Classics > T Classics > Fyodor Dostoevsky

Advantages: sustained genius; philosophical profundity; splendid characterization
Disadvantages: the ending could have come a little sooner

The greatest myth about this book is that it is not as accessible as Dostoyevsky's shorter works. The Brothers Karamazov is, on the whole, very readable; it is only the sheer size of the work that fosters the delusion that readers would be well-advised to chose a different book. The plot, which is summarized elsewhere, is simple, the themes profound. The range of characters is impressive, but not too great (as it is, arguably, in Tolstoy's War and ...
...whom is wholly different from the others. But as so often with Dostoyevsky, the characters are interesting not only in themselves but because they embody or reflect on greater ideas. Ivan Karamazov, for instance offers some particularly trenchant criticism of optimistic religious views. In fact, those readers who are interested in questions pertaining to God will find in this book one of the most powerful indictments of the concept of wholly benevolent ... Read review

Advantages: Dostoevsky at his best - for just £1.50
Disadvantages: It is long - but in a good way

...short stories and this was the first of the "big" novels that I picked up. Dostoevsky held strong beliefs and whilst he supported Monarchy per se, he did not agree with serfdom and censorship. Under the tyrannical reign of Nikolay I, Dostoevsky and other members of the intellectual Petrashevsky group (Utopian Socialists) were sentenced to death for their opposition to his rule. A last minute reprieve forced Dostoevsky to serve four years hard labour ...
...back on a career in the civil service in order to pursue his writing talents. The Idiot, published in 1868, after his best known pieces Notes from the Underground and Crime and Punishment. The story follows Prince Myshkin who is the idiot of the title. Myshkin is naive and basically honest, and represents Dostoevsky's ideas of the ideal Christian - some would even say Myshkin is representative of Christ. Having been released from a mental asylum ... Read review

Advantages: Irresistable Russian classic
Disadvantages: It's late when you put down the book

...gambler, this book according to the lore was conceived in only seven weeks after a frenzy of writing; supposedly to cover gambling debts from the German roulette tables. THE PLOT: Set in the ficticious Roulettenberg, our hero finds himself irresistably drawn to the ever-green tables of roulette. A newcomer to the all-too dangerous game of roulette, he almost against his will starts gambling with money not even his. Soon trapped in a fantasy world ...
...and gives us some of the world's most irresistable portraits of gambler's love/hate relationship with gambling and the lessons it tells us about life. DON"T MISS: The carefully crafted portraits of the Russian glitterati of its time, the Grandmother featuring in some of the high (and low) points of this fine and light novel, its insights into the phyche of the human mind THE MORAL: Obsession is a real human trait, present among everyone. "Homo ludens", ... Read review

Advantages: Full of Dostoevsky's trademark analysis of character.
Disadvantages: Not a leisurely read. But worth it.

...ended, Dostoevsky's "The House of the Dead" is written in the form of a fictional memoir of a man serving a ten year sentence for killing his wife, and no doubt depicts much of what he saw during his own sentence. The story contains harsh descriptions of sadistic beating of inmates, digusting conditions, and a complete and shocking lack of privacy among the inhabitants of the Gulag, and thus is not for the faint hearted. However, fans of Dostoevsky's ... Read review

Advantages: well developed characters and story, reads well
Disadvantages: slow to start

Rebecca is, in my opinion, Du Maurier's best work. The intricate story is woven around a young nameless woman who finds herself accepting the infamous Maxim de Winter's marriage proposal after only a few days acquaintance. The plot then thickens as his dead Ex-wife, Rebecca, is continually present in their lives throught the efforts of the somewhat mysterious and frightening Mrs Danvers. However as Mrs De Winters learns more and more of her husband ... Read review