Crime and Punishment

Rating:
Summary: A timeless classic.... a must buy.
Review: The writer goes deep into the character. He describes the deepest emotions of the characters. They are very real. Very impressive. This is a very powerful and potent book.

Rating:
Summary: Profound.
Review: This book is intense. Wrapped up in an exciting storyline are some of the most profound images of human nature, pride, suffering, redemption, sacrifice, and love that I have yet to read. The dualism of the ordinary man vs. the extraordinary man are convicting and force introspection. There is alot more of Razkolnikov in us than we wish to admit... both the warm hearted compassionate person and the detached monomaniac. The presence of two "people" within us is the source of much of our inner conflict and Razkolnikov is easy to see as an image of ourselves. The polar extremes built in to our human nature contribute to and in fact require our suffering.

I will not forget this book. I found it philosophically challenging and surprisingly accessible; however, I will never "understand" it. I take away another bit of insight each time I think about Razkolnikov, but his character is one that can never be fully explored.

Rating:
Summary: Few can compare
Review: Quite simply and to the point, Crime and Punishment is one of the best books ever written in history of the world.

Rating:
Summary: Is this Dostoevsky's best?
Review: I'd like to know from other readers if this is Dostoevsky's best book. Over a period of years, I've read C&P, The Idiot, and The Gambler. The Idiot I remember as being profound - but I read it at an innocent 16 (I should read it again). By contrast, C&P seemed far less challenging, but in many ways more complete. What do other readers think? I'd be particularly keen to hear about those books by Dostoevsky I hadn't read.

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Summary: It's like reading the thoughts of real persons.
Review: I read this book when I was 13. I did not know nothing about russian literature and obviously never heard about Dostoevsky. Luckily, one day I found the book submerged in a sea of books in the bookseller, and the title "crime and punishment" impressed me. I read it without knowing I had in my hands one of the greatest and most profound novels ever. At the end I was so impressed by the clarity, depth and beauty of the characters, their monologues, the plot, everything, that I remember I said "I won't find something like this again in my life", And could do nothing but admiring the author although didn't know nothing of him. Now three years later I've have already read this novel four times and I'm still marveled for the perfection Dostoevsky achieved in describing human pain, and divine hearts. Happily, I was wrong in what I had thought, because then, I discovered that this was not the only novel written by Dostoevsky.

Rating:
Summary: an H-bomb
Review: A hyperconscious book with x-ray vision into the fantasies of dammed up pride. C & P's hero's are murderers and sex-offenders, and yet the reader identifies with their dammedup power-drives. This book is eternal. Where pride and poverty meet the mind will suffer the pangs herein descibed (and resolved ?)

Rating:
Summary: You will never scape
Review: A really facinating book. You will remember and think of all the bad things humans do and think. You will know alot better your soul. It's not an easy book but you will remember it forever.

Rating:
Summary: The greatest book ever written
Review: Although it may take a few readings for one to understand its glory, Crime and Punishment is truly the greatest book ever written. I read it around three times a year(along with Dostoyevky's other work) and I always get something out of it. Fantastic...gripping...challenging. I marvel at how anyone can not give this book a 5 out of 5, or how anyone can call Shakespeare the greatest writer of all time. My only answer would be that some people are simply not ready to tackle some of the ideas presented in Crime and Punishment.

Rating:
Summary: Second only to The Brothers Karamazov...
Review: This novel is a psychological profile of a normal youth who becomes a murderer through convincing himself that he is above morality and social standards that apply to everyone else. He manages this by creating his own morality-the morality of a mentally disturbed individual.And the enviroment of a large city is most conducive to such a dark transformation;in fact, Dostoevsky recognizes the pernicious and assidious dangers that lurk in vast cities where individuals become faceless and are only noticed when they snap.I got the impression that Raskolnikov was merely searching for attention in a city that disregarded the poor and downtrodden, thereby intensifying his rage against those whom he despised already. The concept of this novel is not too original, but the way that concept is handled certainly proves that Dostoevsky was able to look into the human mind, as it underwent a transformation from normal to demented. He intelligently and artistically captures the smallest biological changes that accopanied his anti-heroes metamorphises.The side characters, I think, are left intentionally underdeveloped so as to allow maximum space for Raskolnikov's change. The profound observastion and artistic incompareability of this novel prove that Dostoevsky truly does deserve his place as the greatest writer of all time. The theme is not uncommon, but the masterful handling of it is. Anyone who likes whodunnits written by a true literary genius should read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Man's Self Illusions Disected and Served on Silver Platter!
Review: An outstanding example of Russian Literature. Dostoevsky's ability to analyze and describe the workings of the human psyche is unequaled. He gives readers an understanding of how the mind of a criminal can rationalize and justify mans most base acts.