Crime and Punishment: Dostoevsky

[fluffybunny]

Can anyone here, who has read Crime and Punishment: Dostoevsky, tell me how much explicit violence there is in there? Is it only in the beginning, and if I am reading it aloud, can the details be edited out? I have a very sensitive 16yo. Thanks

[Laura Corin]

I don't remember, but I wouldn't recommend the whole book for a very sensitive 16yo.  It's intensely dark throughout, as I recall.

[El...]

It's a psychological thriller.  The actual crime scene is short, relative to the book, but moderately graphic.

 

Also, it is brilliant.  The tension builds throughout the book and resolves rather quickly at the end.  Perhaps you could read the first chapter yourself to get an idea of it? 

I will let my kid read it at 16, but she's not timid. 

[El...]

Oh, I forgot to say, the crime scene is toward the middle of the book, not at the beginning. 

 

Also, I just realized this is on the high school board.... I just read the book for myself recently and got all excited when I saw the thread title.  It was a great book.  Carry on.  :)

[Haiku]

Crime and Punishment is in my top five favorite books ever (my favorite Dostoevsky book is The Adolescent--in fact, had my daughter been a son, we'd have named him after the main character). The violence is not terribly graphic, but it is an axe murder. The book is rather unsettling due to the continuous build-up of tension.

 

Personally, I can't see editing the murder. It is the murder and how it was committed that is crucial to Raskolnikov's state of mind. Imo, if you feel you need to edit the book, it would be better to read something else.

 

If your goal is to read a Dostoevsky novel, you could try The Adolescent. It's much less intense.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Haiku

[fluffybunny]

Thanks everyone. I will look into The Adolescent.