Book #4: Crime and Punishment

To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. In the first case you are a man, in the second you're no better than a bird. Truth won't escape you, but your life will be cramped. -Razumihin, Crime and Punishment

Alienation, heroes, poverty and the psychology of the criminal are major themes presented in Crime and Punishment. Dostoyevsky paints a picture of a man with much potential who- some may say- threw that potential away by committing the heinous crime of murder. But upon the act of murdering a helpless old woman, he  was illustrating a principle of the 'superman', a superior man who was above the law, and therefore almost had a duty to break the laws, which were only in place for the average men. So, in his own mind he was acting correctly, but ended up turning himself in to the law at the very last, to face his punishment.

Good things: amazing novel about good vs. evil, the criminal psyche, strains in relationships
Bad things: There are many characters in this novel, all of whose names are Russian, making it a little difficult to stay on top of all of them, really long- so if you can't finish it all w/in a certain amount of time it gets discouraging


I have to be honest here, and the truth is that I didn't actually read the entire book. It's just SOOOOOO long! I read half of it, but didn't have much free time so was losing track of all the characters. I found a detailed summary on cliffsnotes.com instead and finished it that way. One day I'll come back to it... When I'm not in school trying to 'make the grades'. Maybe this summer?? It really is a phenomenal novel I would recommend to anyone with tons of free time!