Apologies for blanking for so long, but damn it got spicy xD I liked your analyses of the first comment; I think that type of books, where the author builds something only to tear it and/or showcase the other side, tend to be often misunderstood. Anyways, these are a lot of fun, and I was sorely missing watching them!
@@JohnSaxon-vw5vi I totally get not liking the book for certain reasons but I think a lot of the reason they gave were silly. I think this sort of book requires reflection, it’s not a book to consume like Fourth Wing 😂
As someone who ranks Dostoevsky as my favorite author, I will say: he doesn’t click with some people. In fact, in Russia (or, at least, Russian departments at universities), it’s a noted trend that most (not all) readers naturally gravitate toward either Dostoevsky or Tolstoy. My best friend has a PhD in Russian literature and he hated C&P the first time he read it and considered Dostoevsky a lesser author, but he instantly clicked with Tolstoy. It took him a lot of work to key in to Dostoevsky and now he loves the guy, but not many readers put in that amount of effort. Ursula K. Le Guin was always a Tolstoy fan (called him “the pinnacle of prose writing” and declared War and Peace and Anna Karenina the two greatest novels ever, which is a perfectly respectable opinion) and never liked Dostoevsky and didn’t put in the effort to like him, forsaking his work in her early 20s. I, on the other hand, was lucky to naturally like both authors. I think Tolstoy may be the better writer in terms of things like characterization, building a story world, emotional landscaping, etc. Dostoevsky is more realistic by getting so interior and projecting the chaos of the inner world upon the outer world. I’m a cerebral guy so Dostoevsky is especially powerful for me. But Tolstoy, when well-translated, is staggering in his own right.
@@paulwilliams6913interesting comment. I think your first sentence applies to every author. I’m similar to you thankfully, I seem to click with both authors but for slightly different reasons. I’m curious, your friend who did the PhD, what was his reason for not liking C&P the first time? Also, which War and Peace/Anna Karenina translations do you recommend? For the former I was thinking of getting the Maude translation (Everyman library) and for the latter the Bartlett one.
@ I think my best friend just didn’t click into the novel’s internal logic-he found the psychological torment melodramatic and redundant at the time. (He’s since taken that back :) As for translations, I read Ann Dunnigan’s W&P (Signet Classics), which many critics say has the most Russian flavor. Sadly, it’s out of print, the typeset is messy, and the paper browns quickly. The Maude is also super highly praised-the Maudes knew Tolstoy and shared his ideals of non-violence, and he personally praised their translation. Last year, when some friends and I read W&P (reread for me), a few in the group got the Oxford Classics, which is the Maude translation but lightly updated for modern style and readability; no idea if Everyman uses the updated text or the original Maude text. Another friend in the group read the Pevear & Volokhonsky, but found it stilted; some praise that translation but general consensus seems to be that it’s a miss by P&V. Another member of the group really liked the Anthony Briggs translation. But again, Dunnigan and the updated Maude were the most liked by my group. For AK, I read the P&V translation. I’ve heard VERY good things about Bartlett’s translation, but I can’t speak to it. Some people have started to criticize P&V, but many experts (including my best friend) say their earlier work (C&P; Idiot; Brothers Karamazov, and AK) is quite good. So feel free to go with Bartlett, or maybe download ebook samples for both P&V and Bartlett and see which one serves you better? As far as I know, you can’t go wrong.
If your aim with this video was to get me to move Crime & Punishment higher up the priority list, you've succeeded. Agreed, there's so much value in digesting and reflecting on WHY something didn't work for us. How else can we learn to better appreciate what we do like in the media we consume. That one reader seems to be pushing for Toxic Positivity and painting an entire culture with the same brush is a dangerous thing to do. Is the Russian culture and mindset more negative or is it just a point of view in the book they just don't agree with and applied that to an entire nation? I don't care much more reaction content, especially if that's what a channel's primary output is, but love your take on it.
@@thatsci-firogue yay! Agreed on that reader… I suspect it’s the latter. Such a dense/narrow POV to have. Glad to hear you liked it too! I think this will be my last one for a while now. But then again, the next Fourth Wing book is coming out in January so might have to do one for that 😂
I guess I didn't get it. Found it repetitive and unnecessary, even pointless. There's a lot of Russian lit I love. This is one of the very few books I actually regret reading. Guess I didn't get it.
Apologies for blanking for so long, but damn it got spicy xD I liked your analyses of the first comment; I think that type of books, where the author builds something only to tear it and/or showcase the other side, tend to be often misunderstood. Anyways, these are a lot of fun, and I was sorely missing watching them!
@@liviajelliot exactly! Well said.
These are so fun. A self help book about a year of reading Russian literature has potential actually.
@@mattkean1128 that I could get on board with!
Don’t they forget about the time and country it was written in it’s a classic five 5️⃣ star book 📕 written by a classic Russian author xx
@@JohnSaxon-vw5vi I totally get not liking the book for certain reasons but I think a lot of the reason they gave were silly. I think this sort of book requires reflection, it’s not a book to consume like Fourth Wing 😂
@ you said it
War and peace please one star ⭐️
@@JohnSaxon-vw5vi I need to read it first!
As someone who ranks Dostoevsky as my favorite author, I will say: he doesn’t click with some people. In fact, in Russia (or, at least, Russian departments at universities), it’s a noted trend that most (not all) readers naturally gravitate toward either Dostoevsky or Tolstoy. My best friend has a PhD in Russian literature and he hated C&P the first time he read it and considered Dostoevsky a lesser author, but he instantly clicked with Tolstoy. It took him a lot of work to key in to Dostoevsky and now he loves the guy, but not many readers put in that amount of effort. Ursula K. Le Guin was always a Tolstoy fan (called him “the pinnacle of prose writing” and declared War and Peace and Anna Karenina the two greatest novels ever, which is a perfectly respectable opinion) and never liked Dostoevsky and didn’t put in the effort to like him, forsaking his work in her early 20s.
I, on the other hand, was lucky to naturally like both authors. I think Tolstoy may be the better writer in terms of things like characterization, building a story world, emotional landscaping, etc. Dostoevsky is more realistic by getting so interior and projecting the chaos of the inner world upon the outer world. I’m a cerebral guy so Dostoevsky is especially powerful for me. But Tolstoy, when well-translated, is staggering in his own right.
@@paulwilliams6913interesting comment. I think your first sentence applies to every author. I’m similar to you thankfully, I seem to click with both authors but for slightly different reasons.
I’m curious, your friend who did the PhD, what was his reason for not liking C&P the first time? Also, which War and Peace/Anna Karenina translations do you recommend? For the former I was thinking of getting the Maude translation (Everyman library) and for the latter the Bartlett one.
@ I think my best friend just didn’t click into the novel’s internal logic-he found the psychological torment melodramatic and redundant at the time. (He’s since taken that back :)
As for translations, I read Ann Dunnigan’s W&P (Signet Classics), which many critics say has the most Russian flavor. Sadly, it’s out of print, the typeset is messy, and the paper browns quickly. The Maude is also super highly praised-the Maudes knew Tolstoy and shared his ideals of non-violence, and he personally praised their translation. Last year, when some friends and I read W&P (reread for me), a few in the group got the Oxford Classics, which is the Maude translation but lightly updated for modern style and readability; no idea if Everyman uses the updated text or the original Maude text. Another friend in the group read the Pevear & Volokhonsky, but found it stilted; some praise that translation but general consensus seems to be that it’s a miss by P&V. Another member of the group really liked the Anthony Briggs translation. But again, Dunnigan and the updated Maude were the most liked by my group.
For AK, I read the P&V translation. I’ve heard VERY good things about Bartlett’s translation, but I can’t speak to it. Some people have started to criticize P&V, but many experts (including my best friend) say their earlier work (C&P; Idiot; Brothers Karamazov, and AK) is quite good. So feel free to go with Bartlett, or maybe download ebook samples for both P&V and Bartlett and see which one serves you better? As far as I know, you can’t go wrong.
@ thank you so much for this! So helpful!
Please do one star reviews for Lolita, I’ll be very curious what you think about those
@@SarahJ70 ohhhh that will be spicy for sure. Added to my list!
Hello Zara. Reading 1 star reviews of our favorite books is interesting.
@@rafm3068 indeed :) it’s why I do it!
@@bookswithzara I will take a look at your other reviews in film this weekend.
If your aim with this video was to get me to move Crime & Punishment higher up the priority list, you've succeeded.
Agreed, there's so much value in digesting and reflecting on WHY something didn't work for us. How else can we learn to better appreciate what we do like in the media we consume.
That one reader seems to be pushing for Toxic Positivity and painting an entire culture with the same brush is a dangerous thing to do. Is the Russian culture and mindset more negative or is it just a point of view in the book they just don't agree with and applied that to an entire nation?
I don't care much more reaction content, especially if that's what a channel's primary output is, but love your take on it.
@@thatsci-firogue yay! Agreed on that reader… I suspect it’s the latter. Such a dense/narrow POV to have.
Glad to hear you liked it too! I think this will be my last one for a while now. But then again, the next Fourth Wing book is coming out in January so might have to do one for that 😂
@bookswithzara Oh my 🤣
❤🎉
Self help instead of Dostoyevsky 🤢
@@Shelf_Improvement right?!
I guess I didn't get it. Found it repetitive and unnecessary, even pointless.
There's a lot of Russian lit I love. This is one of the very few books I actually regret reading. Guess I didn't get it.
@@Merrick that’s fair. It’s just as likely that someone would do the inverse of this video tbh.