The Brothers Karamazov: A New Translation by Michael R. Katz

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Michael R. Katz (Translator)

929 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2026

About the author

Alternate spelling, see main profile Fyodor Dostoevsky

Reviews

[Stephanie]

A beautiful mess of a book. I frequently got exasperated with the characters' hysterics: each is more dramatic than the next, and I was entirely mystified by Grushenka's crazy-making allure. Who are these readers who say they can see themselves in every character (and are not Russian)? The new-at-the-time field of psychology plays a role in the trial, and I'd like to see what the DSM would make of "the Russian soul" and the general insanity of these characters. I confess this is not my favorite of Russian novels (and to me does not compare to the best of Dickens, who seems like our English language equivalent: comic, dark, eccentric, wordy). But there are chapters that are exquisite and brilliant and radiant with detail--most often involving the youngest son, Alyosha--and you can't get those without the whole. I also had not realized that the title includes four brothers: Smerdyakov, the servant, appears to be an illegitimate son.