Your favorite book or writing by Dostoyevsky?

Which is it? The Brothers Karamazov? Crime and Punishment? Something less well known? Tell it!

Undoubtedly:

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (read 22 Nov 1948)

When other books have been long forgotten it lives in my memory still, as does its protagonist:

Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov

Crime and Punishment will surely stay in your memory. An axe murderer who has a guilty conscience. Man...the guy can come up with some intense characters can't he?

I haven't read enough to give a favorite, but Crime and Punishment blew me away. I found it very powerful. Notes from the Underground got my attention too.

I've not read anything by Dostoyevsky yet, but I am planning to in 2008. I'm starting off with Crime and Punishment (touchstones not working) and hope to work in others as well.

Crime and Punishment is indeed a masterpiece, however if you really want to know Dostoyevsky, try to read the less well-known ones, such as Poor Folk (Bednye Liudi in Russian) a novel published in 1846. A novel in letters between two distant relatives is so moving and so very very Russian.

"The Idiot" (1869) is another very powerful novel.

Crime and Punishment comes high on my list too. But right up there with it is the 'Devils' or 'Possessed'. A very original and strong story. It shares the property of C & P in being psychologically gripping. Reading both books felt like having the flu. And I mean that in the best possible way. Kirilov from 'The possessed' is one of the most interesting characters I've come across in literature.
The Brothers Karamazov would come third on my list. I share the critic Colin Wilson's view that Dostoyevsky's books evolve, they get more complex and better. The 'angry man' from the Notes from the underground has transformed into three characters by the time of the brothers K, who each approach the problem of living differently.

I don't know that I agree that D's books become progessively more complex. In my opinion, of the four biggies, the Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment are the simplest. (I posted a review of BK and, so far as I can tell, what I stated there is the essence of the book.) Then comes The Idiot, which gets its complexity from the fact that a half-dozen wretched characters are all wretched in subtly different ways, and demonstrate the different pathologies of Russian society. Otherwise, it's a straightforward Christian message. Then, The Possessed, where the plot depends on clashes of political movements and requires some attention to grasp.

in my opinion most people mentions crime and punishment as the best book because it's the best known and in some education programs involved as ''must read book''.i've read crime and punishment,idiot,demons,brothers karamazov,the insulted an humiliated and i think the best books are brothers karamazov and demons.brothers karamazov has a character called zosima who takes the blame upon hisself for everybody and philosopher levin quote him in his books.i think this book is like poliphony of many ideas(blame,patricide,altruism,obsessiveness,nihilism...) and memorable characters (zosima,aliosa,smerdiakov (as a some kind of sadist),dimitrij...).perhaps that poliphony has cast a spell over me :)
but it's just my opinion and maybe it isn't like yours

The Brothers K gets my vote. The Idiot is way too talky. In these hurried-up days, if you want to try something shorter, consider his short story "The Crocodile", which many people overlook. It's funny and still timely, too, in light of Putin and current relations between Russia and Europe.

I've read both Crime and Punishment and The Idiot twice. Up until a few months ago, I would have gone with C&P as my favourite.
However, yesterday morning I finished reading The Brothers Karamazov. All I can say is that it feels as if I've just buried a close friend of mine. It's not just a superb book, it is -I believe- one of the greatest human accomplishments.

8-10 years ago I read quite a lot of Dostoyevsky's novels, and I think four (at least) of them are marvellous:

1. The Idiot
2. Crime and Punishment
3. The Brothers Karamazov
4. The Posessed (or 'Demons', which might be the correct English title?)

A long time ago I've readthe Brothers Karamazov and I liked it a lot.Now I'd like to read it again and to read the idiot as well.

I'm going to re-read The Idiot in about three (four?) weeks from now.
I have to finish Midnight's Children (by Salman Rushdie) which I'm currently reading. It is a great novel, as well.

I'm really looking forward to reading Dostoyevsky again.
I remember Myshkin in The Idiot as one of Dostoyevsky's most interesting characters.

I think all of his books are masterpieces, and the big ones are greater than anything written in the twentieth century anywhere, imo. My favorite is Notes from the Underground.

#13
I guess you're Italian, and that you're reading Dostoyevsky in your native language, or?

I've got "Dostoyevsky complete" in Norwegian (29 volumes), but I haven't read all of them yet. Some of the voluminous novels are in two or three volumes (i.e. The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment), and there are two volumes of Dostoyevsky's letters and some volumes containing short stories.

P.S.
I hope the LT group "Group Reads - Literature" (where I'm a member) will take a group read on one or more of Dostoyevsky's novels in the future.

Yes,kjellika,I'm italian and I read italian and english books but I've read Dostoevsky in italian because I think is rather difficult in another language. Bye!

I would say Crime and Punishment ever so slightly edges out The Brothers Karamazov. I love both books though. For me Notes from the Underground is a distant third. I think I may have to read that again. The Devils: The Possessed is waiting patiently on my shelf of "to be read" books, I'm excited to start that soon!

Brothers K. quite a bit ahead of Crime and Punishment. I still plan to read Notes and The Devils.

Well, I'm working on Brothers K. right now, but as of yet, my favorite's been The Idiot. I wasn't very crazy about Crime and Punishment; I really liked it, but it wasn't my favorite. I also liked Notes, a little better than Crime and Punishment.

well i really love notes from the underground.. his hero of nothingness excites me, some days i was reading aloud his monologue just to receive some emotions about him.. second comes the Idiot with its references to the illness of dostoyevsky and the feeling of the Supreme Life.. and then goes crime and punishment, but i also adore the white nights with the daydreamer..

I'm re-reading Notes from Underground just now. It's a wonderful attack on 'natural law' and a vindication of freedom.

Crime and Punishment. I hated my English teacher for assigning it to me, but once I started reading it, I fell in love. Dostoyevsky is a brilliant author, and I love his psychological examinations of the characters. Watching Rodion go through the process of accepting the murder was incredibly intense.

Notes from the Underground, however, is a close second. Again, Dostoyevsky's psychological portraits are astounding!

Nice to see another D. fan on Library Thing!

Brothers Karamazon was my favourite with Crime and Punishment my second. Then I read The Idiot. It's an absolute masterpiece. I think it may be my favourite. But it's pretty hard to say. I've read some of his shorter works and The Devils is the next on my list.