Did you read a particular translation? It's a book I've always intended to read and I started trying to read Constance Garnett's translation recently, but the writing felt awkward and it turned me off pretty quickly. It felt like I was reading poorly written fanfiction or a book intended for young adults with limited vocabularies.
An example from one of the first few pages:
"There happened to him at that instant what does happen to people when they are unexpectedly caught in something very disgraceful. He did not succeed in adapting his face to the position in which he was placed towards his wife by the discovery of his fault."
I've never read an English translation of any classic Russian literature that didn't require re-reading of at least 10% of the sentences to figure out the meaning.
On the one hand, it makes reading such books feel like an arduous undertaking. It took me about a year and a half to finish Anna Karenina, and I just gave up on The Brothers Karamazov.
On the other hand, using two dozen words when five could suffice has the effect of drawing out each moment of the story, giving it a texture and flavor that would not otherwise be possible.
I found the matching paragraph in my 1918 Maude translation:
"At that moment there had happened to him what happens to most people when unexpectedly caught in some shameful act: he had not had time to assume an expression suitable to the position in which he stood toward his wife now that his guilt was discovered."
