Rating: 
Summary: A Tale of Redemption and Guilt
Review: Crime and Punishment is an intensely psychological book that delves into the mentality of a killer and the long, arduous path to salvation. Furthermore, Crime and Punishment illustrates the need for faith in a cold, godless world. Particularly, Dosteovsky focuses on Raskolikov, a brilliant young college student who commits a pointless murder at the whims of an experiment. As the days after the crime elapse, Raskolnikov becomes a whithered, tortured soul who becomes engaged with the clever police chief. Dosteovsky's depiction of the psychological cat and mouse affair between Raskolnikov and the police chief provides a rare glimpse into the torturous psyche of guilt. Beautifully written, touching and extremely moralizing, Crime and Punishment is a lucid fable that endures to this day, a tale whose theme is still as valid as our society slowly, as in the words of Judge Robert Bork, "slouches towards Gomorrah."
Rating:
Summary: Form over glitz
Review: It would be easy to dissect the plot of this timeless classic, to go into teh writers prison time and gambling habits and addcition to excess and misery. That would be simple. Instead I will talk about the craft of writing itself. This book excels not so much based upon form in the plot structure. The story is simple and even when examined rather sad and simplistic. Instead it is the craft of writing. Nearly 500 pages of true poetic writing. Writing that sustains even as to some points it bores. By bores I mean in length and depth of personal introspection. Through American fiction we are used to action, action, action, dialogue explaining what the action was. In Russian literature there is a focus on history in relationship to the main characters and their circumstances. Russian literature is concerned with the political forces that shape lives, in America we are concerned with how fame shapes the body politic. Take Dreiser's Sister Carrie as an example of the desire for fame at the cost of morals in comparison to the theft of money for survival, from a despicable person.
What I often do with "heavy" books like this is I get the Cliffnotes to accompany the book as I read it, to in a sense have both a discussion internally and a map so that I don't miss any of the rich fields along the way. That is how the classics should be taught, with an eye to the brains that have yet to be initiated into such heavy patience reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping... at times
Review: This book has some of the best police interrogation scenes that I have ever read. You realy enjoy to see him get interrogated because it is so heated and passionate. But the only problem with the book is that you spend so much time trapped in his head reading about even the most mundane thoughts that you get so bored that you ache for a more suspenseful scene. The ending is quite fitting and interesting to read so the book does leave you with a satisfying feeling of reading a good book after you have finished.
Rating: 
Summary: A review with more style than the book itself
Review: This book is despicable and could only be called a classic becuase it is old. The novel save the first 100 pages is dire and it is easy to see how the book will end I am 14 and read the book in 2 weeks understanding every word and knowing what was going to happen. The book centers around a ex-student named Raskolnikov( the only decnt character) who kills a old women and her sister and robbs them due to hard financial times adter this act is over the book spirals down and crashes as we are introduced to boring 1 dimensional characters and a boring plot and I use plot only because there are no other words. A paperwieght more than a book that I would only recommend to people who1 Have nothing better to do or 2 Who want to impress thier friends. I am sorry about the poor spelling and grammer in this review but i find it hard to talk about a book that I detest unless saying that I do detset it. Thank you for reading this review but don't read the book by some decent toilet paper!
Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: Dostoyevsky is able to capture the human condition perhaps better than any writer since Shakespeare. This novel takes on the emotions so viscerally that is no wonder that he transcends nationality to being just Human. I also recommend his short story The Dream of a Queer Fellow. This has another English title as the use of the word queer has been alter since the story's original publication. Look it up on-line... it is posted on the Web! You can read that short story for free. Even so, do not live the rest of your life without reading this story. Like the Italian movie, The Bicycle Thief it will not fail to move you.
Rating:
Summary: Full Of Spiders
Review: This book has always given me a problem. It repulses me. Yet I consider the novel one of my finest reads.When Raskolnikov puts his ear to the door to listen to the footsteps in the hallway, he hears someone on the other side of the door putting his ear to the wood also. He is terrified to realize an inch or so of wood separates the ear of the murderer and the ear of the law. My hair turns white just thinking about it. That part has always given me the creeps. Like the dream about being locked un a shed full of spiders. That is also in this book. You cannot go through life without reading this book at least once. It is a great crime story, albeit a dark story. The detective is as evil as the murderer is good. This is not a book that can be read many times. It is dark and oppresive. It is full of spiders.
Rating:
Summary: Gotta Love This Book!
Review: I simply love this novel by Dostoyevsky! Not only is it a literary masterpiece, but it proposes many philosophical questions as well. For example, the main character (Raskolnikov) speaks about a very interesting idea, the everyman - superman theory. This is an idea that there are two sets of people in the world: the everyman and the superman. The everyman is the ordinary person who lives by all laws that society establishes and they must conform to all circumstances. There are however the supermen, the people who are born in very few numbers, maybe one in a few million, and they are above all laws. The supermen are those that are immune to any restrictions and can even kill people and break the most fundamental laws of society in order to accomplish their goals. They not only have the ability to do so but they have the desire to do so. They also have a need to become better than other people. Raskolnikov uses the example of Isaac Newton and how his accomplishments were so important that it would have been acceptable (in his opinion) if Newton killed tens or even hundreds of people so long as he came to his discoveries.
Raskolnikov then gives his opinions on where he stands according to this idea but I won't give that away, that would ruin the novel. I definitely think this is a must read for anyone who has some free time on their hands or someone who wants to tackle a philosophical challenge. It gets five stars from me and you should give it a shot too.
Rating:
Summary: Glorious hope and ressurection
Review: It is SO NOT DEPRESSING. Such hope and happiness is full in the book... and you will be in love with this book immediately, thoroughly and immensely.
In the beginning I sort of got lost. In the end, I found my way through the book, and through my life. I can't praise it enough. Go buy (or borrow) and read. It's worth buying, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping
Review: A long, winding story that accurately meets the Russian literary standard: depressing as all hell. Indeed, this book is darker than Dante's trip through Hades. If you love great literature, and if you don't mind experiencing the weight of the world vicariously via Raskulnakov's 400 page adventure, this is your book. A great read. Makes real life seem cheerful by comparison - even life in the gulag.
Rating:
Summary: A terrific intellectual,mystery book
Review: Raskolnikov was tall, well-complexed man. Living a corrupt life in a tiny garret on the top floor of a building in the town of St.Petersburg.He is sickly, dressed in rags, short on money,and talks to himself,but yet intellectual.This man's life was about to make a tempestous turn. He is contemplating commiting an awul crime, but the nature of the crime is not yet clear. Meeting the wrong people at the wrong places weren't going to help Raskolnikov go anywhere. Meeting Marmeladov, a drunky,only brings him to a more depressing stage.Marmeladov talks about his sickly wife, and his daughter, who has been forced int prostitution to support the family.Raskolnikov was both obliging and depraved. This novel takes you into a psychological state of mind, where ou get to judge Raskolnikov's humane and inhumane acts. This novel is perfect for you, if you're an intellectual reader, and like mystery.
|
