The Brothers Karamazov

And what a story: It is (among many things) a satire of human corruption, a meditation on faith and religious institutions in an age of skepticism, a murder mystery involving love triangles, a courtroom thriller and in the end a testament to the goodness and bravery humans are capable of.

The story follows the lives of old man Karamazov, a filthy penny-pinching lech and his three sons. Each son represents a different side to the Russian character: Dimitri the spoiled lout (or the prodigal son), Ivan the tortured intellect, and Alyosha the spiritual searcher.

Alyosha, Dostoevsy says, is our hero. And he does represent a certain Christian ideal. He, in the end, stands for brotherhood and meekness in the face of temptation. These qualities, no doubt, are what Dostoevsky suggests will preserve and redeem the Russian nation. All around Alyosha is the carnage caused by people who are not awake to this truth -- and they wallow in suffering.

This book, the last Dostoevsky wrote, also presents an intricate political/religious landscape. We see Russia on the brink of socialist forment, and the church is not spared in the skepitism of characters like Ivan, who, in the 'Grand Inquisitor' chapter, presents the most spine tingling critique of organized religion I've ever read.

But, after 800 pages Brothers Karamazov is a book that burns so brightly and is so capable of moving a reader that the book's cost will seem paltry and the reader who comes through will find his or her knowledge of the human soul expanded. A+.


Speaks uniquely to each reader   September 26, 2003
Chris Salzer (Gainesville, GA United States)
69 out of 87 found this review helpful

For starters, nothing can be said that would truly do this sublime work of fiction any true justice. That being said, The Brothers Karamazov engenders a veritable cornucopia of raw emotions and thoughts unequaled in the world of literature. Dostoevsky brings into question faith, justice, sin, redemption, depravity, suffering, & justice via an extraordinary confluence of pure, unbridled genius. Unlike many other acclaimed classics, The Brothers Karamazov precipitates perpetual trenchant introspection and leaves you pondering the complex dynamics of the novel well upon completion.

Entering the book and have previously read Crime & Punishment and Notes From the Underground, I knew I would be in for an intense and provocative voyage into profundity - the likes of which are unique to the penmanship of Dostoevsky. I also thought it might possibly be a bit dull and centered solely upon the brothers and their infamous tale of parricide. Needless to say, I could not have been more erroneous in my judgment. Case in point, I found the insidiously deceptive bastard son Smerdyakov to be without question the most intriguing and underestimated of all of the characters.

This morosely despairing, yet strangely effervescent tale of deceit, love, murder, and mayhem will truly be one of the best works of fiction that you will be fortunate to have read in your lifetime. Just be prepared to delve into it with your full undivided attention. Alas, this, my friends, is no beach read.

"Where there is no God, all is permitted." - Dostoevsky


Can't see how this improves on Garnett   December 6, 2005
L. Benjamin (Savannah, GA)
57 out of 64 found this review helpful

I don't speak Russian, nor do I have access to the original Russian text. My only point of comparison is the Constance Garnett translation we all grew up with. I purchased this version based on the glowing recommendations that it rendered Garnett obsolete, that without being aware of it, I was actually reading "Garnett" rather than "Dostoyevsky."

All translators must find a balance between literal meaning and clear expression, when these conflict with each other. I can only assume that the differences between Pevear/Volokhonsky and Garnett are due to choosing the literal meaning of certain words and phrases. Where these clash with my vivid memory of Garnett's translation, even after many years, I cannot help but wonder where the improvement lies.

Captain Snegiryov, referred to as the "wisp of tow" in Garnett, is a "whiskbroom" here. This corrects an archaism at the expense of poetry. The chapter "Strains," probably the actual title in Russian, was "Lacerations" in Garnett, a much more vivid image. Father Ferapont discusses, in Garnett, the difference between the "Holy Spirit" and the "Holy Ghost," terms familiar to all English speakers; here, "Holy Ghost" is rendered "Holispirit." What on earth is a "Holispirit?" I can only guess that in the original, the two terms were spelled nearly identically, occasioning this rendition. Finally, in Garnett's version of the meeting with Father Zossima, Fyodor Karamazov's quotation of "Blessed be the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck" is phrased slightly differently here, without the same impact.

The power and brilliance of the original work is still apparent; these are only minor issues. Nevertheless, they are annoying and detract in some small way from the entire experience of the novel. On the positive side, Dostoyevsky's references to issues of the day, which the modern reader would not be familiar with, are explained in the copious footnotes.


Make sure to check different translations   January 21, 2004
Erik Johnson
29 out of 32 found this review helpful

I read all the hype about Pevear's translation and decided to see for myself, reading large sections of the book and comparing sentence for sentence. Honestly, I liked the old Garnett translation better. The Pevear gets the style and tone a lot better, reads smoother, but on sections with deep emotional or religious signifigance seemed to miss the point, choosing phrasings and word substitutions that are confusing and hard to relate to. The style you can always reconstruct, but to read this book and not get a clear picture of the deep spiritual despair of some of the characters would be too bad.


the best translation   July 3, 2003
27 out of 27 found this review helpful

I'm not going to comment on the novel itself - I don't think anyone just casually stumbles on a book so famous, you already know something about what you're getting into. But I have to say this translation is the best I've read. I started with the Signet edition and switched to this one about 1/3 of the way through, and the improvement was obvious. A friend was reading the Oxford edition at the same time as me, and I preferred this one to the Oxford too. I found this translation to be very lively, with natural and believable storytelling. It also had a lot of little sylistic oddities that the Signet translation didn't - I assume they tried to "polish" Dostoevsky's writing style at the expense of his interesting voice. So if you want to read Karamazov but don't know what version to buy, get this one.