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Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikiv murders two women in an attempt to prove a social theory, but even though he escapes capture by the police, there is no evading his own conscience.
It might just be me, but those Russians can write some incredible stuff! Crime and Punishment
is not a book you want to read in small doses. This is one for when you're burrowing in for the weekend. You'll want to follow all the twists and turns of social and criminal psychology without a lot of interruption. At least, I did.I felt the most riveting aspect of the book was the myriad of scenes in which Raskolnikov is self-analyzing, alternately rationalizing what he has done and loathing what he has become. There were a few times when I found myself reminded of Anne Rice's vampire Lestat. It came across most strongly in the scene when Raskolnikov is at Sonya's apartment and he makes her read to him from the Bible. I could clearly picture his words coming out of Lestat's mouth. The image was so strong that it was almost distracting. If I was an ambitious sort of girl, I would do a compare and contrast of those two and see what I could come up with. But, alas, I am not, so the teaser is all you or I get. :-)
13 comments:
i read this one earlier this year and TOTALLY loved it..:)
Ramya ~ There were so many great characters! I loved his friend, Razumikhin.
Lezlie
This is one I could really gush about. It's a masterpiece!
Lezlie - you're the only person I know that could sneak in a reading of Crime and Punishment in between arc reviews....lol.
I took one whole summer when I was in college, sequestered myself on board a sailboat and read War and Peace. Loved it.
I own a copy of Crime and Punishment, but am hoping I don't have to pull the sailboat trick to get it read. :)
I've read about half of this and found it fascinating, but for one reason or another, didn't finish it.
Not because I didn't want to, mind you. I must continue it at some point.
Glad you liked it!
Crime and Punishment is one of my favorite classic novels. I really must reread it. I am glad you enjoyed it!
Chain Reader ~ I agree whole-heartedly!
Michele ~ Once again I thank audiobooks for making extra reading possible. :-) It took me all of last December to read "War & Peace", but it was well worth the effort. I hope you get a chance to read "Crime & Punishment". It's just as good!
3M ~ I've had that happen also, and it's not the book's fault. Sometimes if a book is taking a long time to read, I have a hard time coming back to it regularly even if I'm enjoying it. It's like my brain has an internal due date, and once that date is past, it's time to move on to another book whether I'm done or not. :-)
Literary Feline ~ I can see why it's a favorite. I have "The Idiot" here, too, and I'm hoping to get to that in 2009.
Lezlie
Great review - hopefully it'll get more people reading this amazing novel. I felt so involved in the anxiety of it when I was reading it that it gave me intense headaches...but it was so good that I couldn't stop reading.
DreamQueen ~ Thank you! I can see why the anxiety would get to you. It was overpowering at times. And it starts right away with the chat with Marmeladov in the bar!
Lezlie
I've heard good things about this book, but I'm afraid to try it after my failed attempt to read "The Brothers Karamozov." It couldn't get past a page of that one without either falling asleep or having to reread everything. Needless to say I gave up after 20 pages.
--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
Anna ~ That would make me a little wary also. Had I not enjoyed War & Peace as much as I did, I may have been a bit gun shy of another Russian classic.
Lezlie
I thought I would mention that while I LOVED Crime and Punishment, I tried reading The Idiot, and it was like torture for me. I listened to 3/4 of it before I decided I just couldn't take it any more. It's possible that it was just the narrator and I may have liked it if I had read it. But I did not feel that way at all about C & P; it's very different.
Chain Reader ~ Yikes! I'll have to see if I have the same reaction. . . :-)
Lezlie
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