The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1821–1881 · Russia

Originally Bratya Karamazovy (Russian)

Why it matters

Patricide, three brothers (sensualist, intellectual, saint), and the Grand Inquisitor's case against Christ. Dostoevsky's summa and, by many votes, the deepest novel ever written; he died two months after finishing it.

At a glance

Vast cast, embedded philosophical treatises, and theological argument woven through a murder plot.