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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
I DONT CARE HOW SYMPATHETIC IM SUPPOSED TO FEEL FOR THE MAN. HE KILLED TWO FUCKING PEOPLE AND GOT SEVEN YEARS. ONLY SEVEN??? WTF? HE'S FUCKING INSANE WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
russians are so dramatic. i’m basing that off the one tolstoy and this alone so i appreciate its a small sample size but honestly these guys have a got flair and a half. i genuinely giggled out loud at multiple points which im not sure was the intention but hear me out: some of the plot points were so theatrical that they bordered on ridiculous (in the best way)
sounds bad but i was rlly rooting for raskolnikov all the way through ?? even though i know he was in the wrong i felt his anxiety about being suspected so strongly (which was probably a direct result of how evocative his perspective was)
also - sonya for the win, we love golden hearted sex workers that have good relationships with their mad stepmothers
sounds bad but i was rlly rooting for raskolnikov all the way through ?? even though i know he was in the wrong i felt his anxiety about being suspected so strongly (which was probably a direct result of how evocative his perspective was)
also - sonya for the win, we love golden hearted sex workers that have good relationships with their mad stepmothers
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
mysterious
reflective
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
fuck russian names
After what felt like the seventeenth tedious, interminable monologue broken up every once in a great while by a brief comment from the narrator, I was wondering whether there would ever actually be any genuine dialogue in this book. To which, as soon as 'Characters' began having real, in depth conversations, my first thought was, "No! Wait! I Take It Back! All Is Forgiven!" Because sorry I'm not sorry Fyodor, but putting your own self-centred, quasi-therapeutic rants and arguments with yourself into the mouths of one-dimensional mannequins who exist solely to justify calling what you write a 'Novel' does neither dialogue nor characterisation make.
Indeed, I will state it plainly, "Crime & Punishment" is not a novel. It is Dostoyevsky whining like the self-righteous and entitled 'Upper Class Antisemite Made Bad' that he was about how much he hates his 'Inferiors' (meaning everyone around him) and the situation that he was thrust into in real life. While at the same time, creating 'Characters' to show himself the truth and argue with himself that no, he 'IS' a self-serving a**hole who is no better than the people he scorns.
There is absolutely no depth in this book and nothing resembling emotional engagement. Just page after page of superficial exposition, dry description and soap-opera quality melodrama, always telling and never showing, along with endless pseudo intellectual/moralising 'Debates.' One of which genuinely made me laugh out loud when Dostoyevsky hung a lampshade on it, asking why he (or rather, his author surrogate Raskolnikov) would overhear a conversation about how justifiable and even noble it would be to kill the old pawnbroker, when sorry Fyodor, you were just a terrible writer who had to crowbar it in like that because you had no other tools to hand.
Before long in fact, I'd almost completely lost track of who was talking, what they were saying or why on Earth I should care. So in case the problem was on my end, I even listened to a dramatic performance of the book in which each part was read by a different person. But even then, the 'Characters' were all just one-dimensional portrayals of poor, suffering Russians suffering and being poor, mouthpieces for Fyodor or mouthpieces for his demons or the better angels of his nature, betraying brief glimpses of self-awareness.
Beyond the terrible writing as well, as someone who's spent the last twenty years or more thinking deeply about ethics and morality, the ethical/moral issue at the heart of this novel is little more than 'Baby's First Ethical Conundrum.' The rabid Antisemtism in this book is also disgusting. And as I say, the fact that it's presented in a form that feels like, and in some cases, literally 'IS' just two opinionated old windbags arguing in a tavern makes this book a struggle to endure. So in short then, the only reason I can imagine why this book is regarded as a classic and lavished with 5-star reviews is the literary equivalent of 'The Emperor's New Clothes.'
Indeed, I will state it plainly, "Crime & Punishment" is not a novel. It is Dostoyevsky whining like the self-righteous and entitled 'Upper Class Antisemite Made Bad' that he was about how much he hates his 'Inferiors' (meaning everyone around him) and the situation that he was thrust into in real life. While at the same time, creating 'Characters' to show himself the truth and argue with himself that no, he 'IS' a self-serving a**hole who is no better than the people he scorns.
There is absolutely no depth in this book and nothing resembling emotional engagement. Just page after page of superficial exposition, dry description and soap-opera quality melodrama, always telling and never showing, along with endless pseudo intellectual/moralising 'Debates.' One of which genuinely made me laugh out loud when Dostoyevsky hung a lampshade on it, asking why he (or rather, his author surrogate Raskolnikov) would overhear a conversation about how justifiable and even noble it would be to kill the old pawnbroker, when sorry Fyodor, you were just a terrible writer who had to crowbar it in like that because you had no other tools to hand.
Before long in fact, I'd almost completely lost track of who was talking, what they were saying or why on Earth I should care. So in case the problem was on my end, I even listened to a dramatic performance of the book in which each part was read by a different person. But even then, the 'Characters' were all just one-dimensional portrayals of poor, suffering Russians suffering and being poor, mouthpieces for Fyodor or mouthpieces for his demons or the better angels of his nature, betraying brief glimpses of self-awareness.
Beyond the terrible writing as well, as someone who's spent the last twenty years or more thinking deeply about ethics and morality, the ethical/moral issue at the heart of this novel is little more than 'Baby's First Ethical Conundrum.' The rabid Antisemtism in this book is also disgusting. And as I say, the fact that it's presented in a form that feels like, and in some cases, literally 'IS' just two opinionated old windbags arguing in a tavern makes this book a struggle to endure. So in short then, the only reason I can imagine why this book is regarded as a classic and lavished with 5-star reviews is the literary equivalent of 'The Emperor's New Clothes.'
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes