Book review - The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Rich.

Endless.

Full of living, vivid people.

Sharp, honest reality.

This nearly 2-month read gave an unflinching look at flawed humanity, which feels authentic in this curated world.

It is the eighth and final novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. A full trove of emotions, drama, action, history, and charm of 19th-century Russia!! 

Dostoevsky’s deep look into the mind—especially feelings of fear, guilt, emptiness, and isolation—fits today’s world, where many of us face anxiety, identity issues, and constant information overload, making this book feel surprisingly modern and relatable.

The Brothers Karamazov is part murder mystery, part courtroom drama, and it breaks almost every “rule” of fiction. At its core, it’s an intense study of rivalry, played out through a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons: the impulsive Dmitri, the coldly rational Ivan, and the gentle young novice Alyosha.

Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky captures the whole of Russian life as both social and spiritual striving, set in a time that was at once a golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.

The unfinished story - with a funeral and a developing escape plan- left me thinking of all the possibilities the book offers and about all the paths these characters might have taken. Yet, despite its unresolved ending, the book leaves me with a curiously uplifting note: a statement of faith and everlasting remembrance — that a change, for the better, is always the best hope this life has to offer.

I recommend patience reading with this one!!


Quotes from the book-

The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others.

The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.

It’s not God that I do not accept, you understand, it is this world of God’s, created by God, that I do not accept and cannot agree to accept.

I can see the sun, but even if I cannot see the sun, I know that it exists. And to know that the sun is there - that is living.

Besides, nowadays, almost all capable people are terribly afraid of being ridiculous, and are miserable because of it.


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