[bloudermilk]

Funny to see this pop up as I’m reading this book for the first time currently. I’m about half way through and have enjoyed the story so far. The writing is often frantic and sometimes exhausting to read, but it certainly keeps one’s interest. I’ve been surprised to find the social commentary so resonant with life today. I’ll wait to read this review until I’ve finished the book.

Free to download from Standard Ebooks for anyone interested: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/fyodor-dostoevsky/the-brot...

[carabiner]

It's hard to imagine anything like this making it to publication today. "Ghoulish rigamarole," I've heard it called, that'd be written off as crankish.

[johngossman]

On the other hand, a lot more books are published now. There are a lot of books, especially in the genre of experimental literature, that are stranger and more difficult than this. I'd classify Infinite Jest or any of the Irving Welsh books as more ghoulish and harder to read, and those are almost mainstream compared to some things.

Popularity is another matter, but then literary fiction has never been popular, almost by definition, compared to genres: romance, mystery, etc.