The Brothers Karamazov (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

I read this large book in regular short periods and despite its numerous long dialogues found myself always eager to find out what was happening on the next page. It is a great classic worth reading.
It was written between 1878-9 and is the last of Dostoyevsky (1821-81). Many events that featured in the author's life are reflected in this book. Dostoyevsky's father was head physician in a hospital and was apparently murdered by some serfs on his estate. In the book, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, the father of the brothers, is presented as a landowner with a few servants and is murdered in curious circumstances. Dostoyevsky studied at the Military Engineering College in St Petersburg, was some years later arrested for political offences against the Russian state and sentenced to penal servitude in Siberia; he was widowed of his first wife; in the meantime he became addicted to gambling, and was rescued in his mid forties from his various debts by his twenty-year-old stenographer, who became his second wife. Elements of this, transformed, feature in the characterisation of the eldest brother Mitya Karamazov. Dostoyevsky had four children by this younger wife, two of whom died very young; his son Aleksey died in 1878 at the age of two soon after which this book was begun. This death is reflected at the end of the book by the death of the poor boy Ilyushenchka. Whereas the name Aleksey or Alyosha is given to the youngest of the brothers Karamazov. He is the most attractive personality in the work; he is a humble and intelligent young man with the soul of an innocent child; a mystic who goes to reside in the local monastery, where he attaches himself to the elder Zozima, until the latter's death, which occurs shortly before the murder. Zozima is presented as a priest-monk with the reputation of a wise saint, but who curiously gets on quite well with the absurd and immoral father Karamazov when the family fights out a dispute in his cell. Alyosha's older brother Ivan Karamazov is an intellectual who is mentally tortured by, among others, the question whether there is a God. From his mouth comes the famous fable of the Grand Inquisitor, who arrests Jesus when he appears, because people cannot cope with the freedom that he preaches. Ivan also says that he wants to return his ticket to God for he does not want part in a salvation that requires the extreme and unjust suffering of children and others that goes on in the world. Yet, Ivan's own statement that `all things are lawful' will turn out very detrimental, and eventually he will encounter the devil in his hallucinations. Then there is the furtive figure of Smerdyakov, who is the bastard son of Karamazov, though never formerly recognized as such by the latter. The brothers are of course involved with females, who are described in detail as well. Many characters in this book are tainted by weakness, they are inconsistent, sometimes malicious, and they disappoint, even perhaps Zozima. Worth mentioning is that when Zozima narrates his life he is made to express the vision that all creatures have been given a purpose in life, are turned towards God and are expressive of a great mystery. All creatures except human beings know the path they have to follow. The book's finale, however, following Ilyushenchka's funeral, is a magnificent and ecstatic speech of Alyosha to the schoolboys. It is a statement of faith and love and a recognition of the magnificence of life, despite all, if one is willing to do some good and upright thing. But it does not wipe out the doubt, tragedy, irony and ambivalence that has featured throughout the book.

If I remember well, in Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, there's a character that says that "The Brothers Karamazov" is the only book one has to read, because everything's in it.
This is the mos apropriate comment I've ever read on this book: From the live of the Starets Zossima, to the impressive tale of the Grand Inquisitor, and the incredible dialogue of Ivan and the devil, the book is filled with memorable scenes and reflections that will stick to your memory forever.
The characters are complex (as in any major Dostoyevsky book), deep, and deeply distressed, and every usual theme of Dostoyevsky's works is here, and it's at its best...
The great masterpiece of one of the best writers in the history of universal literature.

Dostoeyvsky's last novel is a huge doorstopper of a tome and probably his most ambitious work. The theme of religion looms large with Dostoyevsky confronting the chaos and despair that comes from the absence of God. Ivan Karamazov says: "without God, all is permitted" and this becomes one of the key preoccupations of the book.

Dostoevsky goes into typically tortuous detail on the motivations of his characters, nothing is as simple as it seems, and all actions are subjected to the most intense scrutiny. Dmitry Karamazov in particular is a hugely contradictory character in the classic Dostoyevskian mode, capable of great tenderness and utter selfishness, conscience-ridden but often utterly amoral, passion-crazed and self-destructive. Alyosha Karamazov, on the other hand, is another embodiment of the "holy fool" type character beloved of Dostoyevsky.

Alyosha aside, however, Dostoyevsky goes out of his way to depict the duality of his characters natures, showing their enormous capacity for good alongside a similar disposition towards evil and, while this may serve to illustrate Dostoyevsky's view of human nature, it does lead to much unfathomable erraticism in their behaviour. The mood changes many of the characters undergo are little short of psychotic. "Frenziedly" and "hysterically" are two much overused adverbs in this novel. Dostoyevsky's characters seem always on the edge of hysteria, perhaps reflecting his own character. I found this occasionally trying, especially towards the beginning, but as the novel progresses it gains a momentum of its own and interest centres on the themes of redemption, guilt, suffering, to name but a few.

In general, this novel is of a more optimistic tone than Dostoyevsky's earlier work such as "Crime and Punishment". This is especially evident in the scenes involving little Illyusha and his classmates, as they fall under the influence of Alyosha. This subplot provides the most moving scenes in the book.

"The Brothers Karamazov" is a huge, meandering study of human psychology and what has become known as Existentialism. It is sometimes moving, sometimes provocative and sometimes, in my view, unfocused. It may well be, as has been said, one of the great novels of world literature but it is probably most likely to be appreciated by those who enjoyed Dostoyevsky's other works. It is less accessible than "Crime and Punishment", but more rounded in its view of humanity.
I have not read any other translations than this one, by David McDuff, so I can't compare but the language here often struck me as odd. To give the only example I can recall offhand, the phrase "like a blow of a knife" is used somewhere near the end. This, and other phrases used in this translation, I found somewhat jarring.