A chilling exploration of guilt and morality, Crime and Punishment follows Raskolnikov, a desperate student who commits murder believing it justified. Tormented by conscience and fear, he faces the psychological toll of his actions in a harsh St. Petersburg world. Dostoevsky’s novel delves into the human soul, examining punishment, redemption, and the fragile balance between sin and salvation.
Date: 1866 (Russia)
Length: ~736 pages (varies by edition)
Cultural impact: ~28.150.000 copies (estimates)
Genre: Fiction, Mystery & Thriller
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"Dostoevsky is the only psychologist from whom I had anything to learn" — Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
"In Dostoevsky there were things believable and not to be believed, but some so true they changed you as you read them" — Ernest Hemingway, Nobel Prize-winning American novelist
"Dostoevsky is my blood relative" — Franz Kafka, influential Czech-German writer
"The novels of Dostoevsky are seething whirlpools… gyrating sandstorms" — Virginia Woolf, pioneering modernist novelist
"All of Dostoevsky’s characters question themselves… that is the modern problem" — Albert Camus, Nobel Prize-winning philosopher and author
1 review
Contrary to conventional wisdom, the title tells you the ending in advance.
So, if you already know how it ends, where is the appeal? In the author, of course. It is Dostoevsky’s writing and storytelling that make everything work.
At its core, the novel explores morality, examining the psychological and moral journey of a man who commits murder and attempts to get away with it.
The best: The complexity. The simplicity.
Reading: 10 Art: 10 Wisdom: 9 Author: 10 Total: 10 Read count: 1 / October 16, 2026
Reading: 10
Art: 10
Wisdom: 9
Author: 10
Total: 10
Read count: 1 / October 16, 2026*As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
