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desaevio95 's review for:
Crime and Punishment
by George Gibian, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Bawdry, increasingly elaborate insult-offs lovingly interleaved with the searing pain of loneliness's feeble aspirations for "saving" another, it is impossible to not fall in love with Dostoevsky's sprawling cast of vicious gossips and hopeless romantics.
There are two scenes that really stand out to me. The omniscient narrator perfectly relays the observational humor and quickening pace of Katerina Ivanovna and Amalia Ivanovna's explosive confrontation, which ultimately is rather incidental to Raskolnikov's philosophical war but is outrageously entertaining. This scene is in tough competition with the absolutely delightful Porfiry Petrovich's battle of wits with Raskolnikov, which has a similar amount of outrageous humor and genuine emotion. This is what I love so much about Crime and Punishment, it has an ambitious vision for exploring the psyche of its cast, but it is also consistently funny and witty, and that sharp balance helps each emotion stand out all the more when it is given full spotlight.
Sure, the extreme, somewhat simple sainthood of Avdotya and Sonya can be a little hard to stomach, and Katerina and Alexandrovna's "hysterical notions of motherhood" can blend together, in that the interiority of the women never seems to achieve the long waxing of the men. But Dostoevsky so clearly captures St. Petersburg's bustle and malaise, so methodically sketches out Raskolnikov's frantic contradictions and search for meaning, so uproariously depicts interpersonal confrontation and longing, it's clear he is simply in the haven a great artist can carve their etch upon: the human heart in conflict with itself. And that is almost always a great recipe for sobering, grounding, dream-roiling page-turner.
Bravo.
There are two scenes that really stand out to me. The omniscient narrator perfectly relays the observational humor and quickening pace of Katerina Ivanovna and Amalia Ivanovna's explosive confrontation, which ultimately is rather incidental to Raskolnikov's philosophical war but is outrageously entertaining. This scene is in tough competition with the absolutely delightful Porfiry Petrovich's battle of wits with Raskolnikov, which has a similar amount of outrageous humor and genuine emotion. This is what I love so much about Crime and Punishment, it has an ambitious vision for exploring the psyche of its cast, but it is also consistently funny and witty, and that sharp balance helps each emotion stand out all the more when it is given full spotlight.
Sure, the extreme, somewhat simple sainthood of Avdotya and Sonya can be a little hard to stomach, and Katerina and Alexandrovna's "hysterical notions of motherhood" can blend together, in that the interiority of the women never seems to achieve the long waxing of the men. But Dostoevsky so clearly captures St. Petersburg's bustle and malaise, so methodically sketches out Raskolnikov's frantic contradictions and search for meaning, so uproariously depicts interpersonal confrontation and longing, it's clear he is simply in the haven a great artist can carve their etch upon: the human heart in conflict with itself. And that is almost always a great recipe for sobering, grounding, dream-roiling page-turner.
Bravo.