Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Crime and Punishment is one of those novels that we all feel we should read but relatively few actually do. It is considered a classic of western literature but maybe despite or because of this, reading it can also seem a daunting prospect. THE STORY Raskalnikov a young Russian, a former student at Petersburg University has fallen on bad times, he is desperate and penniless. He is worried about the fate of his widowed mother who lives in the provinces and of his sister a governess in the house of a wealthy landowner who is trying to seduce her. He decided to solve his problems by robbing and killing an old woman moneylender, Aliona Ivanovna. He ...  Read the complete review

Crime and punishment is an excellent book. It is about a young student Raskelnikov who has to give up his studies because of insufficient money. He is a lonely dreamer and decides to assassinate an old usurer to save the soul of his sister bound to marry an awful man to help her family to get out of the misery. This woman who takes advantage on weaker people to satisfy her own lust of wealth disgusts him. Raskelnikov tries to get some courage by persuading himself that human atrocity is real and is in a concrete jungle. But most of the time he tries to kill the thought of remorse by reading and using some of Napoleon war actions. One of ...  Read the complete review

“Crime and Punishment” needs little introduction. Written by arguably the best and most influential Russian novelist, it is deeply affecting and a book that will make you step back and question what really is a “crime” and what a necessary punishment is. From the outset, the reader is plummeted into a grey world, in which a man called Raskolnikov, stricken with poverty and questionable sanity strives to clear his name after he murders a pawn broker. You will be immersed in Dostoyevsky’s sinister evocation of St. Petersburg and will be taken on a very philosophical journey that questions what determines right and wrong. It is a ...  Read the complete review

Dostoyevsky was born into Tsarist Russia in 1821. He spent much of his early life as an active socialist agitator, and was a member of the radical 'Petraveshky circle'. This led to his arrest, in 1848, and subsequent spell in the Omsk labour camp for four years. This was a formative period in his life because he changed his ideological perspective to become a strong supporter of the Russian Orthodox Church; traditionally a bastion of the Tsarist regime. Crime and Punishment, his most popular work, was written in 1866, and I thought it would be useful to point out the context in which it was written. Because at this time, Russian writers tended to focus on issues ...  Read the complete review

This book investigating mankinds weaknesses is well written, in the same gripping and informative style as much eastern European literature. It provides a unique and deep insight into the life of a young murderer, Raskolnikoff, looking at issues such as sanity, greed, guilt and redemption. Set in 19th century St. Petersburg, this novel captures the soul of the city through its use of flowing passages and interesting writing style. Raskolnikoff a hard up student struggling to finish his degree becomes morbidly self-obsessed and appears to loose the will to live. Upon receiving a letter from his mother in which he learns his sister is to marry, not ...  Read the complete review