The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1880)

Ivan, Dimitri, and Alexander–who’s not to love–each in his own way. I had 796 pages to learn how. This was D’s last novel and I think he wrote it over a decade. I did love, sort of, each of the brothers even though 2 out of 3 acted in unloving ways. His characters could have come out of the 21st Century–at least the stream of consciousness and some of the actions, although extreme, are eminently understandable. A woman wronged, testifies in court against the man who crushed her ego; a man who hated his father says he is guilty of his murder; a young boy from the wrong side of town takes on a pack of his schoolboy tormenters. Admittedly, his characters show the dark side more often than not. [7/11]

The Idiot by Fyodor Dosteovsky (1864)

Can a good man make it in this vile world–this world of pettiness and greed and, well, searching for the “right” spouse? The good man here is Prince Mishky, naive, kind, democratic, epileptic (as was Dostoevsky) and loved by all except those who call him an idiot. The novel flowed, then clogged up, then flowed again. I liked total immersion in 19th C Russia.[8/10]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2004) The Girl Who Played with Fire (2005) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (2007) by Steig Larsson

Lisbeth Salander. How can you not love her? She’s brilliant, driven, shy, brash, fearless, and vulnerable, oh, so vulnerable. She’s part Everywoman and part every woman’s dream. What woman wouldn’t want to stomp on the face of a rapist, or a slimey sexist? Larsson –may he r.i.p.–keeps the pages churning and turning. I think the secret to the phenom success of the “Millennium Trilogy” is women who are not usually thriller fans are reading these books. The female characters are exemplars of their gender and not in the least sleazy. I had a feeling, reading the third book, that someone else finished it and padded it needlessly. Why Salender’s Gibralter trip and the brief intro of a new character who seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the story?[10/10-2/11]

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008)

Winner Man Booker in the same year as published. The book is an allegory/description/condemnation of democracy in 21st Century India. The poor are still enslaved, the rich, still entitled. The plot revolves around a young man from the country who uses his wits—and murder—to rise to wealth and prominence in Bombay. He is facile and witty, and he paints a penetrating portrait of his country. [12/08]