I'm currently reading Karamazov and it's good to have something a bit more jovial and dry witted.
The main difficulty is the names. The names make it so hard.
I love the Space Trilogy by Lewis but I lose my place when he describes a place. Dostoevsky is better at describing people (and bringing them to life in your mind) than Lewis is at describing a landscape.
What's wrong with the names? I find Chinese novels much harder to read because everyone's named C{V[n[g]]|ei|ao|ou} C{V[n[g]]|ei|ao|ou}C{V[n[g]]|ei|ao|ou}.
I'm bad with names to begin with, so I usually make a chart to keep side characters straight.
I've been reading Tom Clancy recently, and that's basically the Jack Ryan books. Somehow, "Jack" is actually a nickname for "John".
A non-Russian speaker is going to be confused when the same character is referred to as both Alexander and Sasha, for example, and will think they're different people.
(FWIW, it lists: Sasha, Sashka, Sashulya, Sashenka, Sanya, Sanechka, Sancho, San, Shurik, Sashunya, Sanyusha, Sanyok. I myself have heard native Russians use Sash - should be written as Сашь -, and e.g. Mish - Мишь -, which is a similar "lazy" conversational short form for Misha/Mikhail.
I've learned some Russian, and once you start sensing the endless magic they can do with verb prefixes and sufixes, you realize what a versatile language this is. Somewhat the same counts for first names, I guess.)
I did find Vonnegut and a small handful of others to be more engaging.
Everyone who knew Lermonotov personally thought Michel was a massive asshole. His biggest hobbies were destroying existing relationships by seducing the women and badmouthing everyone in his vicinity.
https://librivox.org/crime-and-punishment-version-3-by-fyodo...
Of course, that "just" is doing a lot. I'm saying it's doable, not that it's easy.
Like "Mrs. Thatcher", "Margaret" and "Peg"?
I think that's an exciting part. When I am bored with names of similar kind, the names make the characters somewhat exotic. I don't know about you, but the name "Grushenka" adds to everything that is going on with that woman.
It takes an adjustment or familiarity.
With so many Williams, Johns, Franks, Bens, etc. reading a novel with exotic names is just breath of fresh air.
Also feel the same when watching non-English modern TV/web series. Like Nordic or Spanish stuff.
Maybe I'll give it another go.
First time I started to read it, it was a slog and I didn’t get far.
Did a bit of research on translations and chose another one (can’t recall the exact translator).
The 2nd attempt’s translation used more contemporary language, which made it much more understandable and got through it.
/j
If you really want a challenge, try the Malazan series:
At a guess, I would expect descriptors like non-serious (unlike serious C&P), a lowly fiction fantasy (unlike a documentary C&P, heh), suffering used as a vulgar shock content (unlike being a masterful depiction of a soul's torment in C&P), banal themes of isolation used as a dumb plot device (unlike Raskolnikov's isolation being a brilliant metaphor for an agonizing human psyche), a chaotic cacophony of disjointed narratives and different points of view (unlike a beautiful orchestrated suite of intertwining and supporting themes in C&P), a mindless pulp suitable for teenagers (and an intellectual feast for a curious mind hungry for a proper stimulation in a sea of drivel, in C&P).
if if would be mandatory school reading I would probably enjoy it much less
from classics I can recommend also 1984, Animal Farm and Catch XXII (if you served in army you will have better appreciation for it, it was exactly describing absurd situations happening when I served)
That said, being in the army might add an additional level of apprecation but it's a good book regardless.
Also, who doesn’t love Razumikhin?
