Crime and Punishment in Around the Year in 52 Books

Nov 24, 2022 Blaine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: pc-100-essential-read, 2022, mass-market-paperback, audible, e-book

“What am I to tell you? I have known Rodion for a year and a half; he is morose, gloomy, proud and haughty, and of late—and perhaps for a long time before—he has been suspicious and fanciful. He has a noble nature and a kind heart. He does not like showing his feelings and would rather do a cruel thing than open his heart freely. Sometimes, though, he is not at all morbid, but simply cold and inhumanly callous; it’s as though he were alternating between two characters.”
…
“But I can’t know the Div

“What am I to tell you? I have known Rodion for a year and a half; he is morose, gloomy, proud and haughty, and of late—and perhaps for a long time before—he has been suspicious and fanciful. He has a noble nature and a kind heart. He does not like showing his feelings and would rather do a cruel thing than open his heart freely. Sometimes, though, he is not at all morbid, but simply cold and inhumanly callous; it’s as though he were alternating between two characters.”
…
“But I can’t know the Divine Providence. . . . And why do you ask what can’t be answered? What’s the use of such foolish questions? How could it happen that it should depend on my decision—who has made me a judge to decide who is to live and who is not to live?”
…
“Why, you could not betray yourself any further, my dear Rodion Romanovitch.”

Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov is a handsome former student living in poverty in mid-19th century St. Petersburg. He believes himself to be so much more, not an ordinary man but an extraordinary man, one who has the right to commit any crime and to transgress the law in any way because he is extraordinary and has “the gift or talent to utter a new word.” To prove his status to himself, Raskolnikov plans to murder an old pawnbroker woman. But in the aftermath, he grapples externally with both the suspicions of the police investigator, Porfiry Petrovitch, and internally with his own feelings of doubt and guilt about what he’s done, and whether he’s truly extraordinary.

Not every so-called timeless classic novel holds up today, but Crime and Punishment sure does. Dostoevsky was far ahead of his time in using criminal psychology in a novel. He paints Raskolnikov as having a split personality (before Freud coined the term) and being susceptible to using violence due to his isolation from society—a concern about young Russian intellectuals at the time that’s still true today. His investigator Porfiry uses a rudimentary form of profiling to circle in on Raskolnikov as his suspect (is this the first novel where someone is suspected because he literally returned to the scene of the crime?). And Dostoevsky populates the story with characters who act as different influences on Raskolnikov from family and close friends (his mother, sister, and best friend Razumihin), forces of redemption (the spiritual, suffering Sonia Marmeladov and the intellectual Porfiry), and forces of tempting depravity (the remorseless sensualist Svidrigailov and the truly villainous Luzhin).

Crime and Punishment is probably the first great psychological thriller in literature. It’s extremely well-plotted with numerous plotlines that all serve Raskolnikov’s overarching story. Raskolnikov’s inner turmoil between his intellectual side—desperate to validate his belief system—and his emotional side—desperate to confess his crime—is compelling. And Dostoevsky’s theses that no one is above the law, and that everyone needs to be a part of society, are true messages that some people today still need to hear. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. Highly recommended.

P.S. I used the 1914 translation by Constance Garnett, which was very accessible and easy to follow. Specifically, I listened to the audiobook performed by Anthony Heald (Dr. Chilton from the movie The Silence of the Lambs) and thought he did a very good job. ...more

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