Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Crimen y castigo by Fyodor Dostoevsky

148 reviews

chitti's review against another edition

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

4.25

"Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel!"

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gvstyris's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I have a lot of research to do after that marathon, but man Sonya and Dunya have my heart 🫶🏻

Also, Oliver Ready is a real one for his notes 😅 

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quipo's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Excellent book. Dostoevsky is a genius

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timmytunter's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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emamoretti03's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sicuramente rientrerà nella libreria dei miei libri preferiti. Riassumo alcune caratteristiche di questo libro che possono essere utili:
1- è un libro impegnativo (ma non troppo), questo è vero, infondo state leggendo un classico russo che non può avere la facilità di lettura di un fantasy, avrà alcuni momenti più lenti ma non è solo così. Questo libro infatti nonostante richieda un attenzione particolare, se letto in un momento adatto scorre anche molto velocemente, soprattutto nei punti salienti, considerando che è stato scritto circa 150 anni fa diciamo che non ha la pesantezza asfissiante di un classicone noioso, anzi, tutt'altro.
2- Il dubbio, questo libro ti mette sempre in dubbio, non solo la tua visione dell'omicidio in generale ma anche il tuo rapporto con la morale. Ci saranno momenti in cui ci si ritrova a "tifare" in un certo senso per il protagonista nonostante abbia commesso dal punto di vista morale un crimine orribile. 
3- Archi narrativi, questo libro si articola anche su altri livelli di complessità, in particolare si organizza su diversi archi narrativi, anche le vicende che accadono alle persone che sono intorno al protagonista denotano una società marcia e malata, si parla infatti di degrado, prostituzione, morte e malattie mentali oltre che fisiche. 

Che dire, a me è piaciuto veramente tanto, consiglierei però di prepararsi psicologicamente prima di questo libro perchè è impegnativo sia come lettura che come contenuti

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degausser0611's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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artemy_se's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

And what shows that I am utterly a louse,’ [...] ‘is that I am perhaps viler and more loathsome than the louse I killed, and I felt beforehand that I should tell myself so after killing her. 

As soon as I started reading this story, I knew I was gonna love it. The writing was masterful in my eyes and never made me bored even though the story was dragging. The changes of point of view were a choice that was for the most part a success. The characters are so realistic and I was immediately moved by the empathy pouring from every page, which is refreshing. 

This book made me remember why I LOVE reading classics because you can analyse every page and to this day, it's so accessible and doesn't come off as pretentious in any way.

Unfortunately I wanted to love this book more, but I was definitely taken aback from the writing of the female characters, the portrayal of the prisoners, the love story that I hated but more importantly I was disappointed by the lack of development from main character even though all the self awareness that he has. The choices for the ending were kind of disappointing for me...

Even then, this is a masterful piece of work that I loved reading and definitely made me yearn to read another work from this Dostoevsky soon!

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adam_hunts's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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missmoth's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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jadejoro's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Quite easily the worst book I've ever read, and I was an English major.

The premise of the novel is simple -- Raskolnikov, our protagonist, sets out to test whether he is one of the chosen few society deems as "above morality", one who can commit grave sins and still be forgiven or, possibly, even praised for their practical approach to making improvements to and for "humanity." It's not an original thought, but to Raskolnikov, who seems to have less self-awareness than a newborn, the only way he can ascertain whether he is such a person is to commit murder. 

The murder itself is one of the only entertaining portions of the story, and is almost entirely responsible for the one star I'm giving the book.  Dostoyevsky does an excellent job depicting the panic and irrationality Raskolnikov feels as his meticulously planned murder spirals into an accidental double homicide. But to anyone with any exposure to history, philosophy, ethics, or even religion Raskolnikov's question is immediately answered. He is not one of the chosen. 

Honestly, this could've been answered before the murder with a few minutes of self-reflection over a pint of beer, but instead Raskolnikov commits his murders, then drags us torturously along for pages upon pages of monologues. Internal monologues, monologue to friends, monologues to family, monologues from friends and family! After the murder all the action in Crime and Punishment consists of talking, walking, and walking while talking.  Additional plots are thrown in involving more murder, rape, suicide, and poverty; seemingly everyone Raskolnikov knows is suffering, victims of terrible choices both their own and of others. None of them, however, lack the words to describe their misery.

I don't know if my translation choice or simple misogyny is to blame, but the women especially seem to be fountains of useless, pointless words. Our protagonist seems to view them almost entirely as means to an end, belittling or ignoring their plights unless he can spin them to his advantage in his game of not being caught for the murders. Raskolnikov truly cares for no one but himself, so between his empathy and the women's suffering, it seems the only way to get through the story is to dull all emotions within yourself.

Twisted in among all the side stories of Russian misery is, for me, what ruins the book. After reading page after page of Raskolnikov's ruminations on how to avoid facing punishment (both internal and external) for his crimes, we find out that practically every character in the story already knows (or at least believes) he is the murderer. This includes the main detective investigating the murders! But instead of Raskolnikov facing justice, he is protected. Every other character, including the detective, tries to guide Raskolnikov on what steps he can take to lessen his punishment. Raskolnikov argues for a few more chapter-long monologues, but eventually caves in the end, getting an incredibly light sentence to Siberia. To top it all off, three other characters move to Siberia with him and help him serve his sentence with minimal suffering. 

In the interest of fairness, there are some mildly engaging themes and analogies mixed in with the agonizing monologue festival. "Who defines crime and morality", "Does intent matter more or less than result", and "To what level are we responsible for who and what we become" dance in and through each character's plot, but none of the questions asked or answers supplied feel new or original. Clearly I say this with the perspective of a modern audience,  but I've held much more in depth explorations of these and similar questions over some Lunchables. 

Too summarize, Crime and Punishment is the story of a man who thinks he's special. After brutally testing his theory on women who had done him no harm, the special man is protected from the punishment he deserves. Throw in three dozen monologues about moral questions you probably explored in middle school, and that's Dostoyevsky's work in a nutshell.

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