A classic to read very slowly in order to understand its underlying messages
Being Dostoyevsky an observer of the inner world that comes out of the perceptions of the mind, this novel is about the ravings of a poor helpless University Student drop out who happens to rent a cramped one room studio in San Petersburg, Russia. He needs money desperately and one day decides to kill and old nasty lady who makes her business pawning objects and to whom he had pawned some jewelry belonging to his mother.
The book can be divided in my opinion in three parts, 1) All the process that leads to the murder of the lady as seen from the inside of the mind of Raskolnikov ( this poor innocent that would never kill a fly, planning to murder someone)these few chapters are colorful, full of suspense action and very gripping indeed like in the best hard boiled novel you can find 2) Intermediate chapters that plod along describing the environment where Raskolnikov lives showing the social reality of the Tzarist Russia of that time and 3) How Raskolnikov reveals his crime to the outside, gets convicted, put on trial and sentenced. In every case Dostoyevsky does not focus on the story but in the feelings and emotions that go through the mind and soul of the characters as they interact among themselves like in the best psycho fiction novel and this carries along the action unfolding the story. In order to understand and properly follow this author one must reflect himself on every sentence one read so as not to lose the thread. So do it slowly. Crime and Punishment is a classic worthy to read although not Dostoyevsky's best
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
This is the story of Rodion Romanych, a young man disenchanted with life who murders two people in cold blood in an effort to jazz it up a little. The crime's consequences, however, are able to get into his innermost self, leading him down a path of psychological torture and helplessness. Aided by friends and family, but subtly driven mad by the wily detective Porfiry, Rodion sets out on a sickly, subterranean odyssey of regret and conscience.
This is one of the ten best novels of all time. Just read it. Hats off to Pavear and Volokhonsky for a smooth, eminently readable translation, one that keeps the integrity of Dostoyevsky's Russian while making the story fresh and as entertaining as anything you're ever likely to read. Each scene, each page, is a masterpiece of setting, dialogue, and tension, making you physically uncomfortable at Rodion's plight yet creating an equally palpable feeling of renewal at his eventual salvation. What is right and wrong, good and evil, rich man and poor man, the differences between the blessed and the damned? All these questions are asked here, in a dense story that is oftentimes nothing less than an indictment of thought (and the ego) itself. Along with the questions it poses to the reader, what is also astonishing here is Dostoyevsy's use of structure; characters come in and go out when necessary, coalescing around Rodion and subtly reinforcing the story's themes and tying up loose ends just right. It is so beyond comparison that a meager review could never adequately convey how rewarding an experience this is. Again, just read it.
A Tremedous Novel
It's easy to see why this book is Dostoevsky's most famous. It is his most focused large novel, and its trajectory rests on an ever-deepening tension that is quite its own. It is an exhausting read, like most of Dostoevsky's works, but it speaks powerfully on numerous levels. I enjoyed the book most as a stinging critique of the kind of intellectual so convinced of his/her superiority that they believe they are not bound by moral laws that apply to the rest of humanity. Raskolnikov's plight throughout the novel shows us the futility of prideful intellectualism to trump basic human instinct, and its absurdity next to the power of love and humility. By the end of the novel we see that Raskolnikov's supercilious pride in the act of committing his crime has cost him not only lawful punishment, but has reduced him to utter mental devastation, showing him just how like the rest of humankind he truly had been all along.
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