/lit/ - Literature

So I haven't read any of the classic Russians and I'm fixing that this year, starting with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. So... which fucking translation do I go with?

Just start with Karamazov. It seems to me there are 3 main options: McDuff (safe/traditional?), Peavear (precise?), and Ignat Avsey (hot n' new?). All i've got for advice on these is amazon reviews and most of those guys are morons. So which is going to give me just the most pure, accurate, as-Dostoevsky-intended translation? I don't want things hip or modernized or "easier to read." Which does /lit/ read?

I'm about a hundred pages into this and I'm having a bad time.

My main problem is that the dialogue seems to drag on forever, and either ends up repetitive (the discussion of church/state) or nonsensical (every time Fyodor Karamazov speaks). Likewise, I'm in the middle of some part now where Dmitri is reciting poetry and spewing some stream of conscience nonsense.

Additionally, the story is moving incredibly slowly. Half of what I've read has taken place around one conversation at the monastery that just made me hate or pity every character.

I'm enjoying about 1 in 4 chapters (I really liked the character introductions at the beginning, the elder talking to the ladies outside, the Lizaveta story) but for the most part I'm not enjoying it.

Does it get better or am I missing the point of the book?