The Brothers Karamazov

Book summary

Fyodor Karamazov, a debauched father, is set against his eldest son Dmitri over an inheritance and the same woman. Around them Ivan, tormented by the problem of evil, and Alyosha, a novice at the monastery, take opposite paths, while the servant Smerdyakov looks on. When the old man is murdered, suspicion falls on Dmitri, and the trial forces each of them to say what he believes. The novel explores guilt, freedom and faith in a world where all seems permitted. Dostoevsky pushes a murder story as far as asking who in a family is innocent.