I have no idea what I'm doing, so help me out and join the forum so we can figure it out together! This is my first read-along, and I'm excited about it. So let's cover Chapter 1, and then we'll hit our stride of a chapter a week moving forward. 

It dawns on me that you might wish to read ahead, so I shall set up some chapter forums in advance.

I was listening to Benjamin McEvoy's podcast about the novel (link), and he thinks one ought to read it fairly quickly. It was written quickly, and its frenetic pace lends itself to a quick read. Interestingly, when I bought it in December to give away as a Christmas gift, I read the copy I'd bought in only seven days, not my usual pace at all. 

So, by all means, charge on if you wish. I'm keeping it slow, but only because my Russian is so rusty and I'm also comparing seven translations! 

Chapter 4 - We get Raskolnikov's thoughts on his mother's letter as he walks on a city boulevard. A chance encounter with a drunk teenaged girl, a dandy and a policeman, then a description of a new character, Raskolnikov's 'friend', Razumikhin. 

This was a rough chapter. The scene with the dream was difficult to read. It illustrates the state of Raskolnikov's mind before the murder of the pawnbroker and is the scene chosen by Zohar Lazar for the illustration on the back of the Penguin Deluxe Classics Edition. I've put that up on my Instagram if you'd care to see it: Instagram post.

The dream persuades Raskolnikov to forget about his mad idea, until fate steps in. 

Raskolnikov is preparing for the murder. He feels pulled by fate. 

The Murder. This chapter closes out Part 1 and is a biggie. 

The murders are done. Now it's time for the punishment to ratchet up to 11. I'm going to be adding more content to a Substack I've started to follow the read-along. If you'd like a sneak peak at what I've written for this chapter, here's a secret link to an early draft.  Substack offers a lot more features that I can use to enhance the read-along, but this one will stay seven weeks ahead so I'll have a buffer of time to create the richer content. Except for now while I have to build two chapters' worth a week until I catch up with myself!