book review:

Crime and Punishment

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

*SPOILERS AHEAD!* Another Dostoyevsky book! Crime and Punishment was written in 1866 and later published as a single volume in 1867. Unfortunately much of the book (similar with TBK), gets lost in translation, but despite that I enjoyed the book anyways. It encompasses a character of the name Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, who is a young ex-law student and is very impoverished. He lives in an attic which he rents (but doesn't pay) to his landlord. He is antisocial, but despite that even he does some good acts, such as helping a poor drunken girl get to her house and paying for Marmeladov's funeral.

Raskolnikov, in part 1, kills two people, Aliona Ivanovna, a wicked pawnbroker, and Lizaveta, her abused half-sister. Although Aliona's murder was intentional, Lizaveta was killed because she entered the crime scene at the worst time: While it was happening. Because of this, Raskolnikov was also forced to kill her. From the shock, Raskolnikov did not take much for himself, and was able to escape the scene via sheer luck. Raskolnikov also has some family drama in the story, as a man named Luzhin wants to marry Raskolnikov's sister, Avdotia. Later in the book, it turns out he wants to marry her because Luzhin really wants to marry a poor but noble women so she could be forever indebted to him. Raskolnikov noticed this and insulted Luzhin in their first meeting, and this soon exposed Luzhin's true character as some sort of conceited manipulator, after Raskolnikov exposed him by a letter Luzhin wrote himself. Over the story, it can be seen that Raskolnikov, by killing Aliona and Lizaveta, imposed some sort of suffering on himself. He committed the murder initially because he hated the selfish old woman and wanted to use her money better, but he was not able to take all of her wealth. Later in the story, it has been revealed that Raskolnikov wrote an article in which certain "superior" people, such as Napoleon or Caesar, could get away with murder, because they have some greater plan and goal in mind and it would be fine for those deaths as a means to that end. If you connect the pieces together, this grandiose belief and Raskolnikov are another motive of the murders. I believe Raskolnikov's delirium occurs partly because of the overwhelming guilt from the murders - he is only human, despite his grandiose ideas. His guilt is the source of all of his inner struggles and some of the external struggles in the novel, such as his suspicious behavior when he revisited the crime scene. However, Raskolnikov sticks with his idea of "superior men" all the way until the end of the novel, even after he confessed, he believed he was imprisoned because of weakness. But he finally turns a new leaf towards salvation at the end of the novel by Sonia, a pious prostitute-turned-girlfriend.

Sonia is a kind-hearted and meek girl who was forced into prositution after her father, Marmeladov, squandered all of his family's money by drinking every single ruble away. Despite her promiscuous circumstances, she is a Christian and even gives Raskolnikov a cross shortly before he confesses for his murder. After the confession, she uses 3000 rubles Svidrigailov gave her to travel to Siberia to she could live near Raskolnikov's labor camp. What I like about Sonia is despite her, well, position, she still stays faithful to her beliefs, as she was forced into her position of no fault of her own. She is innocent, despite being a prostitute. She was key in convincing Raskolnikov to confessing his murders and even helped him turn a new leaf at the end of the story towards salvation.

Another favorite character of Crime and Punishment is Razumikhin. Razumikhin is Raskolnikov's college friend who helps Raskolnikov while he was in delirium and also takes care of Avdotia and Pulcheria (Avdotia and Rodion Raskolnikov's mother). He may be a little naive, but he is loyal, smart, and strong, and funny (He threatened to club Luzhin's head in - that gave me a chuckle.) He reminds me of Samwise Gamgee, another loyal side character from the LOTR. Despite Raskolnikov's struggles and attitude, Razumikhin still vehemently supports him and his family, and even marries Avdotia at the end of the novel. How heartwarming! Everyone may want to have a Razumikhin as a friend, but we should all strive to be the Razumikhin.

And with that, I conclude my book review. I loved Crime and Punishment (even though I think I enjoyed TBK more, TBK is Dostoyevsky's greatest work) and it will be up there with one of my favorite books of all time, not only because of the great detailing, characters and their actions and conflicts, or the suspense, playfulness, and emotions coming from the book, but there are lessons in this book, along with The Brothers Karamazov, which Fyodor Dostoyevsky sprinkles in, such as.... don't murder people.