Book review: Brothers Karamazov

Fri, Jan 14 2022

I enjoyed this book a lot. Not necessarily for the character development, not even for the plot, but for the philosophical and religious ideas presented by Dostoevsky.

Whenever I think about this novel, one particular quote, uttered by one of the characters, comes to my mind:

"[Hell] is the suffering of being no longer able to love."

A book-dropping sentence. I remember reading that passage while commuting to work. I had to stop reading for the rest of the journey and marvel at the depth of that idea.

And there were more such memorable moments. Horrid scenes featuring death and decay (both physical and mental); characters expressing anger, nihilism, desperation.

Dostoevsky takes the reader on a deep dive into the psychology of the characters, depicting each of the main protagonists with such accuracy that they feel alive.

But there are downsides to this book, too.

There were moments where I felt that particularly the female characters were not given as much love by the author as the other aspects of the novel. They seemed out of touch, even downright annoying.

The finale of the novel left me with a longing for a sequel (one that Dostoevsky himself planned to write), but the last fifth of the book was so intense that I welcomed the ending's sentiment.

Even with its shortcomings, I'm not afraid to say that this book sees Dostoevsky at his best.