Journal Week 17: The Brothers Karamazov

A few months back I mentioned in one of these Friday journal entries that I don't read a lot of fiction. More precisely, I haven't read a lot of fiction outside of Flannery O'Connor over the last few years.

I did, however, manage to read The Brothers Karamazov last summer. It took me forever, but I finally read the whole book.

And goodness, how it has stayed with me. I carry so much of that book with me. I think about it all the time. Book IV, the teachings of the Elder Zosima. Alyosha's whole way of moving through the world, especially how he mends and heals all the way through Part 4. The moral choice presented by the book, Ivan's "everything is permitted" versus Zosima's "make yourself answerable for all men's sins."

Encouraged by how much the novel has affected me, I'm going to read another novel this summer. I'm going to stick with the Russians. I have Crime and Punishment and Anna Karenina on my shelf and plan to tackle one of them this summer.

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