Crime and Punishment
Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
ISBN: 978-0486454115
Hi Everyone,
I started to hear snippets here and there about this book and I
had to look and see if it was worth reading. It is not very often that
one hears of a classic title being tossed about, hence I looked deeper. I
am always particularly fond of reading books that are on curriculum lists and
as this one was on the AmblesideOnline
year 11 list I decided it was about time I opened a copy.
For me, this book was extremely unique. I am used to reading
mystery books where I am turning the pages to find out who did the crime.
Not so in Crime and Punishment. You know who did the crime. He is
at the forefront of every scene and conversation. You are left wondering
if they will ever understand him or figure him out. I sat reading and
reading, turning page after page awaiting his capture. In the mean time I
started to see more than a criminal.
This is where I found the book interesting. I watch the News
at night and I am ready to believe anything the media says. I am ready to
cast judgement by what the media claims. But, I know nothing of the
criminal or the full stories. Hear me when I say I do not condone any
crime! The thing is that this author got me thinking of what is behind a
crime and the punishment they place upon themselves both before and after such
an event.
Before Raskolnikov commited his crime I had started to feel
sorry for him. He seemed like a normal sort of fellow that had hang ups
from the past, cared for family and had loved and lost. He was educated
but unfortunate events had left him unable to finish. Unfortunate
circumstances had him living in a room the size of a cupboard and
starving. I could feel his hunger and thought of the anxiety I was
reading and continual flashing of events that ran through his mind, I blamed on
hunger and circumstance. I became so interested in how a person could become so
twisted when I felt he had once been a young man looking to make something of
his life. Can life really twist a person so much that they would commit
such a crime and believe they are justified in doing so? And how could he
continue to think he was justified right through the book? There were
times when I thought he was analysing on grounds of moral principle but he
managed to make a moral stand for the crime, not against in his messed up
little mind. This made me look to the 'Spark Notes' and further to seek
what I might have been missing. I found myself looking to the events in
Russia around the time of the writing of the novel. I had to look at what
nihilism entailed as it was apparently at large in Russia during the era of the
books publication. I searched nutrition and anxiety and depression and
grief and... so much. How can an author bring up so many questions?
I don't think any book has made me look into so many other things like 'Crime
and Punishment' has.
What about the other characters
because there were quite a few and they all had their own stories too.
Well, as for Porfiry, he drove me nuts! He was just as mad as Raskolnikov only in
other ways. Sonja was kind but I was left wondering what life held for
her beyond the pages and why she followed Raskolnikov when in
reality she hardly knew him. Raskolnikov's mother I thought was
just as mad as her son but there may have been more to that also but I was so
busy questioning Raskolnikov and Porfiry. And I need to admit
I found the characters names so hard that I refuse to ever attempt to pronounce
in public any of them (okay I can maybe do a couple). The
author Dostoevsky managed to show me so many different character traits
and personalities that I was left questioning many things. I may have
re-read this in the future and see what I notice next time around because in
another place in time I think I would look at different events and different
characters that may be quietly nesting in the background.
Description:
Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders
through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse
or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a
higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous
game of cat and mouse with Porfiry, a suspicious detective, Raskolnikov is
pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own
guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can
offer the chance of redemption. As the ensuing investigation and trial reveal
the true identity of the murderer, Dostoyevsky's dark masterpiece evokes a
world where the lines between innocence and corruption, good and evil, blur and
everyone's faith in humanity is tested.
Available from: Book
Depository
Happy reading
