The Brothers Karamazov

For anyone who hasn’t read this work:It is one of the greatest works of art created by human hands.For anyone who has read this novel but not this particular translation:This is the best translation available.I am a huge fan and appreciator of the Pevear & Volokhonsky translations of Dostoevsky’s works, but man, after completing this Katz translation, I’m prepared to say this is the one to end them all.This translation really loosened the reins that the P&V tightened for me, and I was for the first time exposed to the brilliant humor of Dostoevsky. There were a few moments a snide remark or a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it phrase had me setting the book down so I could laugh without losing my spot.I felt like I experience Dostoevsky’s masterpiece as he intended.Brilliant work and the footnotes were great and convenient.Buy this one if you want the best of the best, in my opinion.

For the price of 40 euros its criminal on the end of the publisher to save 2 bucks and deliver a far worse product. The hardcover and the paper don't really seem of great quality either. Not bad, just not good.It's disappointing since believe it or not, hardcover editions, even sewn ones aren't really expensive to make.In germany Anaconda publishing is selling sewn bound book copies of books for 5-10 euros.A rip off. Simply as that. This edition deserves better.I am thinking about returning it and buying the softcover.

I recently retired after teaching high school English for more than twenty years. When students would ask my opinion on the greatest book ever, I would always instantly answer "'The Brothers Karamazov'" by Fyodor Dostoevsky." As for the why, "Because it asks all of life's important questions and also supplies a compelling story." After just finishing my 4th reading of it over the last 30 years (Garnett x 1, Peaver & Volokhonsky x 2), I can say that (1) I still wholeheartedly agree with those statements, and (2) This Michael Katz translation is by far the best. Since I don't read Russian, I can't comment on its accuracy, but it has a smoothness and subtlety that can't be beat. Examples of the subtlety would be the humor that I didn't remember (Ivan's devil, the children, the excessively hysterical hysterics) and the emphasis on how well crafted the "evidence" is (i.e., how many small details later implicate Dmitri). When I someday return for my 5th read--which I undoubtedly will--Katz will certainly be the translation I choose.

This is a good translation of The Brothers Karamazov from Michael Katz, who has given us perhaps the all-time best translations of several other Dostoevsky novels: Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and Devils (Demons). Unfortunately, I noticed quite a number of errors ranging from missing periods at the end of sentences to incorrect sentence construction (having nothing to do with translation). I hope these mistakes will be emended in a subsequent revision, especially if Norton decides to use this translation for its Critical Edition. (The current Norton Critical Edition is a revision of the Constance Garnett by Susan McReynolds and Ralph Matlaw. Though excellent, it is starting to show its age.)So why am I giving this one star? Because of the poor condition in which my copy arrived. Lately, Amazon has been shipping books either loosely in plastic bags or in cardboard boxes without adequate cushioning inside. Either way, the books arrive with creased or torn covers, or sometimes worse. This needs to end! The defunct Book Depository, an Amazon company, used to ship books in cardboard sleeves that were adjusted to fit their contents snugly, without room for getting jostled around during shipping. Amazon should do the same. We do not deserve paying for new books and then getting damaged product.

Parts of this novel are captivating and as a whole the novel is thought provoking. Dostoyevsky invented the psychological thriller and here he even has two lawyers debate psychology relative to truth. Amazing.Notably, the ending, like many modern literary ones doesn't wrap things up in a nice neat way. Rather, Dostoyevsky embraces the complexity and uncertainty of life, the doubt of what's next and where life will take us, and the nature of repentance and forgiveness. So deep, so rich. Masterful.