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    Crime and Punishment
    Crime and Punishment
    Crime and Punishment
    Audiobook23 hours

    Crime and Punishment

    Written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

    Narrated by Dick Hill

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    A desperate young man plans the perfect crime-the murder of a despicable pawnbroker, an old woman no one loves and no one will mourn. Is it not just, he reasons, for a man of genius to commit such a crime-to transgress moral law-if it will ultimately benefit humanity?

    So begins one of the greatest novels ever written: a powerful psychological study, a terrifying murder mystery, and a fascinating detective thriller infused with philosophical, religious, and social commentary. Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in a garret in the gloomy slums of St. Petersburg, carries out his grotesque scheme and plunges into a hell of persecution, madness, and terror.

    Crime and Punishment takes the listener on a journey into the darkest recesses of the criminal and depraved mind and exposes the soul of a man possessed by both good and evil-a man who cannot escape his own conscience.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 26, 2010
    ISBN9781400186037
    Author

    Fyodor Dostoyevsky

    Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) was a Russian novelist and philosopher whose works examined the human psyche of the nineteenth century. Dostoyevsky is considered one of the greatest writers in world literature, with titles such as Crime and Punishment; Notes from Underground, one of the first existential novellas ever written; and Poor Folk, Russia’s first “social novel.”

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    Reviews for Crime and Punishment

    4/5

    197 ratings173 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Read and pieced together 3 different versions totaling about 621 pages (see wikipedia for explanations of why so many versions) Russian writing at its best. Written after Dostoevsky returned from Siberian gulag; although this is not what the book is about. The book attempts to both solidify and crumble notions that one has about philosophy and the nature of sin. Great read! 621 pages
    • 3/5
      I have already stated in a previous review that I love Dostoevsky, so keep that in mind. This novel, although though provoking and philosophically sound, is at times in desperate need of an editor.It seems like the more verbose version of Poe's Telltale Heart.
    • 4/5
      Very impressive book, but I took a star off because it was tough reading. Characters were great, especially the main character, but for all the interesting psychological insights gained into the thoughts of a killer trying to rationalize and justify his actions...I still found it to be a book I had to work to get through rather than just enjoy it.However, due to the truly impressive style and depth added by the author, the book and characters left a lasting imprint and one that I've enjoyed looking back on, like the good books often cause one to do.
    • 2/5
      I picked up this novel as part of the Easton's top 100 books. I have to admit that I wouldn't have read it, or finished it, if it wasn't part of this list. It follows the deterioration of Rasko, a poor student, who decides to murder a pawnbroker in an attempt to better his life. This go awry from the beginning, when in a state of panic he forgets to bolt the door. After committing the murder, he takes a handful of trinkets. Rasko is immediately wracked by guilt, and begins making mistake after mistake. The novel was probably considered a psychological thriller when it was initially published. However, I found it to be a bit dry and hard to read. Oftentimes characters would go on non-sensical rants that lasted several pages. I found the moral questions raised throughout the book to be interesting. A more modern take on this book would probably be interesting and well worth reading.
    • 4/5
      Ordinary vs superior people.
    • 5/5
      Amazing, phenomenal, and well deserved to be called a masterpiece. For some reason, I had in my head that it would be about the Crime, of course, and then being in prison, with long pondering about guilt, remorse, etc. - and very dry. But I was completely wrong. It was exciting, suspenseful, with intriguing sub-plots and many layers to be uncovered. Wonderful, and I highly recommend it!
    • 4/5
      This book gripped me from beginning to end. While written off by some as melodramatic and emotional, I found Dostoyevsky's portrayal of his character's inner struggles to be real & enthralling. Raskolnikov is probably one of the best "nonsympathetic" characters ever because even so I still felt for him! Honourable mention to Svidrigailov who absolutely fascinated me throughout the story. The brief descriptions of the penal colony in the epilogue made me interested in reading more about Dostoyevsky's own experiences there (in Notes from a Dead House). I also read The Brothers K this year, which I felt had a much more satisfying arc, emotional climax, and ending on the whole. Still, C&P was a great read and I'm ready for more!
    • 4/5
      The last half is better than the first, which is messily discursive and, when it attempts humor, annoying. Parts of the book feel written in a hurry, which in fact they were. The ending is a sop tacked on for the readers of the magazine where it was first published, and this seriously hurts the narrative arc of the novel. But you have to admire D's ability to capture the broad solidity of a people and time.
    • 5/5
      While working at a menial vacation job in the summer of 1960 I read Crime And Punishment during my lunchbreaks. At that time I had not read any Tolstoy, and I remember thinking that if Dostoyevsky was generally regarded as number two to Leo T then War And Peace must be my next big Russian read. And so it was, and after all these years I still feel pretty certain that Dostoyevsky is my man. I've read Tolstoy and enjoyed Anna Karenina extremely. But it is Dostoyevsky who knocked me out then and he remains the giant of Russia for me. Karamazov, The Idiot, and Crime And Punishment are my favourites. C & P is a modern psychological novel as well. It reads so well as a portrait of basic human types, struggling through all this fiddle we call our lives. War and Peace looks like a Hollywood epic compared to the subtle independent movie that is C&P.
    • 4/5
      Very well read by Alex Jennings. The abridgement was a bit jumpy and seemed to lose some of the story's details, but it was still an entertaining and enlightening picture of 19th Century Russian life.
    • 5/5
      There is not much more I can say about this book that hasn't been said by hundreds of people throughout the years. On a personal note, I found this book to be outstanding and can easily see why it is considered one of the classics of literature. The way Dostoevsky gets into the mind of his character is as good writing as I have ever seen. The torment, guilt, hope, wonder, and range of dozens of emotions of the main character really hit home to the reader. I think everyone could connect in some way to the ideas in this story and although it is a slow read that takes some time, I think it is worth it for any avid reader.
    • 5/5
      Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment (translated by Constance Garnett) was a book that I read in the last couple weeks. I rated it as one of my all time favorites. I was chastised by Pammy on another site for telling too much of the Scarlet Letter in her sarcastic way so I don’t know how much I should say in this post. I’ll talk a little about it and see if anybody writes anything else about it. In Pammy’s defense, I did write a lot in my OP of that last book and maybe I was behind books too much and missed human interaction so I wrote too much. I’ll try not to do that this time but I might have a hard time because it was packed with interesting things to discuss. I was a rather large book and I got confused with the names sometimes and have to go back and figure out who was who so it made sense in my mind.It may sound a bit odd that I liked this book as much as I did because of what the book was about. This book was set St. Petersburg, Russia. The first thing that struck me was the difficulty of living in poverty and the morality people could wrestle with when they live in squalor. I found the lengths someone could go and the inner workings of justification in somebody’s mind when faced when they decide to practice something against their personal ethics. Perhaps it was more about my own interaction with the book that intrigued me because I kept putting myself in Raskolnikov’s shoes and he did what he did and it made my mouth dry each step of the way. Raskolnikov was indigent, felt ashamed and went back and forth with guilt. It was a great psychological thriller that kept the pages turning when I put the Scarlet Letter down and read this book instead. It was a murder mystery (sort of) even though it wasn’t a mystery to me because I was reading it :) The old lady, a pawn brother, who he traded goods for money (Rubles) was the unfortunate person along with her sister. I did not particularly enjoy the murder, it rather sickened me, but I found it interesting how somebody could go through with it and the resultant psychological consequences. The rest of the book was full of other characters like his friends, acquaintances, the police, his mother, sister, her fiancé and others that come in and out in the book. I do not want to say more about it than I didn’t particularly enjoy the ending of the book in its prologue because he spent a lot of time writing a fine book and made me care for some characters and would have liked to see more of how they made out in life. I know Dostoyevsly spent time in Siberia and that was likely fresh on his mind when writing this book and therefore must have been a large part of how he viewed criminal consequences in his backdrop in this book. I’d be happy to talk more about this book if anybody is interested. Please let me know.
    • 5/5
      A great story of the disintegration of a psyche.
    • 5/5
      gripping....extremely
    • 5/5
      An accessible translation of the original criminal psychology novel, it’s also an homage to Hamlet and a social commentary. It has a troubled hero, his kind friend, a hooker with a heart of gold, a savvy detective, a suitably creepy villain and so much more. Loved it; read this book!
    • 3/5
      I loved and hated it at the same time. It was hard to get into the story as I mixed up the names all the time and it took me ages to get through. But I'm glad I finished it...
    • 2/5
      It was too depressing/confusing for me when I first read it; I might just need to read it again.
    • 5/5
      The novel tells the story of Raskolnikov, a student in St. Petersburg, Russia. Consumed by poverty, oppression and decadence, Raskolnikov is isolated from most other human beings. In his self-alienation, he begins to see himself as a superior being, a sort of "superman" who transcends the moral laws that connect the others. He seeks a way to "validate" himself and his feelings of superiority, a process that has often been termed "suicide by self-assertion". Dostoevsky had lived in Western Europe and, as a Christian, he saw the dangers of intellectual fashionable ideas such as nihilism and utilitarianism. Dostoevsky began as a socialist co-conspirator, only to be condemned by the tsarist regime to four years' hard labor in Siberia. The man who came back from prison was not the same. He devoted himself to the study and exploration of ideas. He traveled to Europe to listen to the great secular, progressive thinkers of his day. What finally emerged was a man totally determined to undermine the ruinous ideologies of his time. He did have his demons and personal tragedies. But he was a man (as shown by the essayist Chuck Colson) who understood that behaviour follows belief. The way we live as individuals, and the decisions taken by national leaders are the results of a battle of ideas that did not start yesterday and will not end tomorrow.
    • 5/5
      It was bitter cold last night. The trip from work to the kitchen was uneventful enough. I prepared soup and awaited my wife. After dinner, I placed Sonny Rollins' 9/11 Concert on the stereo and sat down with the last 52 pages of Crime and Punishment. the greatest testament I can afford the novel conclusion is that for 25 minutes I didn't hear any jazz, only Dostoevsky's denouement
    • 5/5
      An idea possessed Raskolnikov. He believed there are supermen, Newton’s and Napoleon’s, who transcend ordinary men and women, who could act without moral constraint to judge evil and levy punishment, and to determine whether he belonged to this superior race, he killed the greedy and usurious pawn-broker. But unlike Napoleon in Austerlitz he didn’t execute his plan coldly and tactically. Rather, he nauseatingly dreamed his way into a double murder, the pawnbroker’s sister had returned because he had tarried, and, at the sight of blood, was so terrified that his hands could not stop trembling. He discovered that he wasn’t upright or courageous, that he could not transcend the law, and that he was just a louse, a member of the inferior class. As psychological fiction, Crime and Punishment showcases Raskolnikov’s contradictory actions and emotions that revealed a split psyche fighting for wholeness. He despised others but was preoccupied with bringing about good. After reading his mother’s letter about his sister’s misfortune, he shed sympathetic tears but also donned an evil spiteful smile. He gave the little he had to help the Marmeladovs but immediately regretted helping them. He killed the pawnbroker to prove an idea but took her money and valuables. He was detached in the first interview with the head detective Porfiry but in the second was angry and spiteful toward him.His punishment did not begin in Siberia after the verdict but immediately after killing the pawnbroker, his irritability, nervousness, suspiciousness, delusion, and mania tormenting an already fragile psyche, not allowing him to eat, drink, sleep, work or socialize, and pressing him to hide in his coffin-like apartment trying escaping from reality and to curl up under his blanket, feverish and delusional. His conscience was tormenting and implicating him even before the law did so. Only through Sonya’s help and guidance was he able to find strength to confess his crime. Through this novel’s outcome, Dostoyevsky rejected any social system that tried to replace the jagged path of life with linear reason to save people from their predicament. Although the author’s moral heavy-handedness in Raskolnikov’s repentance and redemption seemed to scar the artistry of the mental battle, Crime and Punishment is psychological novel at its best.
    • 4/5
      An interesting Russian classic about a young man, Raskolnikov, who murders an old lady pawnbroker based on a theory. Raskolnikov is a student intellectual under the influence of radical, collectivist thinking, prevalent in Russia at the time. Raskolnikov's theory is that there are two kinds of men; peasants and those of superior intellect. Laws apply only to peasants to keep them in line, but do not necessarily apply to the intellectual elite. Crimes, even murder, committed for the "greater good" by said intellectuals might actually be not only acceptable but desirable. So Raskolnikov murders and robs a nasty old lady, hoping to "kill two birds with one stone", so to speak. He can help his family with the money he steals from her while at the same time, ridding the world of a worthless piece of human debris. What he actually discovers to his horror is that he is unable to function after the crime due to his overwhelming guilt and paranoia until a streetwalker, named Sonia, finally persuades him to confess his crime to the police. Sonia is ironically portrayed by the author as a much clearer thinking and noble individual than the supposed "intellectual", Raskolnikov. Her positive influence ultimately saves Raskolnikov from himself. Through Sonia's example of love and religious devotion, Raskolnikov finally finds what has eluded him all along, a life of purpose and fulfillment.
    • 4/5
      This was a great book. I loved the relationship between Raskolnikov and Porfiry Petrovich. Excellent dialogue, excellent characters, flat ending. If Dostoevsky knew how to end a novel, this would've gotten a rating even higher than 4 stars. As it stands, it is still better than 90% of the books out there, and therefore I recommend reading it.
    • 3/5
      I can't believe I worked my way through some long books with not much to show for it. I must have been between 20 and 30 when I read this. I can just imagine reading about Raskolnikov walking by the river brooding about his guilt and some scenes when he faces interogation.
    • 4/5
      Veel minder gegrepen door de lectuur dan 24 jaar geleden. Wel sterk verhaal met hoogtepunten (droom in I 5, ruzie in IV 2, zelfmoord in VI 6 en slotscene), maar soms teveel nevenplots en te pathetische scènes. Indrukwekkend blijft de psychologie van de karaktertekeningen.
    • 4/5
      When reading this I constantly thought of Ayn Rand. Which, I realize, is likely to prejudice many people against this review. I'd hasten to say that in terms of philosophy Rand and Dostoevsky can't be more different. However, if you've read any Ayn Rand, you know her hallmark is that her characters tend to be embodiments of different philosophical principles, both in their actions and speech. Reading Crime and Punishment, it occurred to me it was no accident Rand was born and raised in Russia, that this is where she got it from, and I do know she was an admirer of Dostoevsky's writing. Lest you get the wrong idea, the Crime and Punishment is not as didactic and more subtle in its message than Ayn Rand's novels--you will find no 70-page speeches. Most of the characters in Crime and Punishment do feel like real people, and not just walking philosophical ideas, but the way their philosophy is tied in with their character is something that up to now I had found only in Rand--and reading this book I understood better what she was reacting against in her culture. There's no question that Crime and Punishment is an ideological novel, an indictment of utilitarianism in both free market and socialist forms as well as individualism and ethical egoism, and arguments of the main character prefigure Nietzsche (who ironically was also an admirer of Dostoevsky). Mind you, an indictment is an accusation, not a conviction, and I didn't find Dostoevsky persuasive (many of his philosophical characters and arguments strike me as straw men), and much of the novel repelled me even though a lot of it also won my admiration.The book's central character is Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished student. The first part deals with the "crime" of the title, his axe murder of an elderly pawnbroker and her sister. He tells himself he could do a lot for people with her money--a "greatest good for the greatest number" sort of argument--and that he needs to test his mettle as an "extraordinary" man, such as Napoleon, who can "dare" step "over the barriers" and thus be beyond the law (the aspect that reminded me of Nietzsche). The next five parts deal with Raskolnikov's "punishment." His internal punishment as he's lashed by his conscience and his fear of discovery. The first part I found suspenseful and a fascinating psychological study of the mind of a murderer, even though, in many respects, Raskolnikov came off as sympathetic. He can be kind and generous--leaving charity anonymously; he's insightful and sensitive when he intuits the nature of the man who wants to marry his sister from his mother's letter. Although right from the first, I was struck, and a bit repelled, by how vividly Dostoevsky represents the terrible squalor surrounding Raskolnikov. All about him is greasy and ragged, stained and frayed and hopeless. There is humor, but it tends to a black hue. That dark atmosphere only increased through the book; the terrible cruelty of what Dostoevsky puts his characters through is hard to take. Raskolnikov becomes harder and harder to take too. An essay in the Norton Critical edition I read states that a Russian word, dostoevshchina, is derived from the author's name that means someone difficult, perverse, or who has "an excessive and morbid preoccupation with" their "own psychological processes." And boy, that sure describes the increasingly unbearable Raskolnikov. Although I found much of Dostoevksy's anti-Enlightenment message deplorable, I couldn't help but be struck by the novel's philosophical and psychological richness. Another of the essays in this edition says that the pawnbroker could be seen as representing the bourgeoisie, and her murder thus a condemnation by Dostoevsky of using violent means in their elimination in the name of the people and thus a condemnation of what the Bolsheviks would do decades after the novel was published. Reading this novel published in 1865, one can see the intellectual broth out of which Soviet Russia emerged decades later. The novel has also been seen as a critique of nihilism and a forerunner of existentialism. The use of dream imagery made me think of Freud. I was more put off by what Dostoevsky seemed to hold up as an ideal than what he condemns, as embodied by the meek Sonya. She may be a "fallen" woman and sinner, and in her way Raskonikov's female counterpart in transgressing moral and social boundaries, but she's also a devout Christian and a redemptive figure. She's a prostitute who sold her body to feed a stepmother who was abusive to her and the alcoholic father who uses the money she has made that way to go on drunken binges. Though I wouldn't say Dostoevsky approves of Sonya's choice to prostitute herself, he seems to suggest both her suffering and her willingness to thus debase herself for others is ennobling. I had a similar negative reaction to actions of Dunya, Raskonikov's sister, who also prostitutes herself in a self-sacrificing way in accepting a marriage proposal to help her family. To be fair to Dostoevsky, he does seem to suggest that despite their good intentions, both women would have endangered their soul had they continued on their course. Nevertheless, I did find miserable and malignant the sense that self-abnegation, renunciation, a cringing and self-effacing humility and the embrace of irrationality and suffering constitute the "good."I'll say this though, I never found the novel dull. Annoying in places given Raskonikov's increasing histrionics, often depressing, and with a rather lame and unconvincing redemptive ending, but never dull. And so many scenes and characters are so vivid I feel they'll be etched in my mind forever. I wouldn't call this novel a favorite, too dark for my tastes and too antithetical to all I value, but it's masterfully written and thought-provoking.
    • 4/5
      I found this a difficult to read, the story jumps between characters and their individual stories to the extent that I occasionally got a little lost.

      The story was written and set in Russia during the mid 19th century, around the same kind of time as Dickens in London. I found the comparisons in the way of life intriguing.

      The story itself basically how a man punishes himself, subconsciously more than anyone else ever could. Well worth reading.
    • 5/5
      Long on my to-read list (as almost all of the Russian literary cannon is), Dostoevsky definitely delivers. The psychology and philosophical argument behind Raskolnikov's crime is complex, but somehow the story unfolds in a very clear and straightforward manner. There is definitely something dated and something inherently Russian about this novel, but I don't think it suffers as a result.
    • 3/5
      I read this so long ago I don't remember much. I've got to reread this at some point. It's what got me into surfacey Russian lit though.
    • 5/5
      Several years ago I made a concerted effort to upgrade the quality of my reading material. I wasn’t exactly a comic book aficionado; however I had failed to read most of the classics during my years of formal education. Since that time, I’ve read more than my fair share of Dickens, Steinbeck and Hemingway. I’ve also dabbled in some of the more recently highly acclaimed literature, happily in some cases, in others not so much. It is with that background that I decided to delve just a little bit deeper and take on this Dostoyevsky work.In retrospect, I found reading this novel to be similar to taking on a Dickens novel, in that a period of acclimation is required before ultimately becoming familiar and comfortable with the speech and style of both the period and the culture from which the author hails. As with Dickens, I was initially disappointed and at times lost within the narrative. After a while, however, I began to feel more comfortable and find myself enjoying the work quite a bit. Some may warm to the effort more quickly, while others may never reach a comfort level. I’m glad I did.In addition to being a very intriguing and interesting story, the novel is a journey into the diseased mind of a 19th century Russian murderer in the capital of St. Petersburg and his interrelation with friends, family, strangers and the police inspector that becomes his protagonist. The book is a fine education on the customs, mores and history of 19th century Russian society, on a number of levels.In the reviews, I read some discussion pertaining to the various translations of this classic. The version I read was the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation. Having read no other, I can’t give a relative comparison, but can say that the edition I read was certainly very readable, and while different in style than I am used to, was likely a result of the author’s prose more so than the translators work.Inasmuch as a period of acclimation was required in order to become comfortable with this work, it seems advisable to proceed directly to the author’s other renowned masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov, and that is where you can find me next.
    • 4/5
      Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov commits murder. And we learn of his mental anguish. He isn't a particularly likeable character. Yet his story is very interesting. It does make it keep your interest.