsky himself actually writes with a pretty straightforward tone. In this opening line, you can also see an example of his common usage of an unnamed first-person narrator--what some say is a foreshadowing of the modernist movement.

Last Line: 
"'And eternally so, all our lives hand in hand! Hurrah for Karamazov!' Kolya cried once more ecstatically and once more all the boys joined in his exclamation."

*sniff*

A Quote:
"As he fell asleep he prayed for Mitya and Ivan. He began to understand Ivan's illness. 'The anguish of proud determination. A deep conscience!'..."

Aargh! 

Favorite Part:

Anything and everything to do with the troupe of young boys Alyosha assembles. The parts of the book about them are sweet, heartbreaking, and perfect intermissions after some more intense events (especially at the end). 

Least Favorite Part:

Maybe the entire 25%-50% portion of the book. LOL just kidding, but seriously, blindly reading through this for the first time destroyed me. It's one of those books that gets better as soon as you've read the whole thing and can process it beyond pure plot points. 

Final Comments:

I always want to add more classics to my list of books, so I'm really happy I got through this one. I actually finished the Brothers Karamazov last summer, at a point in my life where I was seeking wisdom and courage for a lot of things. On that note, finishing The Brothers Karamazov is one of the strongest memories I made that summer--not just because of the act of finishing the book itself, but because of the grand sense of peace, closure, and hope I felt when I closed the cover. A must-read for anyone who thinks about life to any degree, and or maybe just wants to read one book they can mull on a long time. It's quite an investment of time and mental energy, but if you dig Dostoevsky's style, it's absolutely worth the commitment. So for that reason, The Brothers K is the only book I've reviewed on the Snoozy Cat so far to get a rating of...

Rating: 5/5