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A man kills two women with a hatchet. That's the center story of this book whose character's names are very easy to remember (take Rodion Romanovitch Raskolkinoff, for example, also known as Rodia, or Peter Petrovitch Looshin who is not the same person as Porphyrius Petrovitch). The author reflects the psychological implications of this murder in a very detailed way, although he could have done it in 200 pages less, with the same effect. In my opinion, the novel is too dull and too predictable and you get lost in names.
In an age of the internet, video games, movies, tv shows, home theaters, and other forms of entertainment its easy to get caught up in it all. That sets the whole mental journey of Raskolnikov's story into motion. He finds himself sitting alone in a dirty apartment with no means to pay the rent and the future is looking bleak. He becomes sick, stays in his apartment all day, and cuts himself off from family and friends. Its a simple story with an indepth psychological drive that keeps you turning the pages. Dostoevsky's main character, Raskolnikov, is an anti-hero who is your typical down-on-his-luck college student. Sometimes you need a really great novel to read. Some of the best dialouge is in these exchanges.As time goes on, he mentally begins to breakdown because of the guilt of the crime.
Its the kind of book that makes you want to turn off the TV, drink a nice cup of coffee, and take a 2-week vacation, just to read through it all. He starts out by cleverly arguing with various police officers. The last section, Part Six, really grabs you by the shirt and doesn't let go. He doesn't really have a reason to do it. That's why, more than any other time in history, is the right time to stay a step back from all that stuff and see how a good story is developed by a great writer.It took me a long time to read but the ending was worth it. The only thing that saves him from this depressing fate, is Sonya, who offers hope and a way out through salvation.
That's when he decides to commit murder. The murder is just something to do to escape boredom. Sonya is the one who persaudes Raskolnikov to confess his sin, accept his suffering, in order to more on.This is a great novel to sit and ponder all the many different subtle insights. It builds up to a feverish pace that lingers on in your mind for a long time.If you looking for a great book to read, that's has a lot more going for it then all the New York Times Bestsellers combined, then this is your book.
There is, however, one translation that stands out as being a pretty accurate rendering for Crime and Punishment and this is by David McDuff. I have to say that having read three different translations of this, and other Dostoevsky works, that I'm perplexed as to how people can give such high acclaim for the Pevear and Volokhonsky translations of these novels. On top of being very close to the Russian, his translation is also very enjoyable to read. People claim to dislike Garnett because she's too Victorian, or because she's a woman, or because she isn't entirely accurate in her rendering, well I haven't read a translation that is 100% accurate to the Russian. Something some might like to know is that Constance Garnett's translations are actually a lot more accurate than the Pevear and Volokhonsky translations. All in all, I like Garnett's and McDuff's translations of Dostoevsky respectively. And, if you're looking for an accurate rendering, you can't go wrong with either McDuff or Garnett.
They'll blow your mind. Garnett may be "smoother", but that's because she's writes like a woman from Victorian England--completely inappropriate for Dostoevsky. Read any Pevear and Volokhonsky translations. The greatness of Dostoevsky and genius of Crime and Punishment need not be discussed. I would pay $25 for this book, and the fact that you can get it for under $15 on Amazon is simply phenomenal. It's meant to be.
Of course it's choppy.
People complain that this translation doesn't "flow" like Garnett's translation, but they're completely missing the point.
The book itself--the physical book--is beautiful.
This translation is done by one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Dostoevsky translation teams.
Second, the edition.
This is a psychological novel, and Dostoevsky knew exactly what he was doing.
The translators do a brilliant job of conveying the tension, anxiety, and mounting stress of Roskolnikov.
The binding is very solid, the font is easy to read, and the pages themselves are beautifully smooth and a just off-white cream color that makes it easy on your eyes to look at them for hours on end.
Amazon, the Everyman's Library, Pevear and Volokhonsky, and Dostoevsky all combine for a superb product.
The Drive-By Truckers' CD "Southern Rock Opera" contains a good song called "Ronnie and Neil." It's about Ronnie Van Zant and Neil Young. Its place in the canon is not deserved, and it is much more interesting to read _about_ the book (or, precisely, to read about the place of the book in literary history) than to actually read the book, which task is rather a chore, given that it is poorly written and plotted, had shallow characters, and runs on 500 or so pages longer than it should. Maybe other of Dostoyevsky's works are better, but I'm not itching to find out.If you _have_ to read this (e.g., for a university class), choose another translation. I had dismissed both in the 1970s and 1980s. The Constance Garnett translation--excuse me if I've botched the spelling--is to be preferred to McDuff's.Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd had some interesting, fresh ideas, but they didn't translate them into practice well. I listened to them both again. It was good enough for me to go back, indeed, and re-listen to both Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young. I would be very surprised, actually, if it would even be published these days.If you want to read something considered a classic, look at Proust, say, or _Genji Monogatari_, or "Paradise Lost" or War and Peace or.just about anything but this.
I dismissed both again. Despite how good Drive-By Truckers are, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young are both bad.This is like the situation with "Crime and Punishment": for going on 40 years now I've been an active reader and all that time "Crime and Punishment" has had a pretty solid place in the canon. I have now read two translations into English and parts of another into Japanese, and McDuff's is much worse than the other two. Whaterver the place of "Crime and Punishment" in the history of the novel, as a novel it just is not worth your time.
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