Crime and Punishment | Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment | Fyodor Dostoevsky | Reading this classic is like going down with fever!

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Crime and Punishment

	Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky Vintage, 1993 - 592 pages average customer review:based on 37 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Gripping...

Be sure to get this particular translation because it is the best by far. I skimmed across a couple others before I went with this, and it makes a difference.

I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. It is one of the most intense books I've ever read. It totally draws you into the psyche of the character and have you pondering on those questions of morality. It makes you realize there is no clear cut line of good and evil.

Reading this classic is like going down with fever!

Reading Crime and Punishment is quite like going down with fever, your mind is likewise affected for the while you are at it, and even when the fever is gone, you take some time to recover. Whatever does not kill you, makes you stronger, and so does this reading. Raskolnikov, the chief protoganist is a student who justifies to himself that a pawnbreaker must be killed, for betterment of world and himself; world as she cheats and leeches money from poor students and people like him, and himself as by taking her money he could use it for his own advancement. The first part of the novel describes this crime, while the latter part deals with punishment, most of which comes from within.

The novel is a forceful field of philosophy and religious undercurrents, that are primal forces that keep the reader in a state of feverish interest and persistant agony. Dostoyevsky's great success lies in creating this character, who in more ways than one, represents the nihilists in our inner selves. His character is a person that could reside in any one of us and his dark tale awes, bothers and compells the reader to delve into various moral and philisophical questions that form the subtext of this masterpiece.

Besides (the famous) Raskolnikov, there is a whole range of cast that completes Dostoyevsky's world of trauma and drama. The other main character of interest is Sonia, who must sell herself to keep her family well-fed. Raskolnikov encounters her, and their parallel sagas criss-cross many times. Right after committing the murder, Raskolnikov's mother and sister make an appearance, and without divulging much, I can say that with them the entry of several characters into the novel make it full of suspense and mystery as well. There are a bunch of detectives trying to discover the murderer of the pawnbroker and their efforts bring a sense of thrill into this otherwise dark and complex novel.

Like all classics, the story is just one aspect of the novel. Dostoyevsky is remembered more because of the narrative that forces ethical, existential, social and religious questions into the head and heart of the reader. This novel is a classic read for it pushes the reader over the edge of self-abnegation into a wild current of poignant self-appraisal. It is brilliant in its bringing a character like Raskolnikov into literary circles, and composing a story that will ail before it can cure.

Not an easy it. Not happy either. Classic and must read, nevertheless!

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How will your suffering end, Raskolnikov? HOW WILL IT END????

Ok, now that I have your attention, I'm not going to tell you how it ends because that would just really ruin the book. It would be like telling the end of Harry Potter! Anyway, Crime and Punishment is one of THE best character studies I have ever read. The main, tortured character, Raskolnikov, is subtly and very nicely developed by Dostoevsky. As you probably already know, Raskolnikov kills the elderly pawnbroker and her much more innocent sister. He wished to discover if he was a Napoleon, a man who could kill without conscience and was above the law. One of the great men whose contributions to society overpower any sins they may have on their head.
Raskolnikov is compared to two other sinners. One is Sonya, a young woman who is the daughter of a drunkard that Raskolnikov met in a bar. Sonya has been forced into prostitution because of the great poverty of her family. "Poverty is no vice . . . . destitution is a vice" (13) says Marmeladov, Sonya's father, when he first meets Raskolnikov. The family's destitution has driven Sonya to vice, yet Sonya still believes in God and still repents for her misdeeds. She is sorry for them, yet she does them out of love for the family. Then we meet Svidrigailov, the lusty yet charming wooer of Raskolnikov's sister, Dunya. Svidrigailov appears to bask in his baseness. He loves women and is not afraid to admit. Yet he fears death a great deal, even sees ghosts of those whose death he has been reputed to have been at fault for. Raskolnikov is aware of his suffering while Svidrigailov tries to hide from his own. In the end, both as sinners, he and Raskolnikov choose very different paths. In a sense, Crime and Punishment is an existential work because these people set the bounds of their own morality. While Raskolnikov thinks this his morality will permit him to kill, this is not so and it is because he does not truly believe what his philosophy is a good truth. He is influanced by the women in his life, most of all by Sonya, who repents for her sin but loves life.

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SUPERB!!!!!!!! KIX BUTTOCKS!!!

Inside this book contains the most lovable character ever conceived...Semyon Zaharovich Marmeladov, the lovable drunk whom Raskolinikov meets in a bar after pawning something.

Marmeladov can be described as the character Dickens had in mind when he conceived the character of Micawber.

Marmeladov is, without question, the greatest most lovable drunk ever conceived.

Just reading the 20+ pages of his family history which he tells to Raskolinikov at the beginning tells you what a genius Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was.

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one of the best books i've ever read

I won't go too deeply into details here, as you can get a lot of that from other reviews.

I think the book starts off brilliantly and remains nearly flawless for the first 70% or so. However, in the last two sections, the last 30% or so, I feel the author simply loses steam. He goes on to wrap up the story neatly, but in a very obligatory manner, as if he just wanted to get the writing over with. The frantic anxiety and fear of Raskolnikov is what mainly makes the majority of the book so intriguing, and towards the end it gets a little passed over, and before you know it the book basically just ends.

In other words, a brilliant amount of steam is built up then squandered on a mediocre finish.

Regardless, the first half plus of this book is so strong and evocative that I still feel it's totally worth it. Of course, Dostoevsky's writing style is very long-winded and elaborate in regards to internal emotion of characters and such. He spends pages on end describing states of mind and emotion, rather than having actual action occur. Though I love that style of writing, many seem to ffind that a point of complaint. So if that is not to your tastes, this may not be right for you.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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