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Crime and Punishment

Book Resume

for Crime and Punishment by Fyodor M. Dostoevsky

Professional book information and credentials for Crime and Punishment.

  • Grade Levels:*
  • Grades 9-12
  • Lexile Level:
  • 850L
  • Genre:
  • Historical Fiction
  • Year Published:
  • 1866

The following 8 subject headings were determined by the U.S. Library of Congress and the Book Industry Study Group (BISAC) to reveal themes from the content of this book (Crime and Punishment).

The following unabridged reviews are made available under license from their respective rights holders and publishers. Reviews may be used for educational purposes consistent with the fair use doctrine in your jurisdiction, and may not be reproduced or repurposed without permission from the rights holders.

Note: This section may include reviews for related titles (e.g., same author, series, or related edition).

From Kirkus

September 15, 2017
" 'I don't need any...translations, ' muttered Raskolnikov." Well, of course he does, hence this new translation of an old standby of Russian-lit survey courses.Driven to desperation, a morally sketchy young man kills and kills again. He gets away with it--at least for a while, until a psychologically astute cop lays a subtle trap. Throw in a woman friend who hints from the sidelines that he might just feel better confessing, and you have--well, maybe not Hercule Poirot or Kurt Wallender, but at least pretty familiar ground for an episode of a PBS series or Criminal Minds. The bare bones of that story, of course, are those of Crime and Punishment, published in 1866, when Dostoyevsky was well on the road from young democrat to middle-aged reactionary: thus the importance of confession, nursed along by the naughty lady of the night with the heart of gold, and thus Dostoyevsky's digs at liberal-inclined intellectuals ("That's what they're like these writers, literary men, students, loudmouths...Damn them!") and at those who would point to crimes great and small and say that society made them do it. So Rodion Raskolnikov, who does a nasty pawnbroker, "a small, dried-up miserable old woman, about sixty years old, with piercing, malicious little eyes, a small sharp nose, and her bare head," in with an ax, then takes it to her sister for good measure. It's to translator Katz's credit that he gives the murder a satisfyingly grotty edge, with blood spurting and eyes popping and the like. Much of the book reads smoothly, though too often with that veneer of translator-ese that seems to overlie Russian texts more than any other; Katz's version sometimes seems to slip into Constance Garnett-like fustiness, as when, for instance, Raskolnikov calls Svidrigaylov "a crude villain...voluptuous debaucher and scoundrel." It's not quite idiomatic--for that there's Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's version--but the translation moves easily and legibly enough through Raskolnikov's nasty deeds, game of cat and mouse, and visionary redemption.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Publisher's Weekly

December 20, 2010
Dostoyevski's classic novel of murder and guilt, featuring the conflicted killer Raskolnikov and his intellectually nimble antagonist Porfiry Petrovich, is read by the well-regarded Dick Hill. The combination should make for a must-listen audiobook, but the results are disappointingly plodding. Hill overemotes much of Dostoyevski's emotionally charged dialogue, rendering a delicate series of encounters as an array of outbursts and breakdowns. Listeners might find themselves wishing that Hill would restrain himself from the pitfalls of facile emotion in favor of a straight delivery of the inherent drama and descriptive splendor of the novel In a welcome technological twist, however, Tantor includes an e-book with this audiobook (as it does with most of its classic audiobooks), giving readers multiple options for how they might prefer to encounter Dostoyevski.

From Publisher's Weekly

March 1, 1993
An acclaimed new translation of the classic Russian novel.

From AudioFile Magazine

Anthony Heald shows remarkable versatility in this production of Dostoevsky's 1866 classic. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT is a story in which little actually happens. The murders that constitute the titular crime occur early, and there is no mystery about who is responsible. The novel is primarily one of psychological, philosophical, and ethical questions pondered through the dialogue of its intriguing characters. Heald not only ascribes a unique voice to each of the cast, but he delivers the dialogue as a stage actor would, with exaggerated emotion and even with laughter, coughing, stammering, and other adornments indicated in the text. Although parts of this long recording inevitably drag, Heald's pacing and rich characterizations keep the story moving. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Crime and Punishment was selected by educational and library professionals to be included on the following state/provincial reading lists.

Canada Lists (1)

Alberta

  • ELA Authorized Novel and Nonfiction Reading List, 30-1

United States Lists (3)

Florida

New York

South Carolina

  • Battle of the Books, Independent Schools, High School List, 2023-2024

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This Book Resume for Crime and Punishment is compiled from TeachingBooks, a library of professional resources about children's and young adult books. This page may be shared for educational purposes and must include copyright information. Reviews are made available under license from their respective rights holders and publishers.

*Grade levels are determined by certified librarians utilizing editorial reviews and additional materials. Relevant age ranges vary depending on the learner, the setting, and the intended purpose of a book.

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