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Title: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky ISBN: 0-486-41587-2 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 22 August, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $3.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (369 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the Best Novels Ever Written!
Comment: Fyodor Dostoevsky has written a story that deeply analyzes the human psyche. Learn what is going through the mind of a murderer who later regrets his vice. Walk with him as his conscience tortures him to mental breakdown. Know what he feels and what he thinks. Learn how his mind ignored murder laws, morals, and ethics until after he has committed the murder. In the end, you will rejoice with him as he chooses to do penance for his evils.
Dostoevsky has ingeniously constructed a tale that strongly reels his readers in. As readers, we easily become one with Dostoevsky's hero. Although murderers are hated in just about every culture, Dostoevsky has presented to us a murderer that invokes our sympathy.
This is a masterpiece that all advanced societies will one day highly regard. Once a Russian classic, "Crime and Punishment" is now a literary treasure.
If you want to read another book with a writing style that is similar to this one, I recommend "Lolita" by Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov.
Rating: 5
Summary: A veritable study in moral depravity
Comment: Having just read the autobiographical A Moveable Feast in which Hemingway discusses Dostoevsky(I wish they would decide upon a definite spelling) and notes how Dostoevsky is undeniably great, however one can only read his works once due to the utterly grave and morose manner in which they inevitably are written. I am in concurrence with this having just finished Crime and Punishment. While I highly recommend this seminal and profound work to all, as Raskolnikov would say, extraordinary individuals outside of the lowly laboring class of the abysmally inept proletariat, I must say that I do not plan on rereading it anytime in the near future.
The dark and morbid cover of the book omniously more than sets the foreboding tone of this deep look into the morose psyche of a tainted and morally depraved intellectual. The ubiquitous gloom and pervading despair permeate throughout Crime and Punishment as we witness the pestilence endured in St. Petersburg in the 19th Century. The continuous coughing of blood by the perpetually sick, the heavy vodka drinking, the gloom of poverty, the virtual starvation of many, the using of "the yellow passport" by Sonia solely in order to maintain sustenance for her family, as well as the remorseless murder of the pawnbroker and Lizveta all contribute to the dissolute debauchery and moral depravity exuded by Dostoevsky.
Is it jusifiable to commit heinous acts on morally corrpt individuals for the betterment of society? Does the despicable means of murder of the dirty, old pawnbroker justify the taking of rubles and jewelry to distribute to those less fortunate who are of good moral standing? Raskolnikov adheres to this belief using reason over conscience thinking great men such as Napoleon are allowed to overstep the laws of man for the betterment of society. After the murders, Raskolnikov finds himself "trapped in dreary solitude from which there was no escape." It is refreshingly profound, and altogether surprising, when Raskolnikov undergoes an epiphany of sorts and finally feels genuine and unadulterated remorse while banished in Siberia. While very dark and macabre, Crime and Punishment comes as a highly recommended, albeit a highly provocative and involving work. Be prepared to put on your proverbial thinking cap, so to speak. Enjoy.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Morality Play
Comment: I reacted to the book in a couple of different ways. My first reaction, from almost the very beginning, was that the book felt like a Dickens novel to me. I saw similarities in both the gothic overwrought characters and the lurking shady characters who alternately seemed for or against young Raskolnikov. The friendship between Raskolnikov and Razumikhin, in particular, reminded me of the friendship between Pip and Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations. Other similarities, I think, are structural. Both books were written serially, and as with Dickens, I looked forward to the cliffhanger at the end of each chapter which would ensure that readers would look forward to the next installment. When I read a book like this, it always occurs to me that it's too bad books aren't written that way any more. It seems like it would be a really fun way to read a book. (Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure that Stephen King has experimented with this in recent years). My other reaction was how psychological and modern the book seemed. I never read this or any other Russian novels in school (not sure how that happened) so I had neither expectations nor preconceptions when I began. The book was, in its own verbose way, a very profound discussion of morality and power. More specifically, I was interested in the relationship between the power of murder and the power of wealth and social class. These themes were buried beneath layers of prose. The book seemed to be divided almost equally between action and Raskolnikov's internal monologue. It was very readable, but occasionally overwhelming. A final observation: the book is filled with events and real people drawn from real life in 1860s St. Petersburg. In the present day, as an established classic, it gives the book a historical context, but I couldn't help but think about how it must have appeared at the time of its publication. In this day and age, writers are often derided for relying too much on current events and pop culture. Critics claim the these books will lose their cultural significance as they become quickly dated. Yet, in C&P, Dostoyevsky's practice of referring to specific scandals and amusements that were the hot topics of conversation at the time serves to cement the book very specifically in a time and place and it manages to make the story feel real and complete. I should also mention that I really enjoyed the particular edition that I read. A multitude of informative notes augment the text, and the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky felt inventive and engaging.
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Title: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Rosemary Edmonds ISBN: 0140444173 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: October, 1982 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Konstanfin Mochulski ISBN: 0553212168 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1984 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Anna Karenina by Mona Simpson, Leo Tolstoy ISBN: 067978330X Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Idiot (Oxford World's Classics) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alan Myers, Fyodor M. Dostoevsky ISBN: 0192834118 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky ISBN: 0374528373 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 14 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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