Ethan Mintmire’s Reviews > The Brothers Karamazov > Status Update

Man oh man. I wish I could just read it all the way through right now. I’m hoping to finish it tomorrow. I’ve only about 100 pages left. This is such a page turner. The prosecutor is about to give a discourse on the smerdyakov accusation, and then Fetyukovich will give his defense speech. This is good!

The trial is starting to look up for Mitya! I want justice for him so bad.

Lise and Mrs. Khoklakov are insane. I’d stay 100 miles away from them at all times. Alyosha needs to move to France and get a new life. Everyone around him is not sane.

Haven’t updated on here in a while with school really ramping up. But I’ve gotten on track and read some more on my day off. Its getting really great! I’m totally sucked in wondering how much money Dmitri really had at the time of Fyodor’s murder and how he got it.

Mitya’s manslaughter of Gregory was an excellent tee-up for his charge of murdering his father. I don’t think he did it though. The Mokroye party stirred up just the right amount of chaos for the sobering announcement of Fyodor Karamazov’s death to bring the story to a screeching halt. I’ll briefly add I’ve become quite uninterested in the love story between grushenka and Mitya, if it can be called that.

“…And one may wonder what good there is in a love that must be watched all the time, what joy there is in such a love. But this is precisely what jealous men cannot see, although many of them happen to be men of admirable character” (mitya’s love for Grushenka).
So profound. Dostoevsky unveils the complexities of a jealous heart like peeling an onion.

I should be farther in the book, but homework has gotten serious and I’m only able to read in small spurts. Nonetheless, Father Zosima’s death and its subsequent anti-miracle was a clever way to develop the seeds of doubt sown in Alyosha by Ivan a few chapters prior. They’re headed to Grushenka’s now, and Alyosha is like a lamb led to the slaughter. Will Alyosha turn out to be like Mitya like he says he is?

The scene between Alyosha and Snegirev was a potent scene depicting how destitution and misfortune can invoke vice in the same way vanity and success can. This was a sad scene. It also demonstrates the power cruelty has to ruin lives, I say referring to Dmitri assaulting Snegirev. There are huge honor-shame culture dynamics portrayed in this chapter as well.

SPOILER ALERT:
The story is setting up a lot of questions about the visiting monk to the monestary, what’s going to happen between Dmitry and Fyodor, who is this boy who bit Alyosha’s finger? Probably the son of the man who dmitri beat up so bad. I think Katerina is bad news. The only person I trust are Mrs Khoklakov and Alyosha. But idk the story is moving a little slow right now.