Crime and Punishment: Book Review

[readingredhead]

So, folks, are you happy for me?  I finally finished Crime and Punisment!  In the end, it wasn't quite as terrible a book as I'd thought.  In case there's anyone who cares, I've decided to write a short "review" of my thoughts and opinions on the book.  Possible spoilers, in case anyone cares.

From what I can tell, the biggest crime committed by the author of Crime and Punishment is that his psychological meanderings at times detract from the telling of a truly remarkable story about the depths to which the human soul can sink, only to be raised up again.

Far from getting off to a stunning beginning this story, by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, immediately failed to catch my interest.  I'm sure that a large part of this had to do with it being an assigned reading book, as opposed to one I chose to read of my own free will.  However, I think that I am justified in saying that the plot moves slowly after the initial "crime" to which the title refers is committed.  I feel that part of my dislike for the beginning comes also from an inability to empathize with Raskolnikov, the main character whose overarching pride causes him to believe himself above all others and subsequently set out to prove his self-imposed status by murdering an old pawnbroker.  In Raskolnikov's eyes, a great man may commit a crime, yet be morally beyond reproach if the crime "needed to be committed," for lack of a better phrasing.

This, coupled with the particularly violent, meticulous way in which Raskolnikov carries out the murder -- after months of careful planning, and with an axe stolen from the porter at his lodgings -- started me out with a strong dislike for Raskolnikov's character.  It didn't help that he never quite showed remorse for his deed, though throughout the novel he was continually plagued by his actions.  In retrospect, he is plagued by his actions only because he did not succeed in committing the crime like he assumes all great men of the past to have murdered -- that is, with no moral qualms regarding the subject.

The narrative style as well had a part to play in my lack of sympathy for the main character.  Though the introduction shows that Dostoevsky intended to write a new sort of novel with Crime and Punishment, by staying closer to his characters' thoughts than books of the time had a tendency to, his third person is still more limited than I am used to reading today.  Another small thing that bothered me was that the characters' direct thoughts, instead of appearing in italics as has become common in modern literature, were rendered in quotations in my copy.  This made it difficult to differentiate between the characters words and thoughts when they were engaged in conversation with others, and had I been an editor attempting to modernize the novel's appearance, that is one of the first things I would have targeted.

However, in most aspects I agree with the editor/translator's decision to make few comments within the text.  Though I would have appreciated translations of certain French, Russian, and at times German phrases into English, the text was intelligible without those translation aids that could have easily been inserted as footnotes.

As for the actual plot, it was thoroughly confusing at times, but I again attribute that to the fact that this was read in place of my usual fall-back summer books, which I have had no time for.  Had I taken this more slowly, I am sure I would have managed to understand it better; it truly is a masterful work that deserves complete and dutiful attention over a long period of time.  Even on the surface level, without delving into symbols and thematic undertones, the plot is complex, involving the interferences of many characters and seemingly unconnected events that work themselves out later on.  Looking back, I realize that all of that confusion was necessary to set up the satisfactory ending that ensues, but I somehow wish Dostoevsky could have done it in fewer words.

There is much more to talk about, and I have in no way fully covered this book, but I feel that all I have time for is to comment on the engaging reality that some of the supporting characters held for me.  Dounia (Avdotya Romanovna), Raskolnikov's younger sister, was the perfect picture of a young Russian woman who was both pragmatic and idealistic, feminine while strong at the same time.  Razumihin, one of Raskolnikov's good friends, was also very well-written in my opinion, coming across as a sort of loveable giant (though I am not sure any mention was ever made of him being any taller than usual; that is just the mental image I have of his character).  And I must mention that Sonia (Sofya Semyonovna) had a background that rang out as both tragic and true, a background which served her well in the end.

And so I leave Crime and Punishment to itself for now; I have been part of its world for long enough that I am sure the characters and literary aspects would be grateful for some time on their own to recover from my oft-disturbing presence.

~O~

Okay, I had a whole paragraph or so typed up agout the thematic aspects of this, but then I accidentally pressed the "back" button and the whole thing deleted!  So that's really annoying me, and I'm not going to attempt to rewrite what I wrote.  Instead I will allow the essay to end as it is (though I did add a conclusion), without discussing the themes.  Even though I really wanted to.

Oh, well...some things, I have learned, especially things of beauty, as I would consider that deleted paragraph to be, do not need to last long or be shared in order to have an impact.  Sometimes, clinging to the ephemeral is a damaging instinct, and it is better to let those fleeting moments of beauty play out on their own, to be enjoyed when they are there but not mourned once they are gone.

Comments

[thellamasbanana.livejournal.com]

*applauds* you actually finished it... not many people could do that! Good job!