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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
It’s a classic for a reason. I’ve never read a novel that’s made me cry as much as this. People usually think of Crime and Punishment as an intellectual and philosophical novel. It is those things, but it’s also emotional, psychological, and deeply moving. It’s affected me in a profound way.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"How it happened he did not know. But all at once something seemed to seize him and fling him at her feet. He wept and threw his arms round her knees. For the first instant she was terribly frightened and she turned pale. She jumped up and looked at him trembling. But at the same moment she understood, and a light of infinite happiness came into her eyes. She knew and had no doubt that he loved her beyond everything and that at last the moment had come…
They wanted to speak, but could not; tears stood in their eyes. They were both pale and thin; but those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full resurrection into a new life. They were renewed by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other."
They wanted to speak, but could not; tears stood in their eyes. They were both pale and thin; but those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full resurrection into a new life. They were renewed by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other."
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
FINALLY.
That speaks for itself. Moving on, this book was fairly underwhelming to me. I liked the premise and there were definitely parts I really liked; this is the first book I've genuinely annotated, so I did get some enjoyment out of it and some nice quotes, but I was expecting more. Maybe it's just that this book was written so long ago I just can't really connect with the language and the attitudes present. Not to say that that's a bad thing, I don't want it to be 'updated' or anything like that, but it inevitably affected how I felt about the book.
As always, I'm coming to see with classics, there was a lot of unnecessary scenery/outfit/person descriptions that could've cut out a big chunk of words and time from this book. I read it slowly so this exact thing wouldn't burn me out. Raskolnikov was an interesting character but not a very likeable one and his character still felt very unfulfilled by the end. I honestly didn't like the ending at all to be honest.
Can't really think of any character I actively LIKED in this book other than Razumikhin because he seems like the only actual good guy here. Kind of bumbling sometimes, but still good, and not even the worst people in this book disliked him which was kind of funny. Svidrigailov was awful when he was introduced and just got even WORSE as the story went on. No one else really stood out to me or inspired any strong feelings.
Overall this was a disappointment. I still might check out White Nights because I've heard good things and it's short, but I think on the whole Dostoevsky is a bust for me.
C.A.P.E Rating:
Characters - 2/5
Atmosphere - 4/5
Plot - 3/5
Enjoyment - 3/5
That speaks for itself. Moving on, this book was fairly underwhelming to me. I liked the premise and there were definitely parts I really liked; this is the first book I've genuinely annotated, so I did get some enjoyment out of it and some nice quotes, but I was expecting more. Maybe it's just that this book was written so long ago I just can't really connect with the language and the attitudes present. Not to say that that's a bad thing, I don't want it to be 'updated' or anything like that, but it inevitably affected how I felt about the book.
As always, I'm coming to see with classics, there was a lot of unnecessary scenery/outfit/person descriptions that could've cut out a big chunk of words and time from this book. I read it slowly so this exact thing wouldn't burn me out. Raskolnikov was an interesting character but not a very likeable one and his character still felt very unfulfilled by the end. I honestly didn't like the ending at all to be honest.
Can't really think of any character I actively LIKED in this book other than Razumikhin because he seems like the only actual good guy here. Kind of bumbling sometimes, but still good, and not even the worst people in this book disliked him which was kind of funny. Svidrigailov was awful when he was introduced and just got even WORSE as the story went on. No one else really stood out to me or inspired any strong feelings.
Overall this was a disappointment. I still might check out White Nights because I've heard good things and it's short, but I think on the whole Dostoevsky is a bust for me.
C.A.P.E Rating:
Characters - 2/5
Atmosphere - 4/5
Plot - 3/5
Enjoyment - 3/5
Part 3 chapter 5 reminds me of Plato’s novels where people ask questions to Socrates. In this chapter, two people are asking Raskolnikov to expand on the article he wrote about crime. He says that there are ordinary and extraordinary people — and that the extraordinary people can be excused to commit crimes as they are born to speak “new words”. He says they can step over obstacles as they were born like Napoleon or Muhammad. Someone like they does not need to fit into the mold of society.
he never takes the easy way out when writing characters he disagrees with. Like Ivan in brothers karamasov, he really makes a good argument against God. Same with Raskolnokov, you see how he’s wrong about his argument of the superior person, but you see how a tortured soul like his could agree with it.
he never takes the easy way out when writing characters he disagrees with. Like Ivan in brothers karamasov, he really makes a good argument against God. Same with Raskolnokov, you see how he’s wrong about his argument of the superior person, but you see how a tortured soul like his could agree with it.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
Starting strong in grim and poverty-stricken Petersburg.
200 pages in: the deed is done.
He’s very good at using attire and appearance to symbolise a character, even going into the detail of the material used for someone’s cravat or the presentation of their mutton chops to draw parallels with their standing in the story.
It’s beginning to mildly simmer.
About 60% through and a recurring theme is the discussion of madness. There is a lot of odd behaviour amongst the characters generally, I’m trying to read implicitly and interpret how it all relates back to Raskolnikov and his crimes.
Lebeziatnikov the feminist.
Porfiry Petrovitch thinks he’s Sherlock Holmes.
Svidrigaïlov the sensualist.
Now it’s all coming together very nicely.
Each conversation is like a game of chess: attacking, defending, using abstract anecdotes to make inferences and to try to trap one another. The overarching themes of doing wrong and how you make your penance is contained in these dialogues. Each character has their own vice.
Wow what a twist on page 651. And then subsequent twists directly after lol.
What a remarkably beautiful ending to an objectively grim book.
try to read part four without becoming actively suicidal challenge (impossible)
nobody makes me question my faith in humanity quite like dostoevsky