Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden sex worker, can offer the chance of redemption.

This is the greatest novel I've ever read. Have you ever looked at a painting or listened to a piece of classical music and had strong emotions about it? That's sort of how I feel about the book. Like, you just can't help but look at it and go, “wow that's a great piece of art. Normally I like shitty action movies, but I can tell this is great, even though I don't completely know why”

This took me insanely long to read... Man... It's not bad, a great book really, just a demanding read every time one picks it up. It probably wasn't the right time in my life to read this I suppose, but at the same time, the final ~100 pages or so is a rousing finish. It also seems a tragedy the novel character of Svidrigailov doesn't truly make an appearance until the novel is nearly ended... Mentioned quickly at the outset but not seen until much later, he truly is a disgusting villain, and a fascinating contrast to the conflicting protagonist of Raskolnikov who is perhaps himself given too much of a pass by Dostoevsky. The best part of this novel to me, as Karamazov and The Idiot before, is the concept of the “Laceration” repeated again. This is finalized and perfected in Karamazov but here it is again present, the nature of human beings to err and to continue in their prideful course to harm others and themselves. Raskolnikov torments those who love him simply to remind himself of their love, it is shameful behavior and alienated me from him as a protagonist. At the same time, it's hard not to see that this is still common behavior today, shame and pride push people beyond all sense. It's a great book, yet again I think Karamazov is still the best synthesis of Dostoevsky's stream of consciousness prose and observations on human nature.

I was looking forward to reading this book with some trepidation which is silly really because I am reading to relax and it shouldn't be work. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't actually turn out to be work but rather an enjoyable, enlightening experience. It was a little confusing in places and seemed quite disjointed in the dialogue but that was the style of the story. I have to say however, that I would like to read a different translation at some point because some of the sentences felt rather literally translated and just didn't seem right. I don't know if this is really the case or whether it was how the story was written in the first place but it would be interesting to see how other translators interpret certain parts of the story.

The beautiful Vintage Russian Classics edition of the book was a bit of a pain to read. I don't like breaking spines and so I had terrible cramp in my hands. Thick pages and a thick cover made it difficult to bend the book far enough to be able to hold it comfortably. Maybe I shouldn't be quite so fastidious but we all have our little quirks don't we?