Reviews

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

missdragon's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Wow! This book was way better and much more engaging than I was expecting. My only other dip into Russian literature was reading a bit of war and peace, and this book was much more fast paced and digestable, and I enjoyed it about as much as Dracula, which is another one of my favourite classics book. I ended up mostly listening to this as an audiobook and finished most of it within two days. It was a really interesting look into the psychology of a murderer, and contained some really interesting philsophical discussions, some of which were interesting, and some of which were clearly the main character deluding himself. Also crazy to see a positive portrayal of a sex worker in a book from 1866, there is also a fair amount of going to people's houses and talking, and most of the book is waiting for the inevitable. I really liked this.

I saw a review that said "too much crime and not enough punishment" and I would agree this is more an exploration of crime than an exploration of the punishment of crime society does.

ilya_gilbronson's review against another edition

dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

seaswift14's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

karathompson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

worldofbookcraft's review against another edition

3.0

they were depressed about the same things in the 1860s that we are depressed about in the 2020s

mari_etha's review against another edition

I could not stand a three-page-long monologue from a dirty alcoholic in a filthy bar about his tragic life. Considering I couldn't tolerate the monologues in White Nights either, I decided it would be better to DNF Crime and Punishment at the first opportunity. This way, I could save myself from boredom more quickly than I did with the former.

vanemacarena's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

heloise_lifeinbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I understand why it’s a must-read classic. 
I’ll probably read it again, in a version with annotations and notes, because I was definitely just enjoying the story a lot without thinking too critically about the meaning. 
Without the female characters this would have been a bore, though it is slightly annoying how the women are written in order to absolve and save and/or pass judgement on the men.
I somehow found myself rooting for every character to have a happy ending, despite entering the book knowing they wouldn’t, and despite most of them really not deserving it either. 
I will reread in a year or so and try to be more critical, but as a story it was great. Lots of very quotable passages.

zzp1122's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

heavyisthehead's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0