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.
Crime and Punishment
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Mired in poverty, the student Raskolnikov nevertheless thinks well of himself. Of his pawnbroker he takes a different view, and in deciding to do away with her he sets in motion his own tragic downfall. Dostoyevsky's penetrating novel of an intellectual whose moral compass goes haywire, and the detective who hunts him down for his terrible crime, is a stunning psychological portrait, a thriller and a profound meditation on guilt and retribution.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
An acclaimed new translation of the classic Russian novel.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
337 of 349 people found the following review helpful
Crime and Punishment is one great novel. However, we have a bit of misleading marketing going on here. Make sure you're buying the version you think you're buying before you order. "Crime and Punishment" published by General Books LLC is a poor quality scanned in version. If you do the "Look Inside" thing on this book, you'll see the inside of another version of the book, NOT the one you will receive.
To give you a few quotes from the publishers website: "We created your book using OCR software ..... with up to 3,500 characters per page, even one percent can be an annoying number of typos.... After we re-typeset ... your book, the page numbers change so the old index and table of contents no longer work .... we usually remove them. .... Our OCR software can't distinguish between an illustration and a smudge or library stamp so it ignores everything except type. ..... We created your book using a robot who turned and photographed each page. Our robot is 99 percent accurate. But sometimes two pages stick together. And sometimes a page may even be missing from our copy of the book. .....". There's no manual editing whatsover.
You get the general idea. Unfortunately, books published by General Books LLC are named, seemingly intentionally, so that they have reviews associated with much better quality imprints. General Books LLC is an imprint of VDM Published (google them on Wikipedia), which is flooding Amazon with poor quality reprints and, unfortunately, many of them have the reviews associated with the original or with beter quality imprints associated with them.
Seems like it's Caveat Emptor on Amazon these days as Amazon certainly doesn't seem to be doing anything to protect it's customers from this Publisher.
To give you a few quotes from the publishers website: "We created your book using OCR software ..... with up to 3,500 characters per page, even one percent can be an annoying number of typos.... After we re-typeset ... your book, the page numbers change so the old index and table of contents no longer work .... we usually remove them. .... Our OCR software can't distinguish between an illustration and a smudge or library stamp so it ignores everything except type. ..... We created your book using a robot who turned and photographed each page. Our robot is 99 percent accurate. But sometimes two pages stick together. And sometimes a page may even be missing from our copy of the book. .....". There's no manual editing whatsover.
You get the general idea. Unfortunately, books published by General Books LLC are named, seemingly intentionally, so that they have reviews associated with much better quality imprints. General Books LLC is an imprint of VDM Published (google them on Wikipedia), which is flooding Amazon with poor quality reprints and, unfortunately, many of them have the reviews associated with the original or with beter quality imprints associated with them.
Seems like it's Caveat Emptor on Amazon these days as Amazon certainly doesn't seem to be doing anything to protect it's customers from this Publisher.
266 of 285 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I initially approached this book with a great deal of trepidation. I had never read Dostoyevsky, and was concerned that I would get bogged down in some lengthy, mind-numbingly boring, nineteenth-century treatise on the bestial nature of man or something. I am happy to report this is not the case. Instead, and to my delight, it is a smoothly flowing and fascinating story of a young man who succumbs to the most base desire, and the impact this has both psychologically and otherwise on himself and those around him.
To be sure, the book seems wordy in places, but I suspect this has to do with the translation. And what translator in his right mind would be bold enough to edit the great Dostoyevsky? But this is a very minor problem.
What we get with Dostoyevsky is dramatic tension, detailed and believable human characters, and brilliant insight into human nature. Early in the novel our hero meets and has a lengthy conversation with Marmeladov, a drunkard. This conversation is never uninteresting and ultimately becomes pathetic and heartbreaking, but I kept wondering why so much time was spent on it. As I got deeper into the book, I understood why this conversation was so important, and realized that I was in the hands of a master storyteller. This is also indicative of the way in which the story reveals itself. Nothing is hurried. These people speak the way we actually speak to one another in real life, and more importantly, Dostoyevsky is able to flesh out his characters into whole, three-dimensional human beings.
And what a diverse group of characters! Each is fleshed out, each is marvelously complex. Razujmikhin, the talkative, gregarious, good-hearted, insecure and destitute student; Sonia, the tragic child-prostitute, with a sense of rightness in the world; Petrovich, the self-important, self-made man, completely out of touch with his own humanity; Dunia, the honorable, wronged sister: we feel like we know these people because we've met people like them. They fit within our understanding of the way human beings are.
Dostoyevsky also displays great insight into human nature. Svidrigailov, for example, talks of his wife as liking to be offended. "We all like to be offended," he says, "but she in particular loved to be offended." It suddenly struck me how true this is. It gives us a chance to act indignantly, to lash out at our enemies, to gain favor with our allies. I don't believe I've ever seen this thought expressed in literature before. In fact, it never occurred to me in real life! Petrovich, Dunia's suitor, not only expects to be loved, but because of his money, and her destitution, he expects to be adored! To be worshipped! He intentionally sought out a woman from whome he expected to get this, and is comletely flummoxed when she rejects him. His is an unusual character, but completely realized.
There is so much more to talk about: the character of Raskolnikov, which is meticulously and carefully revealed; the sense of isolation which descends on him after committing his crime; the cat and mouse game played on him by the police detective. I could go on and on. I haven't even mentioned the historical and social context in which this takes place. Suffice to say this is a very rich book.
Do not expect it to be a rip-roaring page turner. Sit down, relax, take your time, and savor it. It will be a very rewarding experience. And thank you SL, for recommending it.
85 of 89 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Crime and Punishment centers upon the story of a young Russian student, Raskolnikov, who plots and carries out a brutal murder. However, this is less than a quarter of the story. The rest centers upon his attempts to come to terms with the philosophical and psycological consequences of his act. Aiding, or hindering, him in this endevor are a series of characters from the kind-hearted prostitute Sonia and her drunken father, the unrepentant scoundrel Svidrigailov, Raskolnikov's best friend Razumihin, and the police detective come amateur psychologist Porfiry Petrovich. Though the story develops slowly, with many detours, Raskolnikov's journey through crime and punishment remains gripping until the very last page.
I first encountered Crime and Punishment in the classic translation by Constance Garnett and loved it for Dostoyevsky's careful balance of character and philosophy. Dostoyevsky's genius lies in his ability to create simultaneously a psychological novel and a novel of ideas. Though each character represents a certain philosophy of life, they never become lifeless or stereotyped. Instead, each is a memorably developed and psychologically deep person, who could easily carry a story in their own right. Dostoyevsky's genius is in the perfect counterpoint between conflict of personality and conflict of philosophy between each of these fascinating people. Dostoyevsky also specializes in garnering the reader's interest and sympathy for the most unlikely characters. This is a novel, after all, with an ax murderer as the protagonist.
However, until I read this new translation of Dostoyevsky, I never realized that besides psychologist and philosopher, Dostoyevsky was also a masterful stylist. Pevear and Volokhonsky succeed in faithfully translating the literal meaning of the original Russian, while still capturing the vivid liveliness of Dostoyevsky's prose. The heat of a St. Petersburg summer night fairly radiates off the page in the first part, while his descriptions of Raskolnikov's cramped bedroom gave me claustrophobia.
Admittedly, this is no beach-read thriller. The Russian names can be confusing, and Dostoyevsky's manages to be both dense and long-winded. Nontheless, this is one of the greatest works of fiction ever written that should be read both as a "classic book" and as a gripping psychological exploration of crime.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Crime and Punishment
I read this book in one sitting and thought I'd brag about it to a wide-scale audience. I recommend this book.
Published 13 hours ago by Cailyn953
5 out of 5
This novel is a must read for anyone starting out or into Russian literature, so vivid, potent and will stay with you for a long time to come.
Published 3 days ago by infiniteforms
Crime and Punishment
I am reading this because I'm assisting in teaching a High School class on Russian Literature. I have read about 60% so far and although the story is intriguing, it is a little... Read more
Published 16 days ago by mr. g
classic
really great book for kindle, you mind as well give it a read sense it is free what do you got to lose
Published 1 month ago by AmazonAustin
Decent reader
Author illustrates the important aspects of Russia during the Russian revolution.
It was a fairly easy read with linear storyline. Read more
It was a fairly easy read with linear storyline. Read more
Published 1 month ago by BobSanchez
Are you depressed?
Very depressing book. Life is extremely hard. There is no hope. To fall into the life and action of this book, which to me is the only way to enjoy a book, feels much like... Read more
Published 1 month ago by bob
excellent book! A true classic!
I know this novel is a well-known classic, but I've never had the chance to read it until now. I'm only about a quarter into the book, but I'm hooked! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Joseph P. Zavalia II
A Russian Classic
Several years ago I made a concerted effort to upgrade the quality of my reading material. I wasn't exactly a comic book aficionado; however I had failed to read most of the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Steven M. Anthony
Heald's Reading of C&P is Phenomenal!
Anthony Heald's reading of "Crime and Punishment" is a marvel. Any reading of a book of this intricacy, with all of the voices, intonations, and length, is a tall task. Read more
Published 3 months ago by David Milliern
Dark night of a russian soul
Woah. This is a dark, heavy book. It makes Notes from Underground feel like a picnic on a sunny day. Read more
Published 3 months ago by jafrank
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
(learn more)
explosive lieutenant, commissariat clerk, twenty copecks Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Katerina Ivanovna, Pyotr Petrovitch, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, Avdotya Romanovna, Rodion Romanovitch, Porfiry Petrovitch, Marfa Petrovna, Sofya Semyonovna, Amalia Ivanovna, Ilya Petrovitch, Dmitri Prokofitch, Hay Market, Nikodim Fomitch, Good God, Andrey Semyonovitch, Alyona Ivanovna, Praskovya Pavlovna, Thank God, Madame Resslich, Amalia Ludwigovna, Luise Ivanovna, Semyon Zaharovitch, Arkady Ivanovitch, Lizaveta Ivanovna, Palais de Cristal Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
explosive lieutenant, commissariat clerk, twenty copecks Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Katerina Ivanovna, Pyotr Petrovitch, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, Avdotya Romanovna, Rodion Romanovitch, Porfiry Petrovitch, Marfa Petrovna, Sofya Semyonovna, Amalia Ivanovna, Ilya Petrovitch, Dmitri Prokofitch, Hay Market, Nikodim Fomitch, Good God, Andrey Semyonovitch, Alyona Ivanovna, Praskovya Pavlovna, Thank God, Madame Resslich, Amalia Ludwigovna, Luise Ivanovna, Semyon Zaharovitch, Arkady Ivanovitch, Lizaveta Ivanovna, Palais de Cristal Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
