The Brothers Karamazov

Do you spend a lot of time thinking about God, morality, and the right way to live? If so, this is a book for you. I am not one of those people, but I do like to check the classics off my list, so here I am. The book tells the story of the titular siblings and their father, using them to examine various approaches to existence. The father, Fyodor, is a grotesque old man who badly mistreated both of his wives and completely neglected his children. He's spent his life amassing money, chasing women, and drinking. His latest obsession is a young woman called Grushenka, who he knows doesn't love him but hopes to entice into marriage with his money. His rival for her affections is his oldest son, Dmitri (also called Mitya). Dmitri is in some ways a chip off the old block in that he is a hardcore party boy, but he has zero money management skills and also is not complete trash as a human. He's desperate to get money to make a play for Grushenka before she takes up with his father but is already 3,000 rubles in the hole because he stole that amount from his fiancee, Katerina. Katerina loves Dmitri no more than he loves her. Rather, she loves the middle brother, Ivan. Ivan is highly intelligent and rational, rejecting the religious faith that drives the youngest brother, Alexei (almost always referred to as Alyosha). Alyosha is, when the story begins, a novice at a monastery and devoted to an Elder in the Orthodox church. The characters are richly drawn, with Alyosha the obvious hero but all three of them are interesting in their own ways. The plot is both sprawling and simple: tension builds, followed by a murder about halfway through, and then a trial. It's unwieldy and constantly wanders off down little theosophical side paths. I liked it much better than the first Dostoyevsky novel I tried (Crime & Punishment), but I don't know that I'd say that means I liked it in a global sense. There were things that I found compelling, primarily in terms of character development. The trial at the end is propulsive and very engaging. But ultimately there was just way more religion than I'm looking for in the sorts of stories I enjoy.

There is far too much in this book for a simple mind like mine to comprehend. As a straight read it frequently drags like molasses. For this I'd give it two stars. Many of the characters are deeply unlikeable, including at least one, and maybe two, of the brothers Karamazov. For them I'd give it two stars. But The Brothers Karamazov is far greater than any of this superficial stuff. I'm an uneducated lump, so I could only discern it vaguely and remotely. In fact, I had to read Nicholas Berdyaev's “Dostoevsky” to even begin to discern what Dostoevsky was getting at. That book itself was at least 90% over my head, an immensely difficult read, but the 10% I did comprehend shone a light on Dostoevsky and at last I was able to see a little into the vast depths of TBK. After all that, can I say I enjoyed it? Absolutely not. It's a mission to read. It is not light entertainment for a wet weekend. But it might be one of the greatest books I've ever read.

Desengane-se quem pensa que “Os irmãos Karamázov” é uma narrativa linear e de fácil leitura e interpretação. Trata-se de uma obra longa e pesada, mas que em nada diminui a grandeza e genialidade deste romance.

O livro desenrola-se ao longo de doze livros, em que o enredo se torna cada vez mais cativante e onde se disserta sobre importantes temas filosóficos, sobre religião, livre-arbítrio, moralidade mas também sobre a Rússia czarista e as fragilidades das suas gentes e dos seus sistemas.

Foi dos livros que mais me cativou à medida que ia avançando na sua narrativa, e que se tornou nas leituras mais importantes (e até educativas) que fiz recentemente.