Crime and Punishment

 I am happy to report to myself that I have finished Crime and Punishment and I completed the book in under a month, which for me is reading at warp speed. But to be honest, it was really that good! The last few chapters were page turners and I wasn't really sure what was going to happen until the very last sentence of the novel. I mean that literally. Now that is good writing.

A couple of negatives, and this was probably on me, because I didn't read to foreword and I have a feeling this was addressed in that portion of the book: Dostoevsky would frequently use three different names for the same character. Their last name. Their first and middle name. Their nickname. He would use these interchangeably and it took me quite a while to finally catch on that, for example, "Rodya," Rodion Romanovitch" and "Raskolnikov" were all the same person. I found myself going back in the book and trying to figure out who was who until I finally got familiar with all the characters. My guess is this was a cultural thing and not much thought was even given to it at the time.

Also, the novel was written in the formal, Victorian style of the time, which was just fine, but it was also translated from Russian to English, which made it much more of a challenge to read. But the plot and the sub-plots and all the interweaving of the characters' stories was masterful. 

I am not a literary expert, but I am guessing this was one of the earliest novels to dig into the psychological profile of murderer (not to give away the plot in case you want to read it... but yes, a crime was committed!). It was published in 1866 but still resonates today. I wasn't sure I would like this book or even make it to the end... and I am so glad I decided to give it a try! Like I said, I couldn't put it down when I got to the last 75 pages or so.

Up next, I think I am going to read another classic published more than 140 years before Crime and Punishment and 50 years before the Declaration of Independence. Bet you can't guess what it is!