Publisher’s
write-up:
‘Regarded
as the world's greatest novelist and literary psychologist, Dostoevsky makes
his works readable and enjoyable by presenting the political, social and
religious issues of the 19th century Russia. This novel also comes in this
line.
The
plot unravels the story of a poor university student Raskolnikov contemplating
long and finally murdering an unscrupulous old pawnbroker for her money. He
evades the hands of law, and even justifies his act that murder is permissible
to attain a higher purpose and that the old pawnbroker deserves to be murdered.
However, with the encouragement of his lady love Sonia, he confesses before law
and is sentenced to eight years of hard labour prison. During this time, he
realises that true love pervades, and with his release, he undergoes rebirth
and resurrection.
Basically,
the novel carries the quintessence of Russian novels - the nature of good and
evil. But beyond this, it also gives insightful treatment of themes like
morality and atonement, and more essentially reverberates throughout the book,
a religious call for redemption through suffering.’
Crime and Punishment is a supposed
psychological thriller novel written in the 19th century by the
Russian-Lithuanian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. I’d have never come across this
book otherwise; leave alone the thought of actually buying it, but this book
was continually mentioned in Ian Rankin’s Knots
and Crosses with Rebus narrating the story to Reeve, a story which the
latter loves and hence, I thought, I might give it a try.
The story features Rodion Romanovitch
Raskolnikov, a former university student, who is in a state of absolute penury
and pawns his insignificant possessions for a meagre amount. Several events are
squeezed into the first hundred pages: he receives a letter from his mother who
informs him that his sister is engaged to Pyotr Petrovitch Luzhin, a lawyer
based in St. Petersburg and Raskolnikov understands at once that his sister has
agreed to this arrangement only to help her family financially; Raskolnikov
also meets a man at a tavern, whose life has been ruined because of his
drinking habit and narrates his sorry state of affairs to Raskolnikov – his
wife and daughter, Sonia, eventually become important characters in the plot;
it also portrays Raskolnikov’s reclusive nature , his friendship with the only
friend whom he has, Razumihin; and last, the murder also takes place, even
before the hundredth page – with Raskolnikov murdering the pawn broker and her
sister. The rest of the story is about his delusions regarding the murder and
his personal squabbles with his family. It also involves a romantic sub-plot
between Sonia and Raskolnikov.
I found the entire concept amazing – with
the murderer being a protagonist in a crime novel and also, the murderer having
nothing more than circumstantial evidence against him. I’d also give Dostoevsky
the credit due to him for the way in which he built Raskolnikov’s character
during the course of the story with extreme diligence.
But for that, there is nothing good to say
about this novel. This novel was awfully long but at the same time, doesn’t
have any content to fill up those pages. Moreover, it has been written in such
a manner that the reader can’t even skim through the content and it was an
absolutely excruciating experience, going through the whole thing. Several
things in this story were illogical such as, Sonia and Raskolnikov falling in
love all of a sudden to an extent where he confides to Sonia, regarding the
facts of the murder. The only highlights of the novel were the conversations
between the lawyer Porfiry Petrovich and Raskolnikov, how he cleverly forces
Raskolnikov to give out several details that he didn’t intend to and also the
conversation between Luzhin and his roommate Lebezyatnikov (or whatever his
name is).
Another aspect, for which the author could
hardly be blamed for, nevertheless, it is a hindrance for any reader who doesn’t
have much knowledge on Russian history and culture. When I read such things
about the book, I didn’t let that bother me much because I always had a feeling
that I was reasonably knowledgeable on Russia’s history if not on their culture
(I even know to read the Cyrillic script) but I’ve never, ever had a problem
with Russian names – be it contemporary politicians or the uncountable large
pool of women tennis players and the only name for which I’ve struggled is that
of the former Everton winger, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. But in Crime and
Punishment, the names were a way too complicated – I don’t know if the modern
Russian names have been made simpler or it is just an awful coincidence that
none of the names that I’ve come across have such complicated names. For
instance, Raskolnikov’s sister is called Dounia by her close family members and
Avdotya Romanovna by others and it was the same case with every other character
such as Sonia, Razumihin, et cetera. While I understand that Romanovna is a patronymic, nevertheless,
the two different first names are confusing. For those of you who are familiar
with the Russian naming system, there is no problem, but for others, it is
certainly a hindrance especially, while considering the number of characters in
this novel.
On the whole, this is a very dull and over
rated novel. It took me nearly six months to complete the novel (I had posted in Astute's facebook page, in August, that this shall be the next review) and was reading this worth the time and effort? Far from it. The only suspense about the whole thing was the Raskolnikov
ultimately confessing to the authorities after being pronounced innocent but that too, was given away by
the publisher of my edition. This was said to be a psychological thriller but I
differ. It is just a story about a mad man who just thinks that his personality
is similar to Napoleon (Raskolnikov himself compares himself with the French
emperor several times). This book doesn’t deserve anything more than three out
of ten.
Rating – 3/10
Have a nice day,
Andy
