Has anyone read Crime and Punishment?

[lucydogz]

I don't mind reading a good thick classic now and again, so have just read this. And was pretty disappointed. Has anyone read it and loved it? What am I missing?

I've read it years ago and loved it. The characters drew you in and the story was clever. I remember the feeling of guilt is just as bad as the punishment. I plan to read it again shortly.

I think I read it too late. If I had read it in my early twenties I think I would have enjoyed the themes more.

But the protagonist just annoyed me. Whiny. Self absorbed. Needs to get a grip. I really didn't enjoy reading it at all.

That's it! I think I would have loved it when I was younger, but now find the self absorption of the protagonist insufferable. Plus him being saved by the love of the woman, who was a total doormat. There were flashes of brilliance but little else. Oh yes, I had no idea of who was who, with all the different names they used.

Yes, years ago, when I was in my Russian phase.

Didn’t love it and I don’t think I ever read any more Dostoevsky. Much preferred Tolstoy.

yes - I often go back to Anna Karenina - a perfect book IMO.

I liked C&P, not impressed by AK.

Yes, I loved Anna Karenina. I have also read, and genuinely enjoyed, War and Peace. I have never understood why people think it is so unreadable.

I love AK but hated War & Peace. I managed to read it to the end but it was hard going.

I read it a few years ago but cannot remember much about it unlike Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

I read it years ago too, and loved it, along with the Brothers Karamazov (sic?). Then this year I tried The Idiot, and couldn't get into it at all. I think I read C&P when I was a semi-depressed student and I found all the darkness and despair at humanity rather refreshing. Now it's just too real. I like Russian literature though, wish I could read it in Russian... I like War & Peace, but skipped the bits which were all historical and the long descriptions of battles, which I find excruciating.

I read it in high school and absolutely loved it! I read it in 3 days, it really got me involved!

I tried to read The Idiot but hated it gave up half way through.

@Mercurial, glad it's not just me then :)

I read when I was studying Russian literature. I enjoyed a lot of the books on the course but not so much C&P. Much preferred Brothers Karamazov, proper page turner. Dead Souls by Gogol remains one of my favourite books of all time as well.

We did most of our reading in English by the way!! The lecturer preferred it if we actually finished the book and enjoyed than tried to read in Russian and spent so much time looking stuff up in a dictionary than we forgot what the story was.

Crime and punishment is an excellent read. Let it stay with you awhile. Truth will out. Like the saying, if you give enough rope they’ll hand themselves. Similar themes in Dostoyevsky other works, as in the brothers karamazov’s Father Zossima decomposing body - we are all immortal, we are all human and we only have ourselves to blame.

Year's ago. Loved it. A real page turner. Quite frightening in places. Struggled and gave up on The Brothers Karamazov

Am reading it at the moment and enjoying it so far.

It was one of my favourite books when I was younger. I loved the bit where (spoiler alert) his sister pulls a gun on the sleazy guy who is hitting on her.

I finished and liked The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov, but only ever got halfway through C&P. Just too bleak.