I think The Brothers Karamazov was one of the best and most interesting books I have read so far, and I think it does a great job combining both a well-written fictional story and philosophical views coming in from the author. This book, in fact, got me much more interested in reading fiction stories, and encouraged me to finish Crime and Punishment, a book I started before TBK but did not finish until after TBK.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky successfully captures the conflict between man vs man, man vs society, and man vs self, all three of which are present in the novel. From immaculate details to how characters interact with one another, this book sucked me in and kept me in and made me lose track of time. And the lessons from this book are something to consider and learn from as well.
**SPOILERS AHEAD!**
The Brothers Karamazov was one of the most extensive books I have ever read. While copies vary in text-size and page numbers, it took me around a month and a half to finish the story, and I was reading almost every night.
There are 4 parts and an epilogue, and the 4 parts are divided into "books", which themselves are divided into chapters.
I won't be going through the story of the book because of how large it is (it would take forever to summarize, plus there is a sparknotes on it) But I will be writing about some key themes which rise up in the story. The first one is about the Grand Inquisitor.
I have originally written about this in a blog post, but what happens is that Jesus comes back and arrives in 15th century Seville, Spain. He does some miracles until the Grand Inquisitor, a high-ranking member of the Catholic Church, orders for Jesus's arrest and imprisons Him.
The inquisitor then tells Him that His motives are against the church, and while He was tempted three times by Satan, Jesus rejected all three of them, securing free will for humanity. the Inquisitor argues that this was a bad idea, and argues that almost no one is strong enough to follow Him, and that
the people who don't follow him are damned to Hell. the Inquisitor argues that Jesus should've given humanity their bread instead of freedom, because with freedom humanity would be burdened and lost. The Inquisitor then says that the Church is correcting His mistake by trading freedom for security and thereby allowing humanity to
enjoy secure happiness without any moral freedoms, regardless if they are sent to Hell or not, because they are the one who "loves" humanity. At the end of the Inquisitor's tirade, Jesus says nothing, but comes and kisses the Inquisitor. The Inquisitor, taken aback with his entire philosophy in doubt for a little bit, ultimately decides to free Jesus instead of executing him. In the end, though, the Inquisitor does not change his mind.
What comes from this story, as what I see, and relating to the characters of both Vanya and Alyosha. The Inquisitor professes his love for humanity by doing this and that for their security by taking away their freedoms, but Jesus shows true love, which is speechless. Jesus kisses the inquisitor not to prove a point but because He loves humanity.
These stories, as well as Grushenka's short story with the miserable old lady and the onion, show faith's conflict with both doubt and impulsiveness. While faith may be ridiculed and seen as inferior to logic and reason, in The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky presents though his characters that a life of faith, such as with Alyosha and Zosima, leads to tranquility and happiness while more God-doubting and skeptical characters such as Vanya and Smerdyakov end up in chaos and distress.
(Dostoyevsky himself was moved to this view on life after experiencing the cold hard depths of Siberia, where he would become rooted in Orthodox Christianity.)
Perhaps this is because, while with faith Alyosha and Zosima both have a clear moral framework to base their actions and character on, Vanya and Smerdyakov do not have such a framework to base themselves on, and they end up becoming cold towards both others (with Smerdyakov killing Fyodor) and themselves (Ivan's mental breakdown and delirium).
It can even be argued that Fyodor and Mitya led Godless lives as well, even though their views on God aren't expanded on, as they live impulsive lives and are filled with debauchery, and only want to satisfy their needs. In the end, Fyodor gets murdered by Smerdyakov, and Mitya, despite getting falsely accused for the murder, did not help his own case by impusively going to Fyodor's to check on Grushenka, stealing the 3000 rubles from Fyodor, and injuring Gregory in the process, covering himself in blood.
(Whether a strong moral framework can be established without God or not is an entirely different subject which I will not dive into in this review.)
This review is not a proselytization of any means, but it was what I got out of reading the novel itself, as well as some summaries to help refresh the large amount of content in this book.
As for the writing itself, Dostoyevsky explains very deep into details when it comes to... well almost anything in the book. Dostoyevsky is great at describing the emotional afflictions characters such as Alyosha and Vanya go through, and he was successfully suspenseful when it came to Fyodor's murder and the interactions between Vanya and Smerdyakov.
Even when it comes to Alyosha interacting and guiding schoolchildren, especially at the epilogue, Dostoyevsky built on the characters of Ilyusha so well that it really pulled a string in my heart when I read the epilogue of the book. Dostoyevsky also did a good job in explaining most of his characters at their introductions, although I did find Ivan (Vanya)'s introduction a little lackluster. Thankfully, the character of Ivan was looked into more deeply throughout the novel.
One thing I find interesting about Dostoyevsky's books (I have completed TBK and Crime and Punishment) is that not does he only dive into the details of the characters themselves, but surroundings, dialogue, and even certain monologues. During Mitya's trial, both the prosecutor and defensive attorney gave out grandiose speeches talking about their view of what happened leading to Fyodor's death, and also dives into Mitya's psyche as well.