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A review by anya_reading
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4.0
I didn't read this actual version, I read the free version that was available for Kindle download in the Amazon Store.
I really hated Rodya in this book. He is rude to everyone and aloof, thinking himself an Uberman, and he kills his two victims a quarter of the way through the book. The rest of it is basically him flailing around, daring people to convict him and then turning around to accuse them of sullying his name because he doesn't want to go to jail. Then he finally confesses about 90% through the book. Thank you, Sonya, for getting it over with already!!
In the end, when they say he saved a child from a burning building etc. etc., I wondered how much of that was really true. It made me wonder, how could someone find killing a "louse" as proof of being made of superior stuff, if you already were a hero in the past? Perhaps illness played a major part in Rodya's erratic behavior in this novel.
This was not my favorite of Dostoevsky's novels, since the ending was a bit tacky in my opinion (religion and love conquer all and make the heartless antagonist "human" again, clichéd), but the author's characteristic long, in-depth stories really grow on you so as to make you not want to reach the ending. You really enjoy seeing what daily life was like in Petersburg, Russia in the 1860s.
Dounia was a great character and I wish we could have seen more of her - shooting that villainous Svidrigaïlov was an exhilarating scene that I was pleasantly surprised to see. Would have been great if Rodya had double teamed and kicked his butt, too!
I really hated Rodya in this book. He is rude to everyone and aloof, thinking himself an Uberman, and he kills his two victims a quarter of the way through the book. The rest of it is basically him flailing around, daring people to convict him and then turning around to accuse them of sullying his name because he doesn't want to go to jail. Then he finally confesses about 90% through the book. Thank you, Sonya, for getting it over with already!!
In the end, when they say he saved a child from a burning building etc. etc., I wondered how much of that was really true. It made me wonder, how could someone find killing a "louse" as proof of being made of superior stuff, if you already were a hero in the past? Perhaps illness played a major part in Rodya's erratic behavior in this novel.
This was not my favorite of Dostoevsky's novels, since the ending was a bit tacky in my opinion (religion and love conquer all and make the heartless antagonist "human" again, clichéd), but the author's characteristic long, in-depth stories really grow on you so as to make you not want to reach the ending. You really enjoy seeing what daily life was like in Petersburg, Russia in the 1860s.
Dounia was a great character and I wish we could have seen more of her - shooting that villainous Svidrigaïlov was an exhilarating scene that I was pleasantly surprised to see. Would have been great if Rodya had double teamed and kicked his butt, too!