Read it because its here.

SO far that has to be my biggest complaint. I almost had to cover my ears at some point for Grushenka's laughter. Oh man that was rough. It was a little too much for me. I think the film did a good job for that scene though. That and the scene where Alyosha hears about Ivan's love for Grushenka. Although I go the sense in the novel that he wasn't so open about it. Didn't he almost rejoice that he was free after Katerina's decision to continue loving Dmitry? I think they just made Ivan more open and personable in general in this film. Just as much as they made Alyosha more sullen and childlike almost in the film. That changed though when he was around Lise. I loved that part when he says he is leaving and she opens the door and juts her hand out but looks away. He just take the tips of her fingers and shakes it. Dare I say that they are cute?

Can I just say that the guy Dmitry is trying to wake up, Gorskin(?) reacts the same way to someone waking him up as I do. I don't get that long stare with the lady with the baby on the cart. Was that supposed to mean something? Have I missed something?

The scenes with Ilyucha are a little too brief and kind of thrown in there. I do like the boy's performance of the little man though. I think he is doing it spot on so far. The second captain isn't what I thought at first, but he is growing on me.

All in all why there are discrepancies and liberties taken with the characters I do like this miniseries adaptation and I will definitely watching the rest of it. I am also glad that this is something I am watching after reading the book.

Well that's it for the business. It is completed. Except for it's not. I was turning the next page to make sure that really was the end. I wanted to know what happened. Did Dmitry really escape? Does Alyosha really leave? Does Ivan live and does Katerina finally come to her senses and love Ivan properly? I do think it is somewhat appropriate now that we revisited the foreward, because it kind of explained the ending, There was a second book planned. The answers to our questions were most likely going to be included in that book. Or maybe not. You never know with Dostoyevsky it seems. While I don't have plans to reread this novel I would have read the second one. Kind of sad we will never get to read it. Thankfully my imagination usually takes care of my curiosity by coming up with it's own ending for The Brothers.

I just want to touch upon Alyosha and Lise. First of all, I think this is something that I think might have been in the next book and I really want to find this out. Isham put out the thought that maybe Lise had come to her senses and that is why she had sent the flowers and that they must have spoken lately and made up. I don't think that sending flowers means that any of that happened. I want to believe that, because I like these two. It's just that the last time we saw her she had good moments and then turned around and lost it. How do we know this just wasn't one of her good moments?

I think there may be some significance in the fact that the little boy's body did not smell. It, of course, brought me back to the whole issue of Zosima's body and it's scandalous stench. Did Ilyucha's body not smell because he was truly innocent? Does that mean that Zosima wasn't? Or it could just likely mean that it depends on other circumstances and it may just be up to chance.

Okay not a movie, but a miniseries and not Skoto, but the Brothers Karamazov. I just liked the way Skoto the Movie sounded. Anyways there are two major things I like about what I've seen so far. I like the guy they have playing Grigory. I didn't think so at first, but when he is dealing with Smerdy and then when he was just standing there saying, "He was insolent to me," referring to Dmitry, I thought he made a perfet Grigory. I also like Anatoliy Belyy as Ivan. I think he shows Ivan as the odd one out as he was in the novel. Physically he is different with a different build and darker looks. Even though he is the full brother of Alyosha it was almost as if he were thought of as the half brother. Not by Alyosha of course, but by Fyodor mostly.

Of course there were a lot of discrpencies from the beginning with the boys being together as children. I didn't really like this as that would have allowed all three brothers to bond as children as that just seems like it would have changed the brotherly dynamics from the book. Fyodor in the beginning looked too clean and put toegther; not how I imagined him I must say. He is growing on me though as the chracter I picture as we go along. To be honest If I hadn't read the book and knew the story I think I would be confused with what was going on. It is a little choppy. That's to be expected I suppose if you don't want the miniseries to be 12837697 hours. (ha! I just converted that to days just to see and it's 534904 days)

So far I like the actresses playing Katya and Grushenka. Smerdyakov is slimy from the beginning and we are told right away that he is the illegitimate son of Fyodor and that he has epilepsy. Does not leave much guessing to do, but with the multitude of plots in this story I suppose there could be some taken out for times sake.

Oh and Bratya Karamazovy is available on youtube for anyone that wants to watch it if we can't finish it in class.

Only the Epilogue left. I don't really know how I feel about the whole thing up till now. Dmitry is not guilty.  I don't think he is anyways. That always bothers me whether it's in a book, a movie, or on the news. I imagine if that was me and I was innocent, but the system failed me and put me in jail. I hate that it happens. But okay back to Skotoprigonyevsk. By the way, it was weird seeing the narrator use the towns name again.

Someone in class asked about who the narrator is. I've never thought about it. I guess it never occurred to me that it would be someone that we were introduced to in the novel. I guess it could be Alyosha though I don't think so. Maybe Kolya when he grows up. Personally if I had to guess I would say Rakitin. He seems to know everything anyways and goes and talks to everyone getting the inside scoop. He already fancies himself a writer in the story. Although he is the type of person I think that if he was going to write something he would write himself in a more favorable light. I just prefer to not think one of the characters is narrating.

Ivan is so changed from when we first met him in the story. Well most of the characters are, but him in particular. He seemed to be more of a reserved person, high in his ideals, and very set in his ways. Now he has completely lost it and is busting up in court. If you would have thought anyone would keep his senses it would be Ivan. I guess it was Dostoyevsky's way of a curveball.

Oh and I loved how said Fyodor's name in this book : Retired titular councillor, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov. Seems very official for someone who made his life of being a clown.

I was glad to get back to the Karamazovs and there happenings in the exciting town of Skotoprigonyevsk although I confess that I was wondering if we were going to get another visit from Kolya or was his purpose simply to wrap up the other little story lines from earlier on in the book? As for the name of the town (it took me ten or so tries before I could memorize it just for it not to be on the quiz) that was a shock for him just to throw it out like that with a confession that he withheld it pretty much on purpose the whole time. I knew it was going to happen sometime, because Isham said it would be coming up, but it was almost, "so oh yeah the town is Skotoprigonyevsk. tried to hide it from ya, but there ya go and yes I know it's a mouth full!" I tried to look up its meaning and got something about cattle or it's from the word skotoprigony, meaning stockyard.

Lise... She's just gone. Either that or maybe bipolar? The ups and down are just so extreme it would seem and the indecisiveness is also an indicator. I wouldn't be surprised as Dostoyevsky seems to have characters that are affected with mental illness. It also goes along with the "affect" everyone is trying to say Dmitry was under. I gotta hand it to Alysoha though I can see why he is the hero, though write now an almost unspoken one. He is loyal. He stands by his brother and is the one saying, "Actually no Dmitry didn't kill our father and I truly believe that. I will not believe you saying otherwise." It's like nowadays when just to get a case over with someone would plead to maybe a lesser charge so they won't go to court and risk something bad happening. I know, in Dmitry's case, I couldn't say I did it either. Alyosha is saving him. With his mind, he needs at least someone to believe him or otherwise he would start to convince himself that maybe everyone else was right.

Smerdyakov... Never liked him. He's like the butler you suspect from the beginning of the play. He wasn't quite right and not because he was epileptic either. I think I suspected him because of the cats. I know someone said in class about they looked up about psychopaths and it said something about torturing animals, wetting the bed, and something else. I don't know about that, but I know people like that start out with the most helpless and work their way up. They start with animals, go on the children and then the elderly and then they are confident to just go at it. The animals, manipulating Ilyusha, the murder of Fyodor. It all fits. This put is turning out to be the ultimate whodunit!

Oh and personally I think Smerdyakov is trying to get Ivan to feel the blame, because Smerdyakov used to like him, but Ivan never really considered him to be really intellectual enough. He is simply playing on the emotions of a son. Smerdyakov has always had too much power.

(On a semi funny note: I went home after class thursday so I am sitting at home writing this and I like to listen to music while I am working and what I was listening to finished, so my mother took it upon herself to put in more music. All of a sudden, Love train by the O' Jays comes on. I thought that is an hilarious soundtrack for the Karamazovs.)

At least that is what he thinks. When I read this originally I just thought it was too fantastical. The language he uses is just too advanced. I've read books before where the character is supposed to be a kid or teenager, but they would never talk like that. But the more we talked in the class the more and more he made sense. He's just a kid that doesn't want people to know he is one. The problem is he is one and people are quite aware of that. That is pretty typical. I know when I was fourteen I didn't want to be called kid.

Every time I go to write one of these blog posts I'm stuck on repeat. I almost feel bad for anyone that reads these. I;m sure they are thinking, "Oh, now there she goes again about the same damn things." But it's just how I feel about the writing and every time a couple days go by without reading it I somehow forget what was so frustrating about it, so when I go to read again I'm frustrated all over again. Although, it does come with the territory seeing as I am just an easily annoyed person. I will give you an entirely different reason for my frustration though. This time it wasn't how her wrote it or the teasing Dostoyevsky does about future events, this time it was actually what he wrote.

While I am more fond of reading this book now and am happy we are getting more into the story and learning more about the characters (even if it may contradict what we have been told in the beginning), I am still frustrated. Of course, that's not saying much being me. We seem to get some action, but are then put on ice with another character description or very detailed backstory that contains within itself moments where Dostoyevsky gives us a hint, but then says enough about that now we'll get to that later.... Well don't mention it then!

Just want to note that we should always end class by learning something Russian like a song or something. It's good to end on a good note. Not that anything about class is bad, but you know the subject matter in the book is sometimes intense with murders and duels and such.

Speaking of the duel. The way Zosima explained his reasoning to his friends about the duel reminded me of the way Alyosha explained the incident with the second captain and the money to Lise. They both seem to take responsibility for the events and interpret the actions of the other party involved. They seem to believe they can read the other party well enough to know how they would react even though they barely know them at all. I mean because they are important and well though of should they be allowed to act like they know what will happen? I'm not sure if there is anything here and I know the similarities with Ivan are more prominent, but when I read this I actually thought of Alyosha first.

Normally I get somewhat annoyed when we divert from the present happenings to go into a character description several sections long. This time I actually didn't mind so much. I'm still unsure of what the true purpose of Zosima is in this story other than being so high in the heart of Alyosha, but I was glad to get to know him better. I can't tell you how happy i am that we were told why Zosima bowed to Dmitry. Well we don't know what this terrible future for him is, but that was always at the back of my mind. Just one of those symbolic things that you are supposed to delve deep into and then slowly the realization develops. But no I couldn't figure it out. There is all this bowing going on anyways. Bowing and kissing.

People getting frisky in this book. Fiances kissing, brothers kissing, monks kissing floors... you name it it's getting kissed. It's almost acting as a connection of sorts. Like the brothers kissing. I know that Alyosha stole it from the Grand Inquisitor, but I kinda see it as Alyosha making a connection with a brother that was previously out of his reach. As if to seal that moment, that conversation they shared. It could not be denied. The same thing with Zosima. He kneeled and kissed the floor almost to seal his existence in this world. To make that final connection so that even if the people didn't know, the world God created knew. Not to make it trivial, but it's like when people write on desks or bathroom walls, "I was here," or, "so-and-so was here," only deeper. People want to be remembered.

Sorry I had to title this in favor of a fellow classmate's frustrations, because I know where he is coming from. It is kind of annoying to have read this far and not come to the business of the story yet. I do not really give up on things. It usually doesn't matter how bad a movie or book is, because I'll usually finish it just to see how it ends. I think the only time i did give up on something it was the movie Valkyrie... enough said. Anyways, the discussion in class got me thinking whether or not if I had not been reading this for a class would I still be reading it now? I'm not really sure.

I don't really have much to say about the betrothal. We did talk about whether Lise was actually ill or not. Perhaps it is just her mothers wish for attention from the community or her wish to always have someone to take care of that has Lise in the chair. We don't know. I mentioned that it reminded me of The Secret Garden. I just wanted to explain what I meant. There is this boy in the story and his mother died and his father was so distraught that he has neglected his son and left him in the care of his housekeeper. He was deemed sickly and has been bedridden his whole life so now lacks the strength to walk. In the end the girl and her friend help the boy to walk and the father sees the error of his ways and whatnot. It isn't the only other book that this story reminds me of. Mrs. Khokhlakova and Lise really remind me of Mrs. Bennet and Lydia from Pride and Prejudice. They kinda get at each other, but then Mrs. Bennet always wants to identify with Lydia, because she seemingly wants to be young again.

The whole Ivan and his creating this image of God and Devil led me to think they were the same being in his mind. That reminded me of the whole Jekyll and Hyde story. What a weird picture though. God and the Devil as the same person, just different personalities, but that is what it seemed to me what Ivan was kind of leading towards. It makes more sense then about the world being the way it is for him. The world is good and terrible because the is created by the God personality and the terrible by the devil personality. I wonder what he would go on to say if he thought about it like that. It might have helped him, because he wasn't really asking if god exist, but how could god possibly exist if such atrocities simultaneously exist? Children are miracles are they not? How could a miracle be tortured? Think about that long enough and you might start ranting too.

I'm not fond of Father Ferapont. I don't know what his purpose is really. It was about Father Zosima dying and then we were introduced to Ferapont all of a sudden and just as suddenly we were back to Zosima and Alyosha. In class Ferapont and Zosima were compared and people said which one they thought was more holy or which they liked better. I don't think one is more pious than the other. They just focus on separate aspects of religion. Ferapont focuses on personal salvation whereas Zosima is more focused on the forgiveness of humanity and sharing gods love. Whether either is completely successful I do not know. Zosima is more or less beloved. As everyone, he does have his critics. The big difference is that Ferapont just keeps to himself. Although you have to love Dostoyevsky.... He took a vow of slience... he speaks sometimes... okay let's have him have this really long conversation with this stranger to him... His characters do not seem to be very firm. But maybe that goes back to being Russian like when it said Grigory never struck his wife, but there was that one time.

For the first half of the reading we go through everything with Miusov. The Fyodor goes on his ramblings, from which we then follow the Elder around as he visits different female visitors. It was around here that I remembered this book was supposed to be about the hero Aleksey. I suppose I'm just being impatient, but after learning about all these characters and the different sides we see, it's being to drive me nuts. I almost wish we didn't read the forward, so that we wouldn't know this is supposed to be about Aleksey.

I must say that I am pretty excited about this course. I was a little intimidated when I received the book in the mail. Not by it's size, I actually love tackling large books, but by the fact that we are dedicating an entire course to this material. I've never gone into a book so far and I suppose it'll be interesting to see how I come out of it...

This is where I will post my take on the Brothers Karamazov. As our first gathering to discuss these interesting brothers was tonight and it is now after 10, I will wait until the morning to post my take on this class and the beginning of this "pop-up" adventure (as Isham put it).