George Gibian (1924–1999)

One (unsurprising) word: heavy. Let me be up front, this is not an easy read, and not a pleasant one either. For 600 plus pages Raskolnikov (spoiler?) undergoes the literal, moral, and existential fallout of the crime he commits early in the story. And for good and ill, the reader feels and experiences every. single. thing. Every thought, every sensation, every consideration, every urge, every bead and drop of sweat. We feel the collective weight of Russian history coupled with the complete show more dread of Raskolnikov as poster child for the learned but emotionally stunted and psychologically desolated intellectual, and as I read it became more and more evident to me just what Nabokov meant when he referred to this book as 'Slime and Punishment' and Dostoyevsky's epithet as 'The Mad Russian'.

The book itself is 'mad' because, to put it simply, it's schizophrenic. So much so in fact there were moments I thought I'd get whiplash from the jarring changes in mood. Really, I have to say this is one of the most tonally inconsistent books I've read, maybe ever (and that includes the nested and clustered insanity that is postmodernism). There are moments that read comically when it's clear it shouldn't be, moments that should be lighter but come off as even more tragic, and everything in between. (Characters sweating all the time, eyes bulging, marching around offices, pounding their chests, all I can say is Russia of the 1800's was a much different place than I ever thought...)

And of course I would be remiss if I didn't bring up the issue of translation. I can't speak for other (especially more recent) translations but I have to say that mine almost seemed to collapse under the weight of its own verbiage, trying, struggling, almost screaming to prop up the morass and impending fall.

But, in the end, this makes the novel something incredible. Human psychology and, just as importantly, the psychology of ideas is on full display here, and what Dostoyevsky does, taking one of these ideas (Raskolnikov's horrifying and fascinating philosophy of the gifted and the normal people and how the law applies only to the latter as the former will be the ones who through their superiority will make the law, with no one less than Napoleon as the embodiment of the idea) and laying it bare from top to bottom in a combination Greek tragedy/Christian redemption tale, is indeed off the rails crazy..but also wonderful in its pathos and intensity, and even because of (maybe despite) its, to me at least) unbalanced and even gruesome nature, makes it a work of raw unadulterated force that secures its place in the world canon with the blunt side of an ax. show less

There are a lot of great reviews for this book out there and if I wanted to be writing one of them, I would have to put a lot of time and effort into breaking down the major themes, the moral ambiguity, the consummate REALITY expressed in these pages, the tragedy, the hope, the searching of one's heart... and the amazing blindness of it.

Then again, I guess I can express that quickly. But this novel really should not be dismissed so blithely, either.

Anna might have the title, and this woman show more might be full of life and passion and desire and we might sympathize with her to a degree and sigh with her plight against the patriarchy of the time, but on an entirely different level, she is pretty horrible. There is no caricature here. She has a love of life, wanting to break free from the stultifying dullness of reality, to discover love with another after she's already been married. Pretty tame by today's standards, maybe, but this isn't even the main point.

The constraints are the point. The society that gleefully ruins us with its culture, mores, laws, religiosity, and the parts of that that seep in under our skin. She slowly ruins herself, hating her husband for his virtues, blinding herself to her own state, and spiraling down to her own ruin by tiny degrees as her desire for passion wars against the reality of her life.

And the other main character of this book, a much more sympathetic character, IMHO, Levin, expresses so many of Tolstoy's own views and devotes a ton of page-time to the very societal norms that destroy Anna. It's VERY Russian literature. High ideals writ large, explored in grand fashion, developed and grown like a garden featuring ripe and rotten fruits that we, as readers, are forced to eat.

We see all the big concerns of the day. Marxism is something that the contemporary people live and breathe, after all. Let's just ignore what happens a few decades later when the actual revolution comes around and read all about the idealistic hunger that suffuses the society. How to destroy inequality, how make things Just for all men and women, how to live a good, quiet life to the best of our abilities? It's all here. From Atheism to turning back to the old ways. From righteousness to total acceptance of the moral greyness.

And no character is truly evil or good. It might be nice to fall into the PoV of anyone for a while and try to see their suffering as a direct consequence of another's evil, but what we learn here is pretty simple.

The evil lies in the half-lidded eyes.

It lies in not seeing things clearly. Yourself, others, your state, your life. Lying to yourself. Carrying on like nothing is wrong. Believing what you want to believe.

Every single tragedy in this book comes from the blindness.

For that, I really love this book. A gorgeous, sprawling, immensely detailed and fleshed-out book. Well worth the praise. :) show less

This is my favorite among Dostoevsky's last great novels. In it, the reader finds a man filled with fear, desperation, and anguish. Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is a shockingly intimate tale of a murderer and a murderer. Raskolnikov is a man seemingly on the brink of madness as he plots and carries out a grisly killing. Although he evades the police, Raskolnikov's dark deed weighs heavily on him (in a way reminiscent of Poe's The Tell-tale Heart). The aftermath of his crime takes the show more young man on a journey through a range of human emotions and experiences. Good and evil, guilt and redemption, agony and joy—this novel is an invitation to explore and question many of the ideas and judgments we take for granted.The characterization and discussion of ideas in both this novel and Dostoevsky's final work, "The Brothers Karamazov," are as good as any in literature. If you like Hamlet, Les Misérables, or War & Peace, you will like this book.

The main character of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment (1866) is a fictional figure named Rodion Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov, an impoverished student who kills a pawnbroker and her stepsister, represents the author's conviction that atonement is the only path to salvation. show less

In recent years, Anna Karenina has been received even more critical acclaim than Tolstoy's other epic work, War and Peace. (Or has this always been the case? I only recently began to notice the extra emphasis on Anna Karenina.) As soon as I began reading this novel, I was immersed in the world Tolstoy built in his words, and I understood why so many writers and readers acclaim this book as a masterpiece of literature.

The novel follows the lives of a large cast of characters. It begins by show more focusing on Stephen (Stiva) Oblonsky, a charming and genial man who happens to be a horrible husband, constantly cheating on his wife. Said wife, Dolly, has recently discovered his most recent affair and learned her husband is not the faithful partner she imagined. In the midst of this domestic drama arrives Anna Karenina, Oblonksy's sister, ready to soothe Dolly and restore harmony to the family. Anna succeeds in reconciling Dolly to Stiva, and is a favorite with the whole the family. She meets Kitty Shcherbatsky, Dolly's sister, and the two become quick friends. Anna makes one more conquest, of Count Alexey Vronsky, who she met at the train station when she first arrived in Moscow. Vronsky, who had been paying court to Kitty but without serious intention, falls quickly in love with Anna.

While these events are unfolding, the reader is also introduced to Constantine Levin, a nobleman who eschews the city to stay on his family's estate and run everything. He has returned to Moscow to propose to Kitty, with whom he is deeply in love. Unfortunately for Levin, he delivers his proposal while she is still infatuated with Vronsky, and she turns him down. Levin flees back to the country with a broken heart. As he is a deeply reflective man prone to philosophical musing, Kitty's refusal shatters his world, and sets him to attempting to reorganize his entire way of life.

Having introduced the main characters, the novel proceeds to follow Anna and Vronsky, Levin and Kitty, and the many people whose lives intersect with theirs. Anna and Vronsky fall into a passionate love affair. Kitty travels abroad to heal from Vronsky's abandonment of her. Levin consumes his time with trying to improve the methods used on his farms and land, and developing his theories about the relationship of the laborer to the land. Anna and Vronsky eventually expose themselves, destroying Anna's husband Karenin and estranging her from her son, and they leave the country. Levin and Kitty are reunited, and he realizes that she finally does return his affections, prompting him to propose a second time and be accepted. They are married at the same time as the relationship between Anna and Vronsky shows signs of deterioration: she suffers obsessive jealousy and he chafes against his loss of independence and ambition.

These larger events are stitched together with countless scenes of mundane life, such as dinners with families, trips to the club, hunting expeditions, working on the farm, visits with artists, and so on. After all, Anna Karenina is a hefty book. It fully examines the lives of these central players in great intricacy, and with such a realistic portrayal that it feels like the reader is stepping into the world these people inhabit. Although that may sound like the book is a chore to read, the opposite is true. Every time I picked up the novel, I was immersed in its world. The comprehensive reality it created wrapped around me and engaged my interest, from beginning to end of the long story.

Before I began reading, I knew something of the narrative about Anna Karenina. I knew that it involved a passionate love affair that would unravel Anna's life, and that the relationship would not end well. I did not know that Levin and Kitty would be the counterpart characters, presenting a picture of a healthy and wholesome relationship that balances out the damaging relations between Anna and Vronsky. I did not know how Anna's tragic ending would play out, or that Levin and Kitty would intersect with Anna and Vronsky in complicated and reflective interactions. I did not know anything about the myriad of characters that would people the pages of the novel beside the central figures, and how they would impact the narrative. In other words, I knew the skeleton of the story, but was unaware of the flesh of storytelling that Tolstoy would wrap around it. And what impressive craftsmanship he used. All of the central characters are fully realized, with personalities that are as distinct as people we might encounter in our daily lives; even more so, because we observe their inner world and private interactions in a way we can't possibly see in reality. Even minor characters that appear for brief moments in the narrative have succinct characterizations that mark them out as individuals. The various settings are produced with precision and accuracy, and the plot of the story slips smoothly from one event to the next, sometimes crescendoing into momentous occasions, and then settling back down to meticulously account for all of the other occurrences in between. The mastery in the writing is evidenced by the ease with which I read this complex, detailed, and nuanced book. I was always ready to read just one more page, and soared through the novel much faster than I originally expected.

I chose this particular edition for its high quality editorial production and for the essays at the end of the book. Norton Critical Editions are works of beauty. For readers interested in examining the deeper meaning in works of literature, these are the definitive editions to choose. The analytical pieces here covered many themes in the novel, such as the difference between passionate and familial love (and can they coincide), the depicted corruption of Russian society, the posited purity of peasants, the redemption of a faith that is more genuine than that found in the church, and the repercussions of choosing an immoral path even when prompted by pure feelings. Essays debated whether Anna's punishment was too harsh or justified, what Tolstoy's position was behind his extremely detached narrator, how political events affected the writing of the novel, and other matters. I was particularly fascinated by the essay that presented the argument that Tolstoy's fiction should not be termed as novels, because he rejects the classical plot structure, and instead crafts a story that jumps into events and out of them, leaving the reader with the impression that much has occurred before the book began, and much will continue to go on after readers leave the story, that this is a fluid world we are entering for a short space of time that will keep on flowing without us. In short, the supplementary material provides an intelligent evaluation of a great work of art, and are not to be missed. I really enjoyed my entire experience of reading this acclaimed novel. show less