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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Epitome of "Are the flaws of the main character a main focus of the book?". Crime and Punishment lives up to the hype, I gotta say. The depth at which Dostoevsky is able to probe and explore the human condition throughout this one is awe-inspiring, especially so given that he cooked this up in the mid 19th-century -- pre-Jung, pre-Freud, pre-Dark Souls.
I found it to be exceptionally funny in a strange way. Raskolnikov's escapades give you plenty to chew on, with every session spent with C&P you close the book with plenty swirling around upstairs. I'm pretty green when it comes to the Russian socio-political thought of the era, but even for an utter novice like myself, you're still offered plenty of contemplation on poverty, altruism, egoism, utilitarianism, "utopia", etc.
I found it to be exceptionally funny in a strange way. Raskolnikov's escapades give you plenty to chew on, with every session spent with C&P you close the book with plenty swirling around upstairs. I'm pretty green when it comes to the Russian socio-political thought of the era, but even for an utter novice like myself, you're still offered plenty of contemplation on poverty, altruism, egoism, utilitarianism, "utopia", etc.
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
would've been 5 had it not been for the epilogue which was a tad anticlimactic?
nevertheless a literary masterpiece i wish i had read sooner. i found myself sympathizing with and justifying a murderer multiple times!!!
i find that this novel does not aim to morally educate the reader, but rather to continuously make them question everything they *think* they stand for — and man did it succeed. my head was messed with from start to finish
nevertheless a literary masterpiece i wish i had read sooner. i found myself sympathizing with and justifying a murderer multiple times!!!
i find that this novel does not aim to morally educate the reader, but rather to continuously make them question everything they *think* they stand for — and man did it succeed. my head was messed with from start to finish
Oh my Goddddd, this was amazing. Very slow paced and heavy it took me nearly a month to get through but it was so worth it. It is so dense with content i could read 10 pages and feel satisfied and the way it was written was in a way where I could not see any major plot points coming at all until I read them. I went into this book blind, knowing nothing about it and I honestly think that's the best way to read this book. I cried and laughed multiple times, and ended up becoming weirdly attached to the characters, which was surprising considering when this book was written and it's subject matters.
I was just not in the mood 😭 but I want to pick that book againnn
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rating: 2.5/5
Finished July 30th, 2025
okay, look. I get what it was trying to say, I even understood it all in what it was trying to convey. And maybe it was the specific translation I had, and maybe the ending saved the score a little tiny bit since I was originally going to give it a straight up 2. BUT...
I could not enjoy this. I rushed to finish this because I was not a fan and wanted to read something else. The writing is loaded, by a heavy hand for sure. Every character has some form of insanity to them, it almost seems like he can't write a sane character. I was even bored most of the time, and people, as I've seen, love to claim that if you don't like it you just don't get it but I mean, what's not to get? And the deeper you get the more of a message it tries to convey to you, but it almost seems like too little, too late.
at the end of the day, I guess it just wasn't my taste. maybe I'll reread a different version in a decade or two but for now, I'm glad I got through it.
p.s. shout out to Razumikhin my goat fr, ride or die!
Finished July 30th, 2025
okay, look. I get what it was trying to say, I even understood it all in what it was trying to convey. And maybe it was the specific translation I had, and maybe the ending saved the score a little tiny bit since I was originally going to give it a straight up 2. BUT...
I could not enjoy this. I rushed to finish this because I was not a fan and wanted to read something else. The writing is loaded, by a heavy hand for sure. Every character has some form of insanity to them, it almost seems like he can't write a sane character. I was even bored most of the time, and people, as I've seen, love to claim that if you don't like it you just don't get it but I mean, what's not to get? And the deeper you get the more of a message it tries to convey to you, but it almost seems like too little, too late.
at the end of the day, I guess it just wasn't my taste. maybe I'll reread a different version in a decade or two but for now, I'm glad I got through it.
p.s. shout out to Razumikhin my goat fr, ride or die!
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What is a crime? What should be the punishment? It's dark, but I've fallen in love with this story. The main character does something very, very bad--a crime, you might say--and Dostoevsky gives you the disturbing privilege of not simply sympathizing but truly empathizing with him. You will feel the crime, and oh, you will feel the punishment. I recognize that that is not a necessarily enticing pitch, but I hope you hop on the Crime and Punishment train when you're up for it! I found the message genuinely profound, the writing compelling, and the story quite gripping.