The Brothers Karamazov.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

I honestly don't exactly know how long it took me to finish this book, but I can definitely say it was longer than a year. Which is a shame, it is a good book. It is also a very long book. I think it was the wrong book to start at a time when I was struggling to find motivation to read. I got stranded a few times, but I was determined not to give up.

This was also my first Russian classic. It took me a while to get used to the style. Particularly the thing where each character goes by multiple names and it is just up to you to learn them all and keep track. Sometimes they call him Alyosha, sometimes they call him Alexei. Dmitri is equally Dmitri and Mitya. Grushenka is usually Grushenka, but sometimes Grusha, Grushka, or Agrafena. You get the idea. I made it even harder on myself by putting the book down for such long intervals. It was hard for me sometimes to keep track of who was who. I got all the main characters down pretty well, but some of the more minor characters got lost in the shuffle I think. I know after long spells of not reading I would sometimes come across a minor character's name which I thought sounded familiar and I should probably have recognized, but I simply could not place them and I had to try piece together from context who they were and what other names they went by. 

This book was good! I should say very clearly that it was not out of boredom that I put it down. It was engaging. Sometimes it felt a bit long, but I would never really say it was boring. Occasionally I felt that there was a bit of an over exaggerated lead up to events. You just wanted to know what was going to happen, because you knew something big was about to go down, but it just took so long to actually happen. 

Right from the start of the book it is evident that something big is going to happen in this family. It feels like from the first page the scene is being set for a catastrophic event. I was expecting this event to be the sort of setting for the book. This thing would happen and then the bulk of the book would be the event itself and the aftermath. I didn't know exactly what the event would be or how it would unfold, but that is the impression I was given. It was, evidently, the wrong impression because the event did not take place until at least half way through the book. Half of the book or more was pre-main event. There were chapters and chapters of what I thought was direct lead up to this event. I kept thinking this thing was about to happen and it kept not happening. So much lead up. I JUST WANTED THE THING TO HAPPEN. 

Apparently this book was meant to have a sequel. But Dostoyevsky died before he could write it. Thus there are a few things that feel a tad unresolved. Characters that are introduced and built but who never particularly feature directly in the narrative and so their stories feel like they are left hanging. Even the main story itself, while resolved, doesn't feel like it was seen out to its total conclusion. It is a shame. But at the same time, doesn't particularly leave this book feeling lacking. Just perhaps it does not have every single string tied up in the way we have come to expect. I kind of like it to be honest. I like that there were characters who were given places in the story who did not turn out to be critical to the main story. It feels a bit like an indie movie. Not every interaction has to serve the purpose of advancing the main story in linear way. People just come in and out and some interactions that are given equal room in the story do not all have equal significance in the narrative at the end. It feels more like real life. 

I will almost for sure read more Dostoyevsky. I will probably try to read some other Russian classics as well. But I will probably not dive right back in or I fear it will be another year. This book has been on my list for a few years though and I am very happy to have finally finished it. (yes, if you were wondering, it was stumbling across the band Ivan &Alyosha that really put this book on my radar. Also upon reading the description I thought it seemed a familiar story to Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse, which I quite enjoyed).