Just finished reading this. It was extremely boring, pointlessly melodramatic, and way too long. It was sprinkled with half assed rants or strawmen of stuff Dostoevsky wanted to preach about but not as much as I expected. Ultimately it was just pointless.
Part of the problem with old books like this for the pseudo intellectuals is that they want to hold it up as some sort of other worldly thing but they also want to portray it as a fun and irreverent melodrama. So after one chapter I posted on Veeky Forums, "Well obviously that woman's an attention whore, that guy is a nice guy beta, and..." and I got nothing but horror from you, as if this book couldn't possibly be describing humans similar to modern humans, they are all virtuous beings. In general, people will say anything to justify praise for this type of book. If you say it's boring, they say every sentence is a profound work of philosophical and psychological insight. If you point out that it isn't "insightful" and use logic, they say it's a bawdy and fun read.
I got to the last 50 pages a week ago but I couldn't bear sitting down to read it. I have been reading it for almost 6 months, I think, but going through it so slowly because I always procrastinated.
In a way it reminds me of the way Nietzche is talked about. This book is a Rohrschach test for pseudo intellectuals. It is a black box that allows you to throw in anything and get out anything you want, with any logic you so desire. This book is very conducive to the type of BS "literary theory" that BSers love.
Isaiah Peterson
> If you say it's boring, they say every sentence is a profound work of philosophical and psychological insight. If you point out that it isn't "insightful" and use logic, they say it's a bawdy and fun read. this meme has to go
sage goes in all fields
Aaron Bailey
anyone know if it's just the p&v translation that makes it so melodramatic?
Leo Sanders
jesus christ, six months? i read it in a week, man! i think perhaps you just didn't like the work and others simply do, it's no skin off anyone's back if you just didn't like something.
let's talk of more constructive things, like what type of literature or what book specifically do you enjoy? such conversations deliver far more use than endless quibbling sessions.
Brody Mitchell
I pity you if you're not baiting.
Brayden Cooper
this is an r/books pasta right
Camden Reed
Please explain why you liked the book
Brody Hughes
Interesting characters, worthwhile philosophical treatises, a lot of humor, and the whole schoolboy subplot is absolutely adorable
Jaxson Nelson
>humor Get out you retard
Anthony Collins
It's not a number 1 reason but the chapter focusing on Dmitri's exploits before getting arrested was pretty funny in a sad way
Caleb Cooper
>liking or not liking is your standard for appraising lit not gonna make it
John Johnson
That's because you read P&V
Kayden Flores
0/10
Jonathan Howard
Ultimately, it's still fiction. It's shit.
Chase Barnes
Bump
Daniel Lopez
itza fucking masterpiece it's so russian, so wild, so savage its siberian tundra and the orthodox cross its passion its suffering I recently read an interesting essay by Zweig on Dosto where he wrote that anglos don't 'get' him because all they want is to be happy but Dosto's charakters especially in TBK don't want to be happy, they don't just want to get the girl and live happily ever after they are Phaetons, man, they strive, they suffer, they desire in in their desire they suffer I guess OP is just a shallow amerifag "muh so boring" >that guy is a nice guy beta >attion whore >nothing similar to modern humans haha OP is truely pitty you, these are real humans, realer than any modern superficial human could possibly hope to be
TBK is the most human piece of Veeky Forums ever conveived of and if you really think like that than, jeez, I feel sorry, but get some perspective
sry drunk btw
Kayden Brown
i declare OP a nigger and a fag, do i have a second?
Easton Butler
Brainless waste of amino acids Sage
Wyatt Morris
other translations are even moreso. if anything they play that down
Jason Ortiz
>these are real humans, realer than any modern superficial human could possibly hope to be this is exactly what OP is talking about. there's nothing more "real" about humans then than now. and anyway, who's to say your interpretation of the past is any more valid than OP's
>TBK is the most human piece of Veeky Forums ever conveived everything that is made my humans is by definition human. there's no such thing as a hierarchy of things that are more human than others.
Jaxon Reed
Every art that is bad is completely forgotten after 100 years. If it's just the pseudo intellectuals that praise it, it'll be forgotten in 10 years. Today 95% of the world will make you a lunatic if you say harry potter is bs, but it'll be forgotten 50 years from now.
Honestly, if you want to be constructive, check Crime and Punishment, I think it'll suit you more.
Isaiah Nelson
>It was sprinkled with half assed rants or strawmen of stuff Dostoevsky wanted to preach about but not as much as I expected. Ultimately it was just pointless.
yeah, but it's christian rants and strawmen, so Veeky Forums loves it and disliking it makes you autistic.
Christopher Morris
Brainlets don't like Dostoevsky because they are simply incapable of comprehending and appreciating the level of aesthetic mastery and profound ideas in this book. The easiest way to spot one is when they cry about how everyone else is only pretending to like the book, they want to be cultured, or that they pretend to like it because the supposed difficulty makes them look smart. Don't forget the multiple uses of scare quotes around words like "profound" or "cultured" etc.
Tyler Myers
That's honestly Russian novels in general. It's the way of the culture and a very love it or hate it thing.
Alexander Myers
Go back to goodreads
Jordan Watson
There's a really good Standford lecture about the book and its relation to existentialism on YouTube. And there are far more pretentious books, in actuality, Dostoevsky is extremely grounded in the human experience. If it took you six months to read then you probably opposed it to begin with. At the end of the day, why are you forcing yourself to read a novel that you dislike?
Also, let me just say that if the emotion of the Brothers is off-putting to you then you shouldn't bother. The melodrama (as you call it) hoists up the emotional and philosophical weight of the novel, and if you're not willing to chew on each of those scenes with empathy or understanding then you're going to leave with six hundred of so pages of surface reading and wasted time.
Hunter Sanders
Literature inherently and obviously is interconnected to the one writing it, but you cannot say that all literature is equal in portraying human emotion. I think user is attempting to say that through its many characters and events, TBK is a novel that most clearly captured the human condition.
Adam Rivera
This is something that I discovered about myself reading other books and it might apply to you;
When I read the thing that causes me most enjoyment are the ideas being expressed not the way in which they are expressed.
Accordingly whilst I could see cleverness in how fiction was written I would ultimately end up thoroughly disappointed as aesthetic just isnt something that appeals to my sentiments. (also my expectations were made high [especially a big issue when it comes to writers like Dosto] by people who kept on hammering how profound and life changing these books can be).
So I accept that the Literary Life just isnt for me and move and read books that simply align with my sentiments and learning whilst leaving lit folk to their own devices.
Theres no benefit to yourself or others for shitting on Dosto anonymously even if there is plenty of material.
Logan Johnson
>they also want to portray it as a fun and irreverent melodrama. Haha what the fuck.