The Brothers Karamazov

By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett - translator

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 34 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

After spending four years in a Siberian penal settlement, during which time he underwent a religious conversion, Dostoevsky developed a keen ability for deep character analysis. In The Brothers Karamazov, he explores human nature at its most loathsome and cruel but never flinches at what he finds.

The Brothers Karamazov tells the stirring tale of four brothers: the pleasure-seeking, impatient Dmitri; the brilliant and morose Ivan; the gentle, loving, and honest Alyosha; and the illegitimate Smerdyakov: shy, silent, and cruel. The four unite in the murder of one of literature's most despicable characters - their father. This was Dostoevsky's final and best work.

Public Domain (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Dostoevsky is] at once the most literary and compulsively readable of novelists we continue to regard as great....The Brothers Karamazov stands as the culmination of his art - his last, longest, richest, and most capacious book." (Washington Post Book World)

Great Story

and..................
an interesting listen.
Go to your local library and read it.
The reader in this case adds nothing at all.

Very dense, but worth it

This was a great performance of a complicated, but highly thoughtful classic work! Know going in that you will probably need to visit the Brothers more than once before you can really grasp everything that is being explored. The official plot is pretty straight forward, but many ideas are explored in how the three (four) brothers react to their situations.

The Toddlers Karamazov

Ok, it's not for an Engineer to rip a Universally Acclaimed Writer, but here I go...

In the end, the problems in this book are very low class and the people have very low class brains. The characters are not manly. They make excuses, blame others, and they don't face facts. They are envious and wrathful. Their poor character is their fate.

Hilarious that the characters worry about Catholic Jesuits, but not their own lack of financial competence, sexual excess, and uncontrolled envy.

challenging listen

ti have to admit to downloading this book to check a box thatI hsve read dostevrdky. can't say I enjoyed it much, it did feel like a homework assignment. reading it in paper might have been more enjoyable as my comprehension might have been better. tough slog through the religious contemplation.

Narrator KILLS me!

I am not sure if he's trying to read like everything must be saidinonebreath?

Great book, you get used to the narrator

The narrator's voice is annoying as others have mentioned, but you get used to it. The book itself is fantastic and worth the initial obstacle of a nasal narrator. He actually does do a great job with character voices and emphasis, it's just the tone of his voice that is grating. Don't be precious about it and just listen!

admirable narration

My take is that this narrator is actually quite incredible. Much of the book is dialogue and I am amazed at the way the narrator jumps between characters - male, female, old, young, wise, foolish, etc - so effortlessly. In fact, he is able to maintain the tone and personality of the character with precision. The story is long and I greatly appreciated the narration. Listen to the sample and you will see what I mean.

A lot of philosophy in there!

The core of what the writer's philosophical message was (in my mind) achieved in the final court scene or at least it was concentrated there. The rest of the story had a scattered deep messages but felt a bit too unrealistic.

long but interesting

such a multiplicity of words! true Russian literature! enjoyed the reading and glad it's over!

Preaching Russian nationalism to Children

The story portrays a profound psychological study of men struggling with an unloving father being forced to find their sense of direction in life leading them into catastrophe. Through this, Dostoevsky weaves in a critique of the various sociological modern trends being contemplated during the late 19th century that still apply to us today such as the role of religion and the state in modern society including atheism, Catholicism, industrialism, clasism, and socialism. Then he wraps it up with sentimental monologues about dying on Russian soil as a farmer and sharing lessons to children about caring for one another. It presents powerful psychological insights but somewhat contrived notions of sociology and national pride that borders on cheesy.

The narrator did a good job acting out the parts with a lot of feeling but his voice most of the time sounded like a raspy old man. There were times I had to take a break from it as it became overwhelming.