Book info

• Title Crime and Punishment
• Author Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Year 1866
• Genre Classic

Dostoyevsky's great novel of damnation and redemption evokes a world where the lines between innocence and corruption, good and evil, blur. It tells the story of Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, who wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be beyond conventional moral laws. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck.

Thoughts

I had heard some reports that this book was quite difficult to read and a tough job to get through, so I was relieved when I started it and found it okay. Travelling with Raskolnikov on his journey to and from the pawnbroker was a good start, listening to his thoughts as he pondered killing her. A bit odd, but we’ll go with it.

As soon as more people were added to the mix though, I found it really hard to keep up with all the characters. It seemed like each one went by at least three different names, and there were people floating in and out of the story making it difficult to follow. I could always get a general sense of what was going on, but found it tough to delve right into the heart of it.

I had thought it would be more of a psychoanalysis of the killing motive, but it really only kept repeating the questions and never going beneath the surface to find the answer. Overall, I don’t really know where to place the book. I didn’t particularly enjoy reading it but it wasn’t awful either. I was glad that the ending was reasonably happy, as I had thought it was descending into one of those where everyone dies in the end. It didn’t, and that was a relief!

Rating: 2 / 5