Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky: Adapted by Joseph Cowley
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About this ebook
His first work, "Poor Folk," was published by the poet Nekrassov, and he found himself an instant celebrity. A brilliant career seemed opened to him, but in 1849 he was arrested and condemned to death.
A member of a group of young men who met to read Fourier and Proudhon, he was accused of "taking part in conversations against the censorship and of knowing of the intention to use a printing press."
After eight months' in jail, he was taken to the Semyonovsky Square to be shot. Suddenly the troops beat a tattoo; they were unbound, and informed that his Majesty had spared their lives. The sentence was commuted to hard labor -- four years of penal servitude in Siberia, where he began "Dead House," and some years in a disciplinary battalion.
In 1864 he lost first wife and his brother Mihail. He was in terrible poverty, yet he took upon himself the payment of his brother's debts. Weighed down by debt, he wrote at heart-breaking speed, and is said never to have corrected his work. The later years of his life were much softened by the tenderness and devotion of his second wife.
In June 1880 he made his famous speech at the unveiling of the monument to Pushkin in Moscow and was received with demonstrations of love and honor. A few months later he died. He was followed to the grave by a vast multitude of mourners.
He is still probably the most widely read writer in Russia. In the words of a Russian critic, "He was one of ourselves, a man of our blood and our bone, but one who has suffered and has seen so much more deeply than we have his insight impresses us as wisdom... that wisdom of the heart which we seek that we may learn from it how to live."
Joseph Cowley
Henry James, born April 15, 1843, is regarded as one of the key literary figures of the 19th century, writing mainly narrative fiction. His style of writing, often verbose and indirect, especially in his later years, can make him difficult to read. Often, imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue, and narrators who were not necessarily reliable, brought depth and interest to his fiction. The Aspern Papers, The Portrait of a Lady (1881), and The Golden Bowl (1916) are also available in this series, Classics Condensed by Cowley.
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Reviews for Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
8,022 ratings170 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Raskolnikov, an impoverished former student in St. Petersburg spends a 100ish pages deciding whether or not to commit a murder and then another 500ish pages going in various mental circles about whether or not to turn himself in after he does commit the murder.The writing here is well done and the translation is also excellent as it doesn't have that stilted and removed feeling I've noted in several translated novels I've read recently. I can see why it's an enduring classic but I was kind of hate reading long passages of this. There are many sections where paragraphs stretch across multiple pages, which is exhausting to read, particularly when spending so much time inside the head of a character whose thoughts are convoluted but also circular. Also, Dostoyevsky's female characters often serve as little more than window dressing with no real careful examination of their internal lives. If you're on a classics kick, this isn't a terrible read but it isn't one I'll ever recommend.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great psychological novel.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary vs superior people.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Classic. Story of one man who commits a murder to see if he can get away with it and the effects it has on everyone
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Interesting ideas about how people punish themselves and how they can be reborn, but confusing and a lot of random things
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5F.D. had a window into the human soul. This is an incredibly good novel.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A classic piece of fiction which is both deep and disturbing. A pefect choice for a book club to discuss.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read this so long ago I don't remember much. I've got to reread this at some point. It's what got me into surfacey Russian lit though.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I loved and hated it at the same time. It was hard to get into the story as I mixed up the names all the time and it took me ages to get through. But I'm glad I finished it...
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing book with a true grasp on human psychology
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I hate to give such as well known classic a low star rating. Maybe it's because I read the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation, or listened to it in audio. Or maybe Dostoevsky intentionally set out to make the reader feel the mental sickness/madness of the main character, like an unpleasant fever-dream. The first two chapters were great and promising, but the remaining melodramatic and plodding (a trait shared by some other 1850s and 60s classic novels). The best aspects are Dostoevsky's insights on human nature, but to get those ideas requires ascribing motives, thoughts and ideas to his characters that do not feel authentic; the characters are like projections of Dostoevsky himself thus lacking a believable psychology. I'm glad to have read it because it is so famous, but life is short so I look to the classics for a sure thing and this did not deliver. I read The House of the Dead which was great, so may give Dostoevsky another try later.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was bitter cold last night. The trip from work to the kitchen was uneventful enough. I prepared soup and awaited my wife. After dinner, I placed Sonny Rollins' 9/11 Concert on the stereo and sat down with the last 52 pages of Crime and Punishment. the greatest testament I can afford the novel conclusion is that for 25 minutes I didn't hear any jazz, only Dostoevsky's denouement
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book gripped me from beginning to end. While written off by some as melodramatic and emotional, I found Dostoyevsky's portrayal of his character's inner struggles to be real & enthralling. Raskolnikov is probably one of the best "nonsympathetic" characters ever because even so I still felt for him! Honourable mention to Svidrigailov who absolutely fascinated me throughout the story. The brief descriptions of the penal colony in the epilogue made me interested in reading more about Dostoyevsky's own experiences there (in Notes from a Dead House). I also read The Brothers K this year, which I felt had a much more satisfying arc, emotional climax, and ending on the whole. Still, C&P was a great read and I'm ready for more!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The rating is for this specific translation by Oliver Ready. I didn't care for the over-colloquial tone of his dialogue choices, but reading in a different translation made this book a wonderful reading experience. Comparing translations was enlightening, as well.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Read and pieced together 3 different versions totaling about 621 pages (see wikipedia for explanations of why so many versions) Russian writing at its best. Written after Dostoevsky returned from Siberian gulag; although this is not what the book is about. The book attempts to both solidify and crumble notions that one has about philosophy and the nature of sin. Great read! 621 pages
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A depressed man does some crime, is unhappy about the consequences.2.5/4 (Okay).This is my first Russian novel, and it's a 1960's translation, so I'm a little surprised how straightforward and modern the style is. The story's not great, though. Dostoyevsky clearly started writing with some ideas he wanted to put across, but no plan for exactly how he was going to do it. And while there are a lot of characters and individual scenes that I like quite a bit, they're mostly incidental.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing, phenomenal, and well deserved to be called a masterpiece. For some reason, I had in my head that it would be about the Crime, of course, and then being in prison, with long pondering about guilt, remorse, etc. - and very dry. But I was completely wrong. It was exciting, suspenseful, with intriguing sub-plots and many layers to be uncovered. Wonderful, and I highly recommend it!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5so much there; duh
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I responded more strongly to this book than to any other in recent memory. For a couple hundred pages, I clenched my fists, shut the book after reading only a couple of pages, etc. Somehow I pictured one of the victims as my late Polish grandmother. Though I had read reviews where people thought there was not enough crime and too much punishment, I didn't find enough "punishment" for the criminal during those fist-clenching pages. I have always wanted to read this book, though, and am glad I fought my way through it. I am now reading an Aug. 3 and Aug. 10/17, 2009 two-part New Yorker article, loosely related to the final location of the book, not to give anything away as long as you don't look up your New Yorkers.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have already stated in a previous review that I love Dostoevsky, so keep that in mind. This novel, although though provoking and philosophically sound, is at times in desperate need of an editor.It seems like the more verbose version of Poe's Telltale Heart.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dostoyevsky enters the mind of a murderer who feels no remorse but yet cannot bear to keep his act a secret. Rodya commits a senseless crime, which could have been the perfect one but for his arrogance. This story is an excellent description of the criminal mind: the sense of entitlement, the narcisissm, the weird mix of ruthlessness and charity. This author, my all-time favorite, is the master of the psychological novel.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is the reason I love Dostoevsky. He puts his truth in the most unlikely characters and finds his salvation in the most unlikely places.When I lived in St. Petersburg, I had to do the Crime and Punishment walk, the highlight of which is finding Rodion's garret room. There's graffiti on the wall outside "his" door from all his fans and supporters. It's the greatest.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a beautiful book that looks into the state of the human condition and examines a typically russian character and his moral shortcomings. I have always enjoyed the russian authors worldview and find they show beauty in the difficult aspects of life and survival against a backdrop of harsh environment and endemic poverty. It is the character development that is particularly fascinating and the reader finds themselves in a state of empathy with a morally dubious protagonist. If you enjoy pondering the grey areas of life and the thorny end of society and morality, this book covers it extremely well
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Six out of ten.
Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, commits a random murder without remorse or regret, imagining himself to be a great man far above moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with a suspicious police investigator, his own conscience begins to torment him and he seeks sympathy and redemption from Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If I had to make a list of books that got under my skin, this would be number one, way above anything else. Do I want to write this..the idea of murder and that you may get carried away with that idea and actually do it is one that really got to me. The interrogation scenes often play out in different variations in my dreams. Unforgettable.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The psyche is the focus of this amazingly well-crafted story, not the plot line. Dostoyevsky does a simply incredible job of illuminating Raskolnikov, and I am very glad to have read it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This novel is simultaneously utterly epic and beautifully intimate. Dostoevsky's ability to dredge out the human condition is, for me, almost unrivaled in all of literature. Like all great books it speaks to all people in all times, and is both dark and loving. Simply brilliant!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Raskolnikov - the myth.'To be a Raskolnikov without a reason' - story of his life: E.M. Cioran.Depressing masterpiece, a very tasteful lecture though. I've always been fascinated by the influence of this character in the world's literature of the XXth century. Years ago, worked hard on a personal project: revealing Dostoievski's influence on the Romanian literature (Rebreanu - The Forest of the Hanged). Should have finished it... kept on thinking no one else would care to ever go through it.Winter/Northern literature; no way to read such a thing during the summer.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The last half is better than the first, which is messily discursive and, when it attempts humor, annoying. Parts of the book feel written in a hurry, which in fact they were. The ending is a sop tacked on for the readers of the magazine where it was first published, and this seriously hurts the narrative arc of the novel. But you have to admire D's ability to capture the broad solidity of a people and time.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I'm glad I've read it. However, I wish I had read it in my 20s or 30s, I would have appreciated it more. Right now, I simply had no patience for all the mental dialogues and angst and no sympathy whatsoever for Raskolnikov. His sister now, she's another story! One of the best drawn women in fiction I have ever read. Obviously the writing is very fine, that's why my daughter made me read this; it just isn't something which made my soul soar, more like made my soul sore.