Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment is one of those books that was generally enjoyable to read each time I picked it up, but was never compelling enough to keep me awake past my bed-time reading. I actually finished the book a couple of weeks ago, but have been really unsure how I felt about it; therefore the delay in this post.

Crime and Punishment is the story of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov; a student who has dropped out of school due to lack of funding. He has studied philosophy in depth and has formulated the theory that certain people have the right to murder (he uses Napoleon as an example). Raskolnikov is destitute and has pawned all of his valuables to a cranky old pawnbroker named Alyona Ivanovna. Raskolnikov formulates a plan to murder Ivanova; his justification being that he could perform acts of kindness with her money, also he needed money for himself, his mother, and sister. Finally, he claims himself to be one of those who are authorized to murder.

After committing the crime, Raskolnikov suffers from a nervous breakdown and the remainder of the story tells of his friends and family, and their confusion over Raskolnikov’s state. Raskolnikov goes back and forth through periods of humility where he feels he must confess and then thinks perhaps he can go on in normal society.

Raskolnikov befriends Sonia, a young prostitute, who ultimately convinces him to confess and pay for his crime (prison in Siberia).

That’s basically how the Russian version of “and they lived happily ever after”.

I did enjoy the story—Raskolnikov’s mental struggles were interesting to ponder. I have to admit that I grew a little tired of them by the end though. The story was pretty predictable possessing few surprises, but overall I liked the story—after all, it is about a crazy person.

Favorite passages:

“What answer had your lecturer in Moscow to make to the question why he was forging notes? ‘Everybody is getting rich one way or another, so I want to make haste to get rich too.’ I don’t remember the exact words, but the upshot was that he wants money for nothing, without waiting or working! We’ve grown used to having everything ready-made, to walking on crutches, to having our food chewed for us.” Pg. 153 (huh, and that was in the mid 1800s...)

“She was an ugly little thing. I really don’t know what drew me to her then—I think it was because she was always ill. If she had been lame or hunchback, I believe I should have liked her better still.” Pg. 232

“…but yet she seems in a way to have liked my brutal frankness. She thought it showed I was unwilling to deceive her if I warned her like this beforehand and for a jealous woman, you know, that’s the first consideration.” Pg. 467

If this were a movie, I’d rate it: R

Overall Grade: C+

Would I recommend this to my friends? Some of them—those who like dark, depressing stories about mental issues.