Quote:
Originally Posted by orange!
Speaking of one that's been hard for me to get into, I've probably started this book a half dozen times and never gotten very far. Maybe it's time for me to try again.  |
I don't know how to quote both you and me in the same reply.
This is the first time that I'm making progress in
The Brothers Karamazov without struggling. I think it's one of those books that I had to grow into.
Based on the first 100 pages or so that I've read, you have to enjoy discussions about religion and philosophy to like this book. If you're not interested in those subjects, you'll probably find
The Brothers Karamazov difficult to wade through.
The choice of translation might make a difference too, if you're not reading it in Russian. I'm reading this book in both paper and e-book versions, in different translations. I have the Pevear/Volokhonsky in paperback and the Ignat Avsey in e-book (Oxford World Classics). I read a chapter in one and then reread it in another. I'm putting more effort into reading
The Brothers Karamazov than normal, but I'm enjoying it.
I think I like the Avsey translation a little better as it seems to read a little more smoothly but it also leaves certain difficult-to-translate expressions in Russian. For example, the author brings up people with nervous temperaments who frequently wail or scream. The P/V translation calls them "shriekers", but the Avsey translation uses the Russian term, transliterated and defined in a footnote: "klikusha". I find the Russian term less distracting than the English attempt at translation.