The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) – This book was way too long. The story could have been told in a quarter of what was written. For me there was too much talking. The philosophies of the characters were way too long. I can understand the desire to write this book as a way to explain different views on life, religion and politics. But it wasn’t very relevant to me and so I lost interest. Dostoevsky still does a great job explaining the characters. They are very definite in their characteristics and as I read about them I can picture them very clearly. There are very good descriptions, not only of the people but of the places and situations, throughout this book. The descriptions of the philosophies are too long, but of all the other things it is quite interesting. Some characters I enjoy and others I hate. My opinions were formed very quickly and easily because of the descriptions. The writing style almost changes throughout the book. The entire story is a collection of twelve short books. I can tell the Dostoevsky wrote the different books throughout a long period of time. It all flows together, but going from one book to the next it is a little disjointed. The ending is not at all what I wanted it to be. I can see it coming and I started to get angry at how I know it will turn out. It’s a little disappointing that it ends in the way it does, but it couldn’t be helped. That’s just how it is and I’m sure Dostoevsky had a point in writing it like he did. The epilogue doesn’t end in a way that makes sense. It just sort of drops off. I didn’t learn anything further about the characters that I didn’t already know. Generally the epilogue will carry the story a little further to satisfy the curiosity of the reader, but in this case it did not satisfy any desires I had about what happens later to the characters. In all this is a good book if you want to read about Dostoevsky’s views on politics, religion and life in Russia. Otherwise, read something more interesting.

Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) – This was very interesting. The first two parts were very difficult to read. I had a hard time understanding what was going on and who the characters were. Part of the problem was to understand the names of the characters. Each of them has five different names they can go by and I never found any rhyme or reason as to when they were used. But the story was very good. It takes you into the mind of a criminal and how he justified his actions. It brings you into his thoughts and his reasoning. I really could not relate to the character at all, but as I read into his thoughts I could understand his point of view. I really liked how the characters were all interwoven in some way. There was a complexity that brought them close together. A big part of this book was trying to understand why he did it and why he couldn’t handle the pressure of his secret. He was overtaken with the guilt, yet at the same time he convinced himself that what he did was not a crime. The action was merely to bring about a greater good and new ruling. In the end he realized that he was not one of the “Great Ones” that could step over into greatness. I particularly liked the ending in the epilogue; it really concluded the story and brought about the ending that any reader would want. (1860s)