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Summary: Crime and Punishment
Review: Internal conflict is a key element in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel, Crime and Punishment, because Raskolnikov's actions occur as results of his inner frustrations. Raskolnikov's harsh life effects his ability to think rationally. During a conversation with one of his companions he says, "It all went according to theory... Get to the consequences of what you've just been preaching, and it will turn out that one can go around putting a knife in people" (151). In this conversation, Raskolnikov misinterprets his friend's theory and clues the reader of his sickness. Most things are circled around death after Raskolnikov kills the two ladies. In his first killing he feels cornered and left with no other choice. Raskolnikov's growing sickness makes him obsessed with detail. The narrator explains his physical condition saying, "However, it was not that he was totally unconcious during the whole time of his illness: it was a feverish condition, with moments of delirium and semi-awareness. Afterwards he remembered a great deal" (117). The narrator reflects his inner sickness with his outer one in the story. It is almost as if he is in a dream, seeing what he is doing but not stopping himself. He does not realize the sverity of his actions until the process is over. Raskolnikov's life goes by in a drunken haze. What happens around you affects you in ways you do not realize. Dostoevsky's story displays how outer elements of a person's life can change their thought process and lead them to insanity.
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Summary: Slow-paced but intriguing psychological thriller...
Review: As I said, this novel is definitely slow-paced, so for those whose attention spans are shorter than the average television commercial, you are being forewarned.
That aside, this is an absolutely marvelous book, combining elements of mystery and crime with disturbing psychology and provocative philosophy. The story concerns a poor Russian youth named Raskalnikov who has decided that murdering an elderly pawnbroker for her wealth is just because she is a societal leech who contributes nothing. He is blinded by his own poverty and deluded by his Neitzschean philosophy concerning 'extraordinary men' and their rights to commit heinous acts for the general betterment of humanity. Problems arise when he falls in love and is also hounded by two men, one a police officer and another a scoundrel.
The story is well-translated in that it is clear and concise, and, by all accounts, preserves the story nicely. The writing itself is readable, and the more philosophical passages are definitely intriguing.
Highly reccomended.
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Summary: Certainly Not My Favorite
Review: Crime and Punishment was certainly not my favorite book--there are quite a few that would have that place above it. However, it is, without a doubt, the best book I've ever read. No other book is quite capable of taking a person with a desire (albeit one that was bound to be frustrated) for greatness coupled with an envy for the great figures of history and making them instead happy to live a mediocre life. I'd hesitate to call it a thriller, but it was certainly difficult to put down.
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Summary: Crime and Punishment - in a word pure excellence.
Review: This fantastic thriller penned by the Russian genius Fyodor Dostoevsky is a must read for all avid readers, even those who don't really like thrilers. The langguage as well as being descriptive, really throws the reader in the thickening plot of the novel. It definitely one book you cannot put down!
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Summary: Excellent!
Review: I recently read this book, as my first ever of Dostoevsky, and I must say that i now fully understand why he has been hailed as one of the greatest writers ever. His splendid characteristics, his insanely deep, and by my opinion accurate, psychological observations alone raises this book to new, dizzying heights according to my way of wieving litterature. In addition to this, the story is most inticing, and the intreagues excellently built up. This keeps the reader riveted, and makes this extraordinarily good book very hard to put aside.There's no doubt in my mind: it deserves 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I'd strongly recommend Garnett's version. This is far more intuitive than previous version -- with particular attention to the emotional undertone rather then a literal translation.
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Summary: An immortal giant of a book.
Review: For those not versed in the peculiarities of Russian cultural history in juxtaposition to western European, this book is educative in one great respect: it lays bear the importance in that history of the idea in relation to actions. For those of steely nervous composition Crime and Punishment is an absolute must. For the more mousy, perhaps a little harrowing. Just as it is for the principle protaganist, who declares in the first pages that he feels as though his clothing has been caught in the wheels of a machine and he is being dragged inexorably into it, so it is for the reader. It will definately leave nobody indifferent. In it we are taken for a wrenching roller coaster ride over a complex moral landscape by its hero, Raskolnikov, who sets out to divest himself of what he sees as his own shortcomings by enacting a very simple idea. In the spirit of his pre-revolutionary times he converts confining moral tenets into a simplified mathematics. The equation is simple: if he murders one aged, miscreant and odious moneylender, he may release at least 2 virtuous people from impending or actual misery. No one will regret the passing of the old hag; it would be an almost universal shame should the virtuous not be released. The murder occurs within the first few chapters. Consequently the bulk and substance of the book is concerned with the plight of the hero after he has forced himself to conclude the deed. Will he or won't (turn himself in) he is the fevered question, which accompanies the reader from the completion of the crime up to the resolution. And it is the threads of this gruesome personal battle which provide the fabric of the book. Believe me, you empathic readers will be yearning for both conclusions in turns. It is interesting to note that the crime goes wrong and Raskolnikov murders not just the old hag. The second murder is of an 'innocent'. It is, though, hardly mentioned during the torturous journey of the murderer. The real 'trans-gression', a suitably accurate translation of the Russian word for crime used in the title - 'pre-stuplenie' - is the carrying out of an idea calculated to free the perpetrator from his wretched existence. As the great French philosopher said: nothing presents less of an obstacle than the perfecting of the the theoretical. Beware all ye who would confuse theory for practice. Existentialism is fine for the university student, but putting it into practice can prove intolerably lonesome for all but the psycopath. Psycopaths, by the way - the Napoleons referred to in the book - do not spend their time pontificating over the justifiability of what they do. I have read this book 6 times. In English, Russian, and for some reason even in German. I assume that I shall continue periodically reading it. I have visited the places in St. Petersburg in Russia where everything takes place (they are all real and concur exactly with the text). It has a heavyweight claim to being the greatest novel ever written. In my opinon this is because it functions brilliantly on any and all of its various levels. Whether examined as the patron of the 'psychological' novels, looked at in its historico-political context, or taken as a straight thriller, this book can bearly fail to exite immense empathy and emotion in any keen book reader. Read it!
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Summary: What would Napoleon do if he were in your shoes?
Review: The answer of course is commit murder, stop at nothing, succeed magnificently--unlike you, ya wimps! So stop whining can't you see it's all your fault if you cannot rise from even the most dreadful circumstances to the Napoleonic Ideal! And you call yourself a man... The truth is that in embracing The Ideal, the novel's protagonist, alienates himself from all that is good in him. And winds up paying the price. The novel is a warning to all in dire straits who are tempted by an inflated view of courage and manhood. Therein ruin lies, not glory. Published in 1866,when Freud was 10 years old, and nine years before Nietsche published his first major work, 'Birth of Tragedy' The novel is uncannily prophetic. For Freud, the description of Roskalnikov's dream where he keeps on whipping a white horse who refuses to do his 'will'--Damn! It's hard to believe this was written by a anyone pre-Sigmund.
For Nietsche, ' 0ur spiritual father' (Hitler)-- well, Nietsche would probably turn in his grave at what has been done in his name, but it is the logical result of the Napoleonic megalomaniacal-my-pain-and- genius-gives-me-a-license-to kill-reasoning. Dostoyevsky's warning is universal, but I apologise if I'm making this book sound preachy. It's not, it just has an extremely powerful theme, a wonderful plot--it's one of those "classics" that are page turners instead of slug-alongs, profound instead of sophomoric and. Hm.. I think I'm trying to tell you that I really liked it. This one's a treasure
Rating: 
Summary: rather difficult
Review: I read this book when I was a high school sophmore, and found it to be one of the most boring books I have ever read. The book was quite difficult, and it became rather confusing at times. Perhaps, this is because I am too young to truely appreciate a novel such as this. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the themes of the book, and the symbolism included.It is a book that can really make you think, and ponder the themes. Overall, it is a well-written book, and well thought out.
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Summary: Existentialism, Sociopathy, and Growing Into Humanity
Review: Second only to "Catcher In the Rye" in my list of all time favorites, this novel could be considered a textbook on the sociopathic mind. Admittedly, after finishing the story, I felt tempted to try and invent my own system of morality... but that would have taken effort. "Crime and Punishment" exeplifies the danger of existentialism. This danger lies in the fact that if each individual were permitted to define his or her own morality, than distinguishing what man is a better man than another would be more an acount of the amount of change, period, that he brings to the world than of the values of "benign" or
"good" change. Although Raskolnikov's actions changed only a handful of lives it is clear that his motives were less driven by the desire for financial gain and more of a product to validate his own existence and his above average intelligence. It is a common fallacy that all sociopaths do what they do in order to gain someting. In fact, the vast majority of psycho-pathic serial killers murder not only for the "thrill" of their actions, but also in order to prove their intellect. "I can get away with this because I am smarter than they are." This is the attitude which Raskolnikov keeps to himself, in a most deft manner, I might add, througout at least two-thirds of the novel. The circumstances which he encounters at the end represent his humbling as a human being. Most non-violent sociopaths do outgrow their anti-social behaviors as they age. In parallel, this humbling of Raskolnikov's personality is an example of emotional, and possibly spiritual growth.
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