Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6205 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Synopsis
With Selected excerpts from "The Notebooks for Crime and Punishment". Introduction and Notes by Dr Keith Carabine, University of Kent at Canterbury. "Crime and Punishment" is one of the greatest and most readable novels ever written. From the beginning we are locked into the frenzied consciousness of Raskolnikov who, against his better instincts, is inexorably drawn to commit a brutal double murder. From that moment on, we share his conflicting feelings of self-loathing and pride, of contempt for and need of others, and of terrible despair and hope of redemption: and, in a remarkable transformation of the detective novel, we follow his agonised efforts to probe and confront both his own motives for, and the consequences of, his crime.The result is a tragic novel built out of a series of supremely dramatic scenes that illuminate the eternal conflicts at the heart of human existence: most especially our desire for self-expression and self-fulfilment, as against the constraints of morality and human laws; and our agonised awareness of the world's harsh injustices and of our own mortality, as against the mysteries of divine justice and immortality.

Customer Reviews

The Confession for Humanbeings
I was doing something boring when I began to read this book.
At that time, I really wanted to read something very inspirational, and this book was that. The main character , Losia, represents some people in the time when this book was written. He is always confused about his life and his surroundings. He hates the rich and mean, and believes he can be a hero, like Napoleon or Alexander. They made their countries empires, but killed a large amount of people. Losia decides to kill a mean old woman. After killing her, he regrets what he has done. Even though there is a man who deserves to be killed, murder is not allowed. Sometimes there's no way to punish them except murder, but it must not happen. On the other hand, I feel sad that there's no way to punish those who deserve it. I guess the author wanted us to know that. Murder but No punishment , it's so ironic.

Worth the effort
So it's on all the "Books to read before you die" lists. My feelings exactly with an additional "Better get started!"

I would say it's pretty tough going for the average reader like myself, but incredibly rewarding. You can't help but be taken on board by the journey of our protagonist, Rasklinikov and the ramifications of his (violent) crime.

Whether you sympathise, agree or disagree with his punishment is for the reader to decide, but the quest for the answer is something the book examines in detail.

In all a rewarding but heavy read. I was left taking a deep breath and thumbing my way into The Brothers Karamazov.

An Amazing Book
There is no denying that this is quite a big book so if you're not prepared to read this for quite a while, I'd go elsewhere if I were you. Me, I've no problem with big books and if it's very good, the bigger the better. And this book is very, very good. Which makes it ok that it's so big. It's set in St Petersurg and is about an impoverished student who is cut off from everyone. And so he kills a pawnbroker. But this is only the start of his tale. Very dark. Very great.