Crime and Punishment

I finally did it!  After two long, arduous months of reading before bed, I have finished the beast that is Crime and Punishment.  And i must say that, although it is the quintessential paranoid, schizophrenic Russian novel, I actually enjoyed it.  Once I was able to decypher who people were.  For example: the main character, Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov, and his sister Avdotya Romanovna, and his friend, Sofya Semyonevna Marmeladov, and so on.  Russian names are very difficult to keep straight in your head - especially with all the pet names they have that sometimes make absolutely no sense whatsoever.  then again...I'm not really sure how we English-speakers go from Richard to Dick or Henry to Hank - but apparently there's some method to that madness. 

Anyway, I digress.  The story is very complex and the characters are layered - they aren't caricatures.  They have depth and they resonate.  the character arcs are good, and even the most despicable characters have some sort of redemptive quality in them.  The plot is intricate and intriguing (once you get past the first two or three chapters) and very dark.  Like I said above, the book is driven by paranoia and mental instability, so if you can't deal with that, you might want to steer clear.

bottom line, if you don't mind dedicating two months of your life to a book that requires a team of oxen to plow through, you'll enjoy this novel.  And, if it gets too heavy, don't be afraid to put it down for a few days and read something a little lighter and easier.  Then come back to it, because I believe it's worth the work.