Karamazov Brothers (Wordsworth Classics)

Great value! s expected

I'd been looking for audio CD's of The Brothers Karamazov for ages. This was the only copy available anywhere. And brand-new, nicely packaged, and delivered on time. Perfect. Thanks.

The Brothers Karamazov is classic story. While Fyodor Dostoevsky is not easy to read, this book is worth the effort. I was looking for a readable used copy at a reasonable price and this copy was exactly that.

The Borthers Karamazov is a dense philosophical novel, of the sort only Dostoyevsky is capable of writing. It is often acclaimed to be his best work. The tale is set in 1800s Russia, consisting of: three brothers, their amoral father, and a tragic murder. Each brother represents a worldview. Dmitri, the eldest, is the hedonistic sensualist, who while he may claim to believe in God, lives subject to his impulsive passions. Middle child Ivan is the atheist intellectual who sports the “everything is permissible” moral ideology Dostoyevsky is most critical of, though Ivan thankfully does not live by the philosophy he promotes. Only the sickly Smerdyakov has the courage to fully enact the conclusions of Ivan’s worldview. Alyosha, the youngest, represents the Christian worldview as he follows in the vein of his great Elder Father Zossima, who I can only gather sports much of Dostoyevsky’s personal beliefs: sacrificial living, the brotherhood of humanity, the forgiveness and the suffering modeled by Jesus. So by clothing worldviews in human flesh, The Brothers Karamazov is truly a unique way to study beliefs and the implications of those beliefs. Dostoyevsky cleverly disguises his thinking as a novel, which makes him free to delve into the natural consequences of each worldview, show what happens when they clash with each other, and give a clue as to which holds the keys to deliverance in the future. He also displays an incredible cross-section of the complexity of the human mind, as well as the contradictory natures that are in the best and worst of us. And while Brothers Karamazov is a profound work, and rightly recognized as such, I admit that I struggled to fully understand and appreciate the weight of Dostoyevsky’s writing. I could track with the plot, and could identify the characters, I could even discern some of the undertones—but upon finishing the book I could only feel that I left sufficient meat on the bone. Without giving too many more spoilers, I could not understand why Dostoyevsky ended it the way that he did, or why the verdict of the trial was the way that it was, or why certain things befell certain characters. There is much in this book that I KNEW had a deeper meaning to, but for whatever reason went over my head. Still, I will not lower the rating of this book due to my own limitations. Dostoyevsky is an incredible thinker, and while I personally found Crime and Punishment to be more enjoyable and discernible—Brothers Karamazov is still worthy of the praise it garners.

Great read, in any era.

From beginning to end this book is deep but nicely written and detailed in story. It keeps your brain off the reality around you and brings you into a different perspective and world.

Arrived damaged and worn

I had read The Brothers Karamazov a few years ago. Recently I read it again. This time, as I read the book, I read commentary on it in Dostoevsky's biography by Joseph Frank, in parallel. In Dostoevsky's books, particularly in his four masterpieces, each character is a school, and each situation an argument. While reading the book there were times when I felt I was reading Les Miserables (Victor Hugo), or Crime and Punishment, or The Demons, or The Idiot - the last three of these I had read in the run up to this book. Having read the book before, I knew the plot. The rivalry, the murder, and the trial, therefore, did not claim my attention at the cost of the book's message. The book is an amazing disputation between faith and reason. To get the most out of this book, read it twice, with a gap of a few years in between.

One of my favourite reads. Dostoevsky captures the complexities of human nature with extraordinary depth and compassion. It’s a slow burn, but each page offers something meaningful — a true classic for readers who enjoy thought-provoking literature.

The Karamazov Brothers (Os Irmãos Karamázov), de Fiódor Dostoiévski, é um clássico absoluto da literatura russa que combina drama familiar, investigação moral e reflexões filosóficas profundas. A história gira em torno da família Karamázov, explorando conflitos, paixões, culpa, fé e justiça, enquanto questiona a natureza humana e os dilemas éticos da vida. O grande diferencial da obra é a profundidade psicológica dos personagens e a habilidade de Dostoiévski em abordar temas universais de maneira intensa e envolvente. É ideal para leitores que apreciam romances complexos, com múltiplas camadas de significado e questionamentos sobre moralidade, religião e responsabilidade pessoal. Uma leitura desafiadora, mas extremamente recompensadora.

Ver very very small fonts, painful to read.

En perfecto estado

'द सुप्रीम समिट ऑफ आल लिटरेचर' यह बात आइंस्टाइन ने फ्योदोर दॉस्तोएव्स्की के उपन्यास 'द करामज़ोव ब्रदर्स' के बारे में कही थी। यह कृति दॉस्तोएव्स्की की magnum opus कही जाती है। मैंने आज इसको पढ़ कर ख़त्म किया। लगभग तीन सप्ताह तक इसको पढ़ता रहा क्योंकि यह बड़ी पुस्तक है... 'वॉर एंड पीस' के बाद सबसे वृहद पुस्तक है, 96 अध्याय और चार लाख शब्दों की. बड़े का दूसरा अर्थ ज़्यादा महत्त्वपूर्ण है कि यह कितने गम्भीर अर्थों में यह प्रभावित करती है। आध्यात्मिकता, ईश्वर प्रेम और सांसारिक झमेले इन सबका ऐसा रसायन जिसको साधना सबके बूते की बात नहीं है। लगभग 100 पात्रों की यह रचना हर पात्र से आपका परिचय कराती है, बिल्कुल डिंस्टिंक्टनेस से। वे याद रह जाते हैं। उनके चेहरे के भाव से लेकर उनके अन्दर चल रही उठा-पटक सब आप देख पाते हैं। उनकी सामाजिक-व्यक्तिगत स्थिति और उनके चरित्र का सम्बन्ध एकदम साफ खुल जाता है आपके सामने। कहानी पर जाना न तो सम्भव है न ठीक है लेकिन जिसको भी 900 पेज़ में फैली एक कहानी पढ़ने का धीरज हो, उसे पढ़ना चाहिए। मुझे पढ़ते समय एक साथ यह महसूस होता रहा कि कब ख़त्म होगी... काश ख़त्म न हो। बच्चों से डील करने का क्या तरीक़ा हो, झूठ को क्यों न अपना चरित्र बनाएं, इस पर इससे बेहतर अन्तर्दृष्टियाँ शायद ही कहीं मिलें। पुस्तक के चार छोटे-बड़े उद्धरण नीचे हैं जो मुझे बहुत अच्छे लगे। आपको तय करना है कि यह जिन प्रसंगों में आये होंगे वे कितने अच्छे होंगे या पुस्तक में किस हद तक मथकर निकले हैं। 1)Love children especially, for they too are sinless like the angels; they live to soften and purify our hearts and, as it were, to guide us. 2) Every day and every hour, every minute, walk round yourself and watch yourself, and see that your image is a seemly one. You pass by a little child, you pass by, with ugly words, with wrathful heart; you may not have noticed the child, but he has seen you, and your image, unseemly and ignoble, may remain in his defenceless heart. You don't know it, but you may have sown an evil seed in him and it may grow, and all because you were not careful before the child, because you didn't foster in yourself a careful, actively benevolent love. 3) Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others. Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to passions and coarse pleasures in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices reaches complete beastiality, and it all comes form lying continually to others and himself. A man who lies to himself is often the first to take offense. it sometimes feels very good to take offense, doesn't it? And surely he knows that no one has offended him, and that he himself has invented the offense and told lies just for the beauty of it, that he has exaggerated for the sake of effect, that he has picked up on a word and made a mountain out of a pea--he knows all of that, and still he is the first to take offense, he likes feeling offended, it gives him great pleasure, and thus he reaches the point of real hostility... 4) You must know that there is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and good for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home. People talk to you a great deal about your education, but some good, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a man carries many such memories with him into life, he is safe to the end of his days, and if one has only one good memory left in one's heart, even that may sometime be the means of saving us.