The Brothers Karamazov

It is always a great feeling when one picks up a classic story and really enjoys it, so it was with the Russian heavyweight author Fyodor Dostoevsky in his all-time great, The Brothers Karamazov.  This book has it all!  It connects religion, philosophy, tragedy, and a fight within our own human condition.  I have always enjoyed the Russian novelist’s works, this was no different.  The story centers around a family, a father and the sons he raised with different wives. We are introduced to the three brothers who are very different in their beliefs and how they approach life during the course of their lives; the role of religion, and how it influences and repulses each of the brothers.  The story is broken into twelve chapters and an epilogue (probably differs by the translation).  The relationships between father and sons include feuding, a love triangle, greed, anguish, and lead to an unexpected death of the father… but who caused the death, was it a murder?  Russian thought and dogma are presented with rational and nihilistic perspectives.  Is their free choice or are things guided by a God – great depth of thinking and presentation especially through the venue of a family of disparate individuals.  Once the father dies, each of the brothers look inwardly to think through their actions and thoughts and wonder if they (individually) were his killer, whether through real action or through their own wishful (for one) thought process.  Thinking through a father’s murder, does that make a man guilty?  What are these thoughts we have even if we aren’t the murderer?  And then the story comes to conclude with the trial and where each brother falls into their own conclusion about themselves, their relationships, their motives, and their shortcomings.  I completely understand why Freud loved this story, it has complex characters connected to a bond of blood, yet are so different in so many ways and levels.  Dostoevsky can write!  He creates the human flaw and emotes true feeling through his characters.  There is so much subtext and meaning that it makes for a difficult read.  Life is not easy, nor are the characters who “strut and fret upon the stage” and like the father “are here no more.”  An all-time classic which deserves to be read, though I will admit, you really need to pay attention, and be able to put this book down and come back when you are ready.  Not an easy read.  I can’t imagine how much is lost in the translation.  Masterful story!