1. The Brothers Karamazov
One of the most ambitious books ever written, The Brothers Karamazov is an 800 page drama packed with discussions of faith, doubt, free will, morality, and all other manner of philosophical questions Dostoevsky could fit in. The titular brothers Karamazov are brought together after the murder of their father and Dostoevsky digs deep into every one of them. Dmitri is the oldest and his personality is marked by his free spending of money and his focus on worldly pleasures. Ivan is an intellectual and a rationalist who is distant from the rest of the family. Alyosha is the most likable of the family, a novice in the Russian Orthodox, and is generally liked by everyone he meets. Much of the novel is devoted to the interplay between the three brothers as Ivan and Dmitri are attracted to the same woman, with Alyosha often serving as the intermediary between them. Dostoevsky packs in so much material in The Brothers Karamazov that it's impossible to summarize in a few paragraphs. Each character is both a fully realized character and an archetype for a philosophical idea: Ivan represents the despair felt by anyone who relies purely on reason, Dmitri represents the animalistic side of human nature, and Alyosha represents another kind of ideal man, although different and more practical than Myshkin in The Idiot. Enormously influential on both philosophers and write alike, The Brothers Karamazov has been praised ever since its release and stands as a giant of world literature. Some of the chapters in the book, such as the Grand Inquisitor story that Ivan tells Alyosha, have become famous as standalone stories, indicating the width and breadth of the novel. Massive in both size and scope, The Brothers Karamazov is one of the important novels ever written, dealing with universal themes in a way that few writers have ever been capable of. Dostoevsky mixes tragedy, philosophy, psychology, drama, and ultimately a hopeful ending, into one of the most profound and moving works of art ever created.