Crime and Punishment

I know this is a classic, but I didn’t really enjoy it.

It’s the story of an idiot who commits a murder. And when I say “idiot,” that’s not flippant – he’s written that way.

The character is a failed student living in Saint Petersburg in the 19th century (I think it was called “Petrograd” back then). He’s broke, he has some weird theories about how the world should work, and he has little to lose, so he kills an old pawnbroker and someone else (the second murder was not intended) with the intent to rob them.

It’s a poorly thought-out plan. First, he totally botches the crime itself – the murder was intended as a robbery, but he does terribly at robbing the place. Second, he consequently goes a little insane. He imagines things that aren’t there, and his guilt and fear manifests as a sickness from which he almost doesn’t survive.

The murder takes place early, and the rest of the book is the aftermath. It’s a lot of people having conversations, and honestly, I had trouble following what was going on. It turns into a mental showdown between the murderer and a police detective who knows he’s guilty, but just can’t prove it.

And there’s a subplot involving the character’s sister, who has agreed to marry someone she doesn’t love. She was shunned from her community by a rumor of infidelity, and the man who started it shows up in Saint Petersburg as well.

I had trouble figuring out the point of it all. It’s supposed to be a masterpiece of psychological horror, and perhaps it was in its time. I need to be better, I think, at considering these books from the perspective of when they were written. I had the same problem with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At the time, I’m sure these books were revelations, but I tend to compare them to modern fiction, which probably isn’t fair.

In the end, I’m glad I read it because it’s a cultural icon. But that’s about it.

Postscript

I was distressed to read this short review in an article called 7 Fiction Books That Change The Way You Think:

This book is an examination of human suffering. If this book doesn’t change the way you think about people, nothing will. And if you think it’s a lengthy and hard to read novel, you’re wrong. It’s actually a very light read. Just don’t get stuck on all the characters and continue reading. It will make sense along the way.

…I did not get that.

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