I read Crime and Punishment a few months ago and I can confidently say it's one of my favorite books of all time. After finishing it, I immediately got Brothers Karamazov because I was hoping it would scratch the same itch for me, but I was honestly underwhelmed. I tried to keep going for 500 pages before deciding I would pick it up another day when I have a better grasp on literature (I'm a college freshman) because I clearly wasn't understanding it. I thought the characters were really interesting and that Dostoevsky did a good job establishing them, but it felt to me as if most of the book was just everyone sitting around and arguing about religion the whole time and I really missed the themes of poverty, crime, and redemption from Crime and Punishment as well as the friendship between Razumikhin and Raskolnikov. I also thought the book was very plot-driven which feels rare in books that old.
Are there any books like Crime and Punishment and is any of Dostoevsky's work similar?
by Moldy-Bagel