4 ms·

Brothers Karamazov is supposedly really good, but it remains basically the only book I've started but never finished. The beginning is sooo boring. It takes o

Brothers Karamazov is supposedly really good, but it remains basically the only book I've started but never finished. The beginning is sooo boring. It takes over a hundred pages for them to even get to be at the same place at the same time where something even could happen. I gave up right at that point, which supposedly is when it gets good.

stoolpigeon 3y ago
I've tried 3 times. Haven't made it through yet. Tolstoy on the other hand, Anna Karenina I binged and had done in like a week (on vacation, reading a good portion of my time)
- bombcar 3y ago
  Get a good audio book version; I find that someone properly pronouncing the names helps with things like War and Peace or the Silmarillion.
  - vehementi 3y ago
    Audiobooks are also great for slogs. You just keep walking, and the boring part of the book just keeps happening at you. No getting distracted and putting the book down etc.
jszymborski 3y ago
The book is a slog, and frankly I think I'd have appreciated it much more if I read a heavily annotated edition. That said, excerpts from the book stand so incredibly alone. The Grand Inquisitor speech, the Father Zosima passage, Mitya's troika ride, Ilusha's funeral... I found The Idiot a far more approachable book.
- causality0 3y ago
  I think you mean "a heavily abridged edition", unless you think a lot of background info is what's missing from your experience.
  - jszymborski 3y ago
    No, I think what I was missing was some insight into the symbology or themes. My copy of Master and Margarita has such incredible endnotes, without which I really dont think I would have appreciated it. My Penguin Classics copy of Karamazov just has very short translation clarifications and didn't really improve my experience. I understand why you might think i meant abridged though, since I was saying that the book is a slog but that it had great passages. I personally didnt mind the length as much as I felt I wasn't getting the most out of the "boring" parts.

stoolpigeon 3y ago

I've tried 3 times. Haven't made it through yet. Tolstoy on the other hand, Anna Karenina I binged and had done in like a week (on vacation, reading a good portion of my time)

bombcar 3y ago
Get a good audio book version; I find that someone properly pronouncing the names helps with things like War and Peace or the Silmarillion.
- vehementi 3y ago
  Audiobooks are also great for slogs. You just keep walking, and the boring part of the book just keeps happening at you. No getting distracted and putting the book down etc.

jszymborski 3y ago

The book is a slog, and frankly I think I'd have appreciated it much more if I read a heavily annotated edition. That said, excerpts from the book stand so incredibly alone. The Grand Inquisitor speech, the Father Zosima passage, Mitya's troika ride, Ilusha's funeral... I found The Idiot a far more approachable book.

causality0 3y ago
I think you mean "a heavily abridged edition", unless you think a lot of background info is what's missing from your experience.
- jszymborski 3y ago
  No, I think what I was missing was some insight into the symbology or themes. My copy of Master and Margarita has such incredible endnotes, without which I really dont think I would have appreciated it. My Penguin Classics copy of Karamazov just has very short translation clarifications and didn't really improve my experience. I understand why you might think i meant abridged though, since I was saying that the book is a slog but that it had great passages. I personally didnt mind the length as much as I felt I wasn't getting the most out of the "boring" parts.