Fyodor Dostoevsky

[Beerfish]

I just finished reading Crime and Punishment, my 1st novel from Dostoevksy that was sitting on my book shelf for some time. I enjoyed it quite a bit though he does of a habit of going off on mini tangents at time.

The story line was quite good but as with most books I read it is the characters, especially the ancillary characters that shine. (One reason I'm such a Dickens fan.) From this book I added another character to my little internal hall of fame list in this regard, that being Porfiry Petrovich the police detective.

Another good feature of the book was that the protagonist (the ultimate anti hero) and how he should be viewed was not thrust down the readers throat, it was pretty well left up to the reader to make up your mind about him. Raskolnikov would be worth about 3 volumes in a psych study as he seemed to have almost every mental illness in the book.

I'll for sure pick up some more books from this author.

[lily_kh87]

I have Crime and Punishment on my to read list. I have heard a lot about it and it seems an interesting novel.

[Dashkova]

I've read two of Dosteovskys novels now - Crime and Punishment & The Brothers Karamazov.

I have to go against general opinion and say that I found it difficult to enjoy these novels. The writing was nothing out of the ordinary, and I felt like I didn't get much out of the stories. I feel like I'm really missing something, given the reputation of all of these works and the fact that many of my favourite authors cite his work as their inspiration - perhaps these are novels I need to come back to when I have had a bit more 'life experience.'

All I can say for now is that when reading his novels, I don't feel like I'm reading a story as much as an essay about Psychology and Philosophy. And of course I love novels to have these types of nuggets stored inside them - but I'd rather have to go digging for them inside a well-written and in-depth story arc.

I do feel quite bad for having a negative view of such a prolific writer.. I'm just not 'getting it.'

Same. I have only read the Brothers Karamazov and it's one of the few books I could actually not bring myself to finish, I was more than halfway through it and just had to make the decision to close it and put it away on my shelf for forever(I googled how it ended lol). I have been told that the person who translated mine is known for having done a 'boring' job with it so maybe it's her fault. I do agree too that it felt more like reading philosophy and theology essays than it did an actual story and I feel like my issue with that is that it's very dated, like maybe the ideas in it were very revolutionary and ground-breaking in 1880 when it first came out but not-so-much in this day and age and so it's not very impactful for a lot of modern readers.

I'm obsessed with Russian history and it makes me too feel bad about not enjoying such a literary Russian staple but hey if something doesn't grab you, it doesn't grab you I guess.

[DATo]

I just finished Dostoyevsky's The House OF The Dead. It is a very accessible and thinly veiled memoir of Dostoyevsky's time spent in a Siberian prison camp. I can easily endorse it for reading to anyone interested in reading a more superficial novel by this author. I say "novel" because for political reasons Dostoyevsky could not publish this as nonfiction but it is certainly laced with his own experiences of the four years he spent in Siberia.

[Taylor Razzani]

I've read two of Dosteovskys novels now - Crime and Punishment & The Brothers Karamazov.

I have to go against general opinion and say that I found it difficult to enjoy these novels. The writing was nothing out of the ordinary, and I felt like I didn't get much out of the stories. I feel like I'm really missing something, given the reputation of all of these works and the fact that many of my favourite authors cite his work as their inspiration - perhaps these are novels I need to come back to when I have had a bit more 'life experience.'

All I can say for now is that when reading his novels, I don't feel like I'm reading a story as much as an essay about Psychology and Philosophy. And of course I love novels to have these types of nuggets stored inside them - but I'd rather have to go digging for them inside a well-written and in-depth story arc.

I do feel quite bad for having a negative view of such a prolific writer.. I'm just not 'getting it.'

Same. I have only read the Brothers Karamazov and it's one of the few books I could actually not bring myself to finish, I was more than halfway through it and just had to make the decision to close it and put it away on my shelf for forever(I googled how it ended lol). I have been told that the person who translated mine is known for having done a 'boring' job with it so maybe it's her fault. I do agree too that it felt more like reading philosophy and theology essays than it did an actual story and I feel like my issue with that is that it's very dated, like maybe the ideas in it were very revolutionary and ground-breaking in 1880 when it first came out but not-so-much in this day and age and so it's not very impactful for a lot of modern readers.

I'm obsessed with Russian history and it makes me too feel bad about not enjoying such a literary Russian staple but hey if something doesn't grab you, it doesn't grab you I guess.

Did you ever consider reading some of his shorter works? Maybe it will be more enjoyable and it won't seem like it is dragging. I don't remember much of The Brothers Karamazov except it took me forever and it wasn't one of my favorites! Notes from the Underground was pretty good if you ever want to try again. I love Dostoevsky but I can understand that his books are really slow at times and nothing seems to be happening, so they can be tough to get through.

[David_Fields]

I recently read "A novel in 9 letters", I felt like a detective, putting the dates and the references together. It was a blast.

[Cyndel Maria]

I envy your Dostoevsky reads. Many of his books are on my to-read list, my interest in him is similar to that of Kafka: I just want to pick their brains and see what makes them think the way they do.

[constantine265]

I read the Double, Crime and Punishment, the Idiot, the Gambler, the brothers Karamazov, and I probably forgot some that I did. My favorites are the notes from the underground and white nights.

[Lincoln]

i just finished dostoevsky's book, "the idiot". it's amazing. it's just disappointing that not a lot of people have read this book. and it's even less popular than dostoevsky's other work, "crime and punishment". i haven't read that one but i'm sure that if people recognize c&p as one of the best classics, the idiot should receive the same recognition.

It is great. He was a master at crafting these situations, though it can be laborious to read.

[Mallory Porshnev]

He is a very talented write, but not the easiest to read. I did read Crime and Punishment. It was okay for me. I think The Brothers Karamazov is amazing.

[nicole-adrianne]

Crime and Punishment is my favorite book. Raskolnikov's theory about a select group of people that were free from average moral constraints, and watching him battle his own belief in that philosophy internally was fascinating. Also, Razumikhin is adorable. I can't wait to read more Dostoevsky!

[Nikolas Farmakis]

I have heard of Dostoevsky and I think he is an interesting writer and an intriguing personality.

[Nikolas Farmakis]

Unfortunately, I have not read any of his books yet, but I plan to do so in the future.

[Bigwig1973]

I've read all the works by Dostoevsky that you mentioned. I participated in an independent study on Dostoevsky when I was getting my B.A. House of the Dead is perhaps my favorite. Your quote is very interesting. It reminds me of the song by Seal entitled "Crazy" when he sings "while those around him criticize and sleep" and later "miracles will happen as we speak". Masons supposedly used hand signals of some sort, sigh language paranoia, lip reader paranoia, people who believe in mental telepathy... Or, the ole sucker type move where you keep someone busy so then you can rob them, or more complex systems of creating paranoia which could result in an almost sleep like state or a stupor, perhaps similar to the way a mouse reacts to being surrounded by cats. The mouse appears to be "sleeping" and if someone were writing on behalf of the mouse, the things it sees. Or, even a reference to Azazel, as described in the film "Fallen". If you've ever accidentally stepped on your dog or cats paw or tail and it yelps or cries, to whom is it crying? Or, I had a dog who hated cats, then he learned to like/tolerate them, then a neighbor dog came by and they started killing kittens. I knew because I heard the kittens crying so I ran to their "rescue". What if I hadn't been there? What is the point of them crying? Sleeping or dreaming can potentially have different meanings. Incidentally, a woman once advised that one should not awaken sleepwalkers as they can become very dangerous. I haven't read a lot of Nietzsche, just some of Beyond Good and Evil and I didn't know he had said that of Dostoevsky. I wonder why? I've read a couple different translations of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov and I felt that the translations made a significant difference. Notes From Underground is very good also.