Crime & Punishment

I try and refrain from plugging or even discussing books in general, as it usually turns into a literary biggest dick competition, but I feel compelled to at least write something about this book.

Yesterday I finished Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The book itself has one of those ominous titles, like Tolstoy's War & Peace or Dickens' Bleak House, that suggests a story that almost has to be dry, long and incredibly dull. Despite the title or Dostoyevsky's reputation for heavy philosophical undertones, Crime & Punishment is actually (and surprisingly) a thrilling page-turner. 

I won't go into plot details or my personal interpretation of the novel because nobody really cares what I think. However, I will say that if any novel under the category of "Classic" seems daunting to you, or even boring, consider reading Crime & Punishment. While it isn't 'light' by any means, the novel is one of the most accessible classics hat I have read in a while. It is also one of the most incredibly well-written and beautifully told stories I have ever read, with a truly memorable and unique protagonist. 

"Where was it I read about a man sentenced to death, who, one hour before his execution, says or thinks that if he had to live on some high rock, on a cliff, on a ledge so narrow that there was only room enough for him to stand there, and if there were bottomless chasms all around, the ocean, eternal darkness, eternal solitude, and eternal gales, and if he had to spend all his life on that square yard of space - a thousand years, an eternity - he'd rather live like that than die at once! Oh, only to live, live, live! Live under any circumstances - only to live! How true it is! Good Lord, how true it is!"