Crime and Punishment by F. M. Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment (Classics) (Classic Fiction S.) (Vintage classics) (BBC) (Oxford Classics S.)

by F. M. Dostoevsky

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

With the same suppleness, energy, and range of voices that won their translation of The Brothers Karamazov the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Prize, Pevear and Volokhonsky offer a brilliant translation of Dostoevsky's classic novel that presents a clear insight into this astounding psychological thriller. "The best (translation) currently available"--Washington Post Book World.

Reviewed by jamiereadthis on

5 of 5 stars

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I didn’t put this down for three days of vacation. Surf, sand, sun, and I was living with Raskolnikov in the dingy little room with peeling yellow walls, with poor Sonya and Svidrigailov, with Dunya and dear Razumikhin in the choked-up streets of Petersburg. I read it at night, all day, the little trips in the car even though I get carsick. I couldn’t put it down.

I may have— confession— loved it even more than Karamazov.

To have the story so ubiquitous, to have even the plot given right in the title itself, it’s a thrill at every turn, not in the least for the masterful way Dostoevsky breathes its people to life. Pevear and Volokhonsky once again nail the translation, and even the pacing captures the exuberance, headiness, hearty dread. The pages turn themselves.

And I have to say, Dunya is my favorite of Dostoevsky’s women. Thus far.

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  • Started reading
  • 1 June, 2009: Finished reading
  • 1 June, 2009: Reviewed