Welcome to Litsy!

Why did I think this book would be dull and difficult? It is full of dark humour and melodrama. So many morally grey characters. Generous villains, women who have fallen morally or socially, fanatics, absurd conversations, drunkards, a hapless side-character hero, romance, obsession, paranoia, high creep factor, Poles & Germans, questions of nihilism and exceptionalism. And Raskolnikov is no Luigi, but aren't we still asking the ❓ from the pic?

My daughter has just started reading this, such a great novel. I hope she enjoys it as much as I did when I read it, and that it spurs her on to tackle #TheBrothersKaramazov — one of my favorite books of all time.

Part Five - High drama in every chapter!
Raskolnikov is full of paranoid rage but also determined to confess, Luzhin is even more dastardly than expected, Katerina Ivanova is even madder than Raskolnikov, and Sonya is in a constant state of terror. We get the most overwrought death bed scene ever.

All of you slackers who were supposed to join in the #CAPbuddyread are missing out 😂

Crime & Punishment part 4
Dunya has way too many admirers, most of whom are creeps.
Raskolnikov decides that misery loves company and messes with the head of a woman who seriously has enough on her plate already. Then presents himself for the most absurd police interview.

#CaPBuddyRead

#CAPBuddyRead update
Part 3.
Raskolnikov is still utterly unhinged, but now calm enough to fool people.
His sister is potentially in a budding triangle drama involving the tropes "age-gap" and "brother's best friend".
I keep mistaking Zamyotov for Zossimov.
Two new players make a mysterious appearance.
I'm at the 50% mark!

'Although Pulcheria Alexandrova was already forty-three years old, her face still kept the remnants of its former beauty, and besides, she looked much younger than her age, as almost always happens with women who keep their clarity of spirit, the freshness of their impressions, and the honest, pure ardor of their hearts into old age.'

🙄 43. Old age. 🤨

#CAPBuddyRead

How are you all doing with the #CAPBuddyRead ?
I have read Part One, in which Raskolnikov is increasingly desperate and a thought experiment becomes a fixed idea. But the best laid plans etc
And Part Two, in which Raskolnikov suffers a nervous breakdown and delirium that would have had any English character of the era carted off to a private institution to die off page.
Now starting Part Three to discover if Raskolnikov gets a grip.

I'm going in.
I aim to hopefully read at least a chapter per day. Actually started it last night, but only got through the Foreword and Translator's Note, then fell asleep. Hope that's not a sign 😅

I'm reading the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation. What's everyone else going with?
#CAPbuddyread

Reposting for @Raelovestoread
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2784996

@BarbaraJean @Librarybelle @Leniverse @Caroline2 @AnneCecilie @Larkken @Kristy_K @Cuilin @wanderinglynn @deblovestoread @jess @leniverse @aa_guer2021 @sparklemn

OK guys.... you may begin!!!!!!!!

But if you've got a lot on, don't worry. We are going at a leisurely pace.

After all, when we've finished #CAPbuddyread it's on to Ulysses.

Use the hashtag to update us on how you're doing.

THERE IS NO RUSH. And feel free to start at a later date.

@BarbaraJean @Librarybelle @Leniverse @Caroline2 @AnneCecilie @Larkken @Kristy_K @Cuilin @wanderinglynn @deblovestoread @jess @leniverse

Hello fellow glutens for punishment!

The plan was to start C&P at a leisurely pace starting 1st October. How does everyone feel about this?

1) Yes, let's start tomorrow!
2) Delay start 1 month to November
3) Let's start January instead

The translation I have is the Oliver Ready version (cover above).

„Wer eine umfassende Erkenntnis und ein fühlendes Herz besitzt, dem bleiben Leiden und Schmerz niemals erspart. Wirklich große Menschen müssen (…) große Traurigkeit auf dieser Welt empfinden“

The part about the cruelty towards the horse, even if it was just a dream, put me off!

Don't think I've forgotten!

So I've been thinking Crime & Punishment should be the next buddy read #CAPbuddyread #torturedpoetsbookclub

Have had a request to start in October... what does everyone think? It'll be a long term thing. Read at your own pace. And I would suggest a WhatsApp group so we can discuss (or use hashtag for those who don't want in.)

Thoughts?

Tagging interested folks in the comments!

Great book! Love love love love love Dostoevsky.

#crimeandpunishment #dostoevsky

I‘ve read this so many times over the years I thought I‘d give the audio a try.

How could I not stop at this Philly brewpub once I learned of its existence?

😊

#OnThisDay #Nov11

18-21 Oct 23 (audiobook)
Another book I read as a uni student, at which time, I recall, I wanted Raskolnikov to get away with his crime and was frustrated by his descent into madness and paranoia. I felt differently upon listening to it thirty years later and had little sympathy for Raskolnikov.
Dostoevsky is, however, a master and his story remains compelling with many interesting characters and philosophies, particularly regarding the great man.

I finally got to this one. Dostoyevsky offers some interesting psychological portraits here; his exploration of “the great man” theory of history (& its shedding of conventional morality) through impoverished, troubled Raskolnikov was intriguing. Other characters were fascinating too, as were questions of redemption & the ongoing nature of his punishment. I found the epilogue to be an abject failure, unworthy of the rest of the book.

İ finished this book one month ago, but i still remember it very clearly. İf you want a classic book with some romantic features and realism, this one is really great. But its a bit long story,and the story is really great.

“The temperament reflects everything like a mirror! Gaze into it and admire what you see!“

Freudian in the way it brings up deep seeded emotions. I genuinely enjoyed reading this book it only got better

I started this book very enthusiastically, and then it got slow. Extremely slow. However, as I got past the first 6-7 chapters, I was hooked. After the first part, the book was still ridiculously slow, but what got me were the thoughts.

Entering Raskolinkov‘s mind was like entering a dark abandoned cellar with corridors leading to deep dark parts. This darkness led to very insightful and disturbing thoughts, which I bloody loved.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.

Man has it all in his hands, and it all slips through his fingers from sheer cowardice.

To go wrong in one‘s own way is better than to go right in someone else‘s.

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.

There is nothing in the world more difficult than candor, and nothing easier than flattery.

Only to live, to live and live! Life, whatever it may be!

Break what must be broken, once for all, that‘s all, and take the suffering on oneself.

The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment-- as well as prison.

A hundered suspicions don‘t make a proof

I did not bow down to you, I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity.

We‘re always thinking of eternity as an idea that cannot be understood, something immense. But why must it be? What if, instead of all this, you suddenly find just a little room there, something like a village bath-house, grimy, and spiders in every corner, and that‘s all eternity is. Sometimes, you know, I can‘t help feeling that that‘s what it is.

When all reason fails, the devil helps.

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.

It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.

An honest and sensitive man opens his heart, and the man of business listens and goes on eating—and then he eats you up.

If you yourself don‘t dare, then there‘s no justice in it all.

“Do you understand, do you understand, my dear sir, what it means when there is no longer anywhere to go?”

“Accepting fate obediently as it is, once and for all, and stifling everything in myself, renouncing any right to act, to live, or love!”

Words are not yet deeds

I myself will come to you to be crucified, for I thirst not for joy, but for sorrow and tears!

“Wonder, what are people most afraid of? A new step, their own new world, that‘s what they‘re most afraid of.”

First book of the new year.