Dostoevsky

On a scale of zero to paradise, browsing a bookstore is even with a hot fudge sundae by a swimming pool. I get ridiculously excited every time I see a bookstore in China, and then realize that they probably have nothing I can read, and if they do it's usually some dumbed-down version that loses the beauty of the language.

If you're in a big enough city, though, you just might strike gold. To my sheer delight we found a bookstore in Hangzhou with real English books in them. When someone whose opinion I highly respect recommends a book to me, I'll definitely read it. So when we found The Brothers Karamazov for only 20 kuai I decided it was a good chance to add to my collection. You can't get a book for less than a penny a page very often.

I was really grateful I had it on our two overnight trains home. It's not what you'd call a light read, so it took me a little while to finish, and will definitely be one I read again. It's hard to keep track of all the characters at first, they seem to change so often. Probably the next time I read it I'll pick up on some things I missed the first time around. Although the story is rather dark, I really appreciated the psychological and philosophical nature of the book. It is expertly written and traslated. The book contains gems of insight into human nature. I think Dostoevsky over-emphasized some of the qualities of his characters (i.e. Alexei was rather perfect while Dmitri hardly had any redeeming qualities), but all in all he managed to capture several elements of human nature quite well.

I got the impression Dostoevsky viewed himself in each of the different characters, at different stages of his life. That could be just my own flawed opinion though. If you want to read a great novel that weaves discussions of the meaning of life and elements of humanity into the story, I highly recommend this book. It's not a mindless feel-good story though, so be prepared.

Awesomely, when I got back from Nanjing I called my sister and she mentioned she had just started reading Crime and Punishment, another masterpiece of Dostoevsky's. Neither of us have ever read one of his works before. I guess twins really do have some kind of mind connection :) I still can't feel it if you punch her though...

Favorite quote:
"For the mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for. Without a concrete idea of what he is living for, man would refuse to live, would rather exterminate himself than remain on this earth..."