Crime and Punishment (Abridged)

Rating:
Summary: Spectacularly fascinating
Review: Absolutely mind boggling! The character developement, the plot developement... all is superb - yet none can compare to the psychological depth that I found! Dual personalities... a tangled look into the scattered psyche of an human intellectual with an inhuman theory. It's one of the best reads I've had in ages!

Rating:
Summary: Stop reading reviews and read this book
Review: This is the best, most rewarding thing I have ever read. You don't just empathize and sympathize with a murderer, you feel what he feels. I mean personally, in the first person as if you were him. It is gut-wrenching, intelligent, thoughtful, entertaining, provocative, eloquent...frankly, it's humbling even trying to write about such brilliant writing. If you've gotten this far, you've wasted a minute that would have been best spent starting C&P.

Rating:
Summary: Aesthetically inspired, but bereft of interest
Review: Critiqued independantly of other novels and evaluated on its own intrinsic merits, Crime and Punishment reveals itself to be a irrefutably excellent novel. Nevertheless, in comparison to other "classics," it lacks vitality, vitiated by the author's interminable and relentless prose concerning mostly the internal psychoses of a protagonist non-representative of humanity in general. Far better 18th-century novels redolent with evocative imagery and possessing greater thematic depth deserve attention; namely, the Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Melville immerses the reader into a philosophical epic; Dostoyevsky harasses the reader. Hawthorne envelopes the reader's senses in prose so sumptuous it borders on decadence; Dostoyevsky austerely moves along his plot. Wilde smirks sardonically at his hero; Dostoyevsky throws him in our face. To recapitulate, Fyodor has some excellent ideological intrigue within his work--though mostly only a reactive jerk against radical philosophies of his time. His flaw, I believe, lies in his inability to entice the reader into the story, keep him there, and finally send him on his merry way with the satisfaction of having undergone cleverly-wrought enlightenment. I warily entered the story, stayed due to my own inertia, and then finished on my apathetic way, having undergone stale enlightenment.

Rating:
Summary: A book everyone should read!!
Review: Dostoevsky's _Crime and Punisment_ is a masterpiece. It can be read for entertainment or more serious reasons, such as analyzing humanity. I first read the book for entertainment and was hooked the moment I opened it. Now with each reading, I have discovered a new aspect of it and of humanity. The book is timeless and I believe that any cultured individual should read it.

Rating:
Summary: A view inside a man's head
Review: Raskolnikov moved to St: Petersburg some time ago to study. When he could no longer afford his studies, even if giving private lessons, he quit altogether. That's where we find him. He claims he needs time to think and he's forming a theory sort of like Nietzsche's. If he can reach a goal that will place human kind in a better world by executing people, he must. After some time of isolation and walking alone in the streets of St: Petersburg he does not think much about his concience, which might be heavy on him after "it". So he decides to kill an "evil" woman. Then he get's ill and is bothered continuously by stupid people who can't possibly understand his situation, even if knowing what he's done. All the time, just when you think he's safe and just needs time to recover, something suddenly happens. A person arrives in the city, new evidence is brought against him, and so on. Crime and Punishment is an excellent psychological thriller, or whatever category it should be placed in. He's a strange, isolated man, Raskolnikov. But it's a splendid psychological picture of a murderer, his concience nagging him to pieces every day. Read it. It might slightly change your way of looking at things

Rating:
Summary: Tony the Tiger says Great!
Review: The unsettling story of a sultry young man with unbridled passion fell into his own state of deprivation.

Rating:
Summary: i love it
Review: There is only one book, and it is from the same author,which is better than "Crime and punishment"-it's name is "The brothers Caramasovi'

Rating:
Summary: More than a classic - a painful yet extraordinary book!
Review: Because I first read this book as assigned reading in school I was prepared for a full and dry time of it. NOT SO! Despite the fact that this book is hailed as one of the all time great literary works of humanity, it is truly an excellent book, one that can be appreciated by any mature reader who is not faint-hearted. Yes, the events are unspeakable and the characters and their struggles are ripping but the profound issues it raises are too numerous to name. A Must Read (for those who can handle it).

Rating:
Summary: Overrated classic
Review: This is, of course, far from a poor book. But I believe it is also not, by far, a good one. Being the first of its kind to do well in the West, it has reigned supreme as one of the classics of classics (along with, for example, War and Piece by Tolstoy), and not witout reason. It is an interesting psychological and existential battle that rages deep in poor Raskolnikovs' soul, but make no mistake - this is far from Dostoyevskys' finest moment. I wholeheartedly suggest you instead turn your attention to his masterpiece: The Idiot. That, I believe, is his most important achievement.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best novels ever written
Review: Quite simply, it is an awesome experience you will take with you the rest of your life. It explores human suffering and unconditional love like nothing else I have ever encountered. I cannot wait to read it again.