Crime And Punishment Book Review - No spoilers!

Hey! Welcome to the Empty Shelf. I'm Leon and... This is a spoiler free review of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This is another one of those famous classics that a lot of people in the book world tend to suggest is one of the all time greats. Originally published in 1866 as a 12 part series, this books popularity has certainly endured the test of time. As the original book was written in Russian, I will be reviewing Constance Garnett’s (1914) English translation, which is the most widely available version. Before reading this book I had very few expectations, I can’t say I had ever really heard much about Crime and Punishment. I knew it was a famous book and I had heard that Dostoevsky was a famous author, but that was about it... Although, a few days before I started reading this book, an acquaintance happened to mention it in conversation. As I was about to read it, I gave him the standard no spoiler plea. He only told me that he read it while he was actually studying criminal law. And that it was a fascinating contrast to his studies, which he thoroughly enjoyed. So this kind of made me think that the book would have a legal philosophy vibe about it. Well Crime and Punishment (or the English translation) certainly does have a legal philosophy vibe to it. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. This book explores a lot of philosophical ideas. And it does so in an uncomfortably intense way. This book is dark, mature, and realistically explicit; it is definitely not for the feint hearted. However, a thought provoking book is nothing without a good story to keep your eyes on the page... and this book certainly delivers. The story is set in Russia during the 1860’s and is centred on a young male that has considered and planned to commit (you guessed it) a crime. He is an ex-student of law and is struggling with his finances. The story is deeply personal, primarily focused on entering the mind of this particular young man. There are some absolutely brilliant conversations between character in this book and as you can imagine, underlining this type of narrative is a huge pile of thought provoking mayhem. As someone who is fluently bi-lingual, I know that a lot can be lost in translation, some things just do not translate in the same way. As someone who reads books, I know that translated books are never as good as the original. And as someone who reviews books, I now have the awkward task of trying to figure our what to say. How much of Dostoevsky’s voice I actually read, I cannot say. Ultimately, what I read was Garnett’s translated interpretation and it read like a book originally written in English. I found the language in this version easy to read and I liked the style of writing. The language felt a little old fashioned but it did not make the book harder to understand. Admittedly, I found the story a little slow and hard to get into at first. However, while I was not immediately hooked, I never felt like abandoning this book. After the initial hurdle the story moved at a great pace and had some really interesting and intense moments. There were plenty of surprises and I never got bored. In saying that, I still never found myself glued to the page. In a way I also felt like this book needed a lot of time and effort to get through. The intensity of the narrative gave this book an exhausting feel, in a good way, it is part of what makes the story so thought provoking. However, this also made the book feel longer to me than it actually was. And while this novel is not one of the longest books I’ve read, it is still quite long. Not to mention, it is also the kind of book you actually want to digest slowly. I think this book would have been awesome to read in parts, as it was originally intended. I really liked the characters, all of them actually. They felt real and relatable but also interesting, thought provoking, and sometimes even fun. I really liked how each character was woven into the story. Certain characters would drift in and out of focus for large parts of the book and I think the way Dostoevsky did this was brilliant. Unsurprisingly, they all carried a distinctly Russian temperament. The book was mainly set in St. Petersburg and there is a Russian vibe to the whole book. However, in many ways, St. Petersburg felt just like any other grimy big city. The world felt realistic and I think it was portrayed well. Although, the city was essentially just a backdrop, the story was focused more on the characters and philosophy. As you can guess from the title; on a philosophical level, this book is obviously focused on crime and punishment. However, I would say the philosophy is particularly focused on the psychology surrounding both the motivations and repercussions of crime on the criminal. Obviously this book explores some really dark and mature themes, which I loved, but overall my thoughts are mixed. I actually have a degree in Psychology and I have an interest in a lot of the philosophy explored in this book. However, I just was not blown away by this side of the book. I have just explored a lot of the ideas in this story before, thoroughly. Furthermore, the 1860’s psychological philosophy just has an outdated feel. However, I think anyone who has not studied the science will find it all very interesting. Overall I rate this book a 3 out 5. I liked it. I would not read it again but I am very glad I read it. For me, all the underlying philosophical goodness was somewhat lost. However, the story was incredibly interesting. And I loved how real and gritty everything felt. This book explored crime in a mature and explicit way and did not hide behind an social filters. I think if you enjoy some intense conversations and have an interest in 1800’s philosophy and psychology, you will absolutely love this book. This story is awesomely dark. It goes into stuff like morality, stress, regret, justification, Nilhism, and even the meaning of existence. I could go on, but I won’t. If you do not like getting sucked into a philosophical black hole, stay away! This book is deep, probably too deep for most people to enjoy, especially for leisurely reading. Anyway, if you would like to go deeper down the rabbit hole... This review will continue in my next video but with spoilers. Check it out if you’ve read the book. Thanks for tuning in and hopefully this review helps. Don’t forget to like and subscribe! Bye for now.