Leaving Dostoyevsky

Twelve months in this novel. 

This past year, I have been obnoxiously dropping in conversations with friends and family, "Oh, that reminds me of The Brothers Karamazov..." on almost a daily basis. To me this testifies to the timelessness of the novel. We find all our modern problems - addiction to media, dramatic social and political changes, racism, nationalism, antisemitism, homelessness, poverty, misinformation... all in the novel, from 1879 Saint Petersburg, Russia to 2025 Medford, Oregon - history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. 

Living in a time where it seems we are being asked to divide ourselves up into camps and throw rocks at each other, it's been nice to have a place for different minded people to gather and talk. Our book club developed a rule for discussion in the group, "We can't talk about it if it isn't in the text." It's been a fruitful guide, last month we had a wonderful conversation about one of the main threads of the novel, "Without God, everything is permissible", a concept I chose to challenge. Which led to a wonderful discussion about the existence of God, and the necessity or non-necessity of belief in that God in order to live a moral life. It was our groups first deep interaction, and with our next novel being Frankenstein I think I hope to see more meaningful conversations in the future. 

I've thought much over the past year about this experiment of a book club. I really didn't expect it to become as meaningful to me as it has, and I hope to see it maintain a healthy place in the lives of everyone who attends, and that differing opinions and perspectives feel welcomed, and that the books we read are challenging and relevant. in 2025 we will maintain that exploration for meaning as this year rolls on, with Frankenstein, No Country for Old Men, and East of Eden. Julie will be joining us for East of Eden which she is excited about as she wasn't allowed to read it in High School with the rest of her class. 

It's never too late.