This damn book....

[Erin]

Funny, the things that you hear out of the mouth of ignorant students. Why read anything at all? for the pure pleasure of reading the written word in its many manifestations and incarnations! To expand your horizons through the eyes of someone else. To veiw another person's dreams and aspirations and also to learn alot of cool sounding, smart thinking words, that you can then use on your friends and sound impressive or intelligent, while faking the real thing. Some things in life just have to be endured, like death and taxes, and reading novels from dead writers from ages ago, just for the hell of it, everything else is sheer bliss....

[td]

I couldn't face Crime and Punishment in high school, yet here I am reading BK because I love great literature. Like you, I wasn't ready for more difficult works at that age, but found my way to them in my 20s and 30s. If you have any desire to deepen your understanding of the human soul, you must read the great literature. Come back to these books, but keep reading now. Don't give in to tv culture: maintain an attention span.

[Unregistered]

It's funny, because I find that whenever I read a book for school, I tend to dislike it somewhat, while when I read it for pleasure, it is so much better. It probably has to do with the fact that you have to read for facts and symbolism and blah blah blah blah... when you're reading for a class. But when you read a book on your own, you don't need to have up to chapter 23 read before friday. You don't need to write a report describing Dostoevsky's eloquence. Some day I, in fact, hope to revisit some novels I disliked in high school, like The Old Man and the Sea, Great Expectations, To Kill A Mocking Bird, and maybe even the dreadful The Scarlet Letter.

[britcont]

give me a break. my son, who is 12 years old, is about to finish the bloody book and says he completly understands it, the organisation of it. please give it a rest.

[Lydica]

oh, no. don't hate it because they forced you to read it. I am a tenth grader who read the brothers karamazov over the summer, for fun, and loved it. i think that there is a natural resistence to any literature that is forced upon you, but please reconsider this one as it is a fantastic read for anyone who is even remotely interested in either russian culture or the psycology of the human soul. The brothers represent facets that are inside all of us and therefore I guarantee everyone can identify with it.

[Robin]

I agree with TD.....While I was in high school I never had the desire to read anything like this. Much like this student I would have felt it was unneccessary and boring and interferring with my social time. But funny thing with time comes wisdom and an appreciation for things you never would've imagined. Works such as this open your mind to philosophical ideas. What could be more interesting than a book that discusses the meaning of life. There is so much more to life than MTV and party's.....One day you'll understand what I'm saying.

[Unregistered]

I can help you...that is if you aren't too busy taking bong hits with your football playing boyfriend.<br><br>BTW...congratulations on making it into an AP English class without the least bit of interest in the subject. Good luck!<br>

[Unregistered]

well that is ridiculous. What you have just done is make a judgment upon someone because they don't share the same interests as you. Effectively you have said "because you don't like to study Dostoyevsky you are a drug abuser and an airhead." I don't think snobbery such as that has any place in the appreciation of literature. Maybe you should try picking on someone in real life instead of on the internet. And maybe you should learn something about drugs before you make wide sweeping insults based upon them.

[Kelly]

How did you get all the way to AP Lit with that attitude?? I am in the course right now, and the seven students that made it through the three tough honors classes leading up to AP Lit are enjoying the intellectual challenge! I picked BK to read for that class...and before you say it I'm not just some dork who likes to read long books. I completly understand hating books that you are forced to read, but at least be open to learning something for once.

[Daniel]

This book was first given to me as an assignment in high school - I read it then and realized I was way over my head, but I could see that it was incredibly profound. With a lot more living and years behind me, I tried it again a few years ago, and now it made sense! This is a book you have to live your way into - don't be put off because you don't get it the first time around - just keep at it because it's well worth the time. Here I am reading it again . . .

[Maurice]

Yes, I am one of those "dorks" that has read The Brothers Karamazov (and other novels by Dostoevsky) and enjoyed it passionately. The book certainly wasn't written for illiterate morons like you, Krysta. I suggest that you are too much of an imbecile to be in a Grade 12 AP English class or to be attempting to read great and beautiful literature. Stick to Danielle Steele or Stephen King (if you can even handle THEM), or the strictly visual...perhaps old Gilligan's Island re-runs...or plug into some pop-cult pap to fill the void of your empty mind with mental and spiritual cotton candy.

[Unregistered]

I think its a story!!!!! But I found you comment very comical. I appreciate your honst opinion!!!!

[Unregistered]

krysta & Josh: This book is not that difficult to grasp. It's not exactly what I would call easy reading, but it's not as mind numbingly difficult as you make it out to be. But then again, seeing as how you spell like grade school children (it's "truly," not "truely"), it doesn't surprise me at all that you would have this opinion. I doubt the two of you could get through a Stephen King novel together, much less a Dostoevsky one.

[Unregistered]

You moronic, self satisfied cretin. If your pucillanimous mind wasn't so embroiled in the squalid filth of your own egocentrisity, maybe you'd be able to see and understand the relevance and beuty of true art. Twat.

[krysta & Josh]

HELP!!! What can I say other than HELP!! There is simply no good reason that Fyodor D. could have subjected all 12 grade AP English students to this torture. And, it truely is torture!! I have 2 large packets in front of me full of questions that I am suposed to answer and relate to the very LONG novel. So, in attempt to understand what the heck I'm doing, I am resorting to this website along with sparknotes.com and I am still FAR from finishing. So, any of you dorks out there that actually enjoyed this book and read it for pleasure..... WHY?!?! why - or how - could you subject yourself to that???? ok, I am far from finished so, I must continue staring blankly at the white sheet of paper for another hour or so.... later!!

[Loqurent]

Who is the unregistered guest who made a reply using the longest words they could find in a thesaurus, and messed it all up in the end with 'beuty'?
Why the arguement? Clearly some people are profligates (Dostoevsky's favorite word) with literature and have no reason to be on the forum...

[The Unnamable]

You could also have pointed out that the words are pusillanimous and egocentricity. You might also consider the correct spelling of argument.

[Shanna]

You could also have pointed out that the words are pusillanimous and egocentricity. You might also consider the correct spelling of argument.
(Damn! I was going to say that..)

[Logos]

Ok I think that's enough flaming.