A review by hellojoie
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.5

More of a 2.5-stars for me - not a book I particularly enjoyed, but still an interesting experience to read. I've never read any of the Russian classics and wanted to start somewhere. It's difficult to explain why I chose Crime and Punishment to start without being spoilery so I'll tag.

I was intrigued by this book as a suggestion for a novel about regret. Now, 720 pages later, it is not clear to me if the recommender misunderstood the core components of this book, or if I did. I have no sense that Raskolnikov regretted his actions beyond that they made plain to him he was not a great man above the morals of those below him, and that more practically they led to enormous anxiety and ultimately a derailment of his life. Perhaps that is regret, but to me it read more as a desire for things to be otherwise - not a wish to take something back. Heck, here is a passage from the final chapter:

And even if fate had sent him no more than remorse--burning remorse that destroyed the heart, driving away sleep, the kind of remorse to escape whose fearsome torments the mind clutches at the noose and the well, oh, how glad he would have been! Torment and tears - after all, that is life, too. But he felt no remorse for his crime.

On the bright side, going back and reading the introduction to this edition at least tells me that perhaps this novel has generated many possible interpretations and understandings, and may be challenging for a Western reader. The introduction also suggested to me that Dostoevsky's other work may not be the right next choices for me to continue in Russian literature. I do plan to try some others in the future, and at least now I feel somewhat practiced at the notorious confusion of names! And if nothing else, I was thoroughly charmed by the character of Razumikhin, probably my favorite component of this book.