Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky REVIEW & the Ws

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have read some amazing classics, this year, so I had no reason to think that Crime and Punishment wouldn’t be another winner. Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate what a drag it would be. Hours and hours of my life dedicated to exploring the mind of an insane person. If only Dostoyevsky could have done it in 250 pages, it might have been tolerable. Sometimes it was oddly compelling, but, mostly, I just wanted the punishment to end. (view spoiler)[ As far as the plot goes, I never figured why Raskolnikov committed the murders. In the beginning, I assumed that it was about money, but, as the book went on, it was obviously that he didn’t care about the money. I suppose that he gave an explanation in his article, but the arguments, in the article, didn’t fit together with the circumstances of Raskolnikov life. His attempts to explain it to Sonya sounded ridiculous, except for the fact that he admitted that he was a little bad and a little crazy. In the end, the murders were senseless. I have to assume that that was the point, but it didn't sit well with me. (hide spoiler)]

Sometimes if I don’t like a book, it is really that I just don’t understand the book. For a while, I read a chapter analysis after each chapter. I hoped that thoroughly understanding the book would help me appreciate it more. I gave that up by part three (about ½ through). The chapter analyses weren’t adding much to comprehension of the book, and it was prolonging the experience.

I’m giving Crime and Punishment two stars instead of one, because Dostoyevsky, in some respects, is an excellent writer. I, truly, felt that I was inside the mind of a mad man.

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The Ws

WHEN I Discovered This Classic

I must have been in high school.  I don’t quite remember.

WHY I Chose to Read It

It was chosen as a group read for a group that I am in on Goodreads.

WHAT Makes It A Classic

Crime and Punishment examines universal themes:  primarily societal alienation and the psychology of the criminal mind.  Crazy is crazy whether it’s the 19^th century of 2015.  Anyone interested in crazy will, probably, like this book.

WHAT I Thought of This Classic

I think that books like this are the reasons people hesitate to read classics.  In my opinion, it was long and boring.  I didn’t like the characters, so I didn’t care much what happened to them.

WILL It Stay A Classic

Since it was written in the early 19^th century and it is still going strong, I think that there is a good bet that it will continue its domination of any list of Russian classics.

WHO I’d Recommend It To

A psychology student

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe REVIEW

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My feelings about this book are mixed. On one hand, I found it interesting and challenging. I utilized many resources, while reading this book, to help me better understand the background information and literary allegories. One valuable resource was a study guide prepared by Heather DuBois Bourenane from the University Wisconsin‐Madison. I became engrossed in the plot, and I appreciated the literary devices used to examine various themes. On an academic level, I was very impressed with the book.

On the other hand, if I consider Things Fall Apart outside of any historical significance, political importance or literary appreciation, I was underwhelmed. The main character was, too, vilified in the first chapters. I didn’t care much what happened to him, nor did I feel empathy for any of the other characters. I didn’t feel anything while reading the book. Reading a novel shouldn’t be an academic pursuit but one of the heart.

That leaves me in a quandary as to what rating to give Things Fall Apart. I have settled on 4 stars. Although I didn't find the novel emotionally riveting, Achebe seamlessly incorporated African storytelling with a western style of writing, and he tackled difficult themes in a way that was stimulating and thought provoking.

Most of the answers to the Ws are found in my previous post about this book.

Things Fall Apart – 1987 Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation mini‐series.

Find scene 1 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7FS95IcRNU

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The Marrow of Tradition by Charles W. Chesnutt Review

The Marrow of Tradition by Charles W. Chesnutt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many critics consider Charles Chesnut to be the most influential African American fiction writer during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His realist fiction work The Marrow of Tradition based on a historical account of race riots that took place in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898 has been on my kindle for a while. I had been hesitant to take it on, because I thought such a subject matter would be depressing, but the classics challenge gave me the proper motivation to stop procrastinating and get reading. Chestnut did not write the novel for mere entertainment. He had two important purposes. The first was to refute misinformation about the riot perpetuated by inaccurate news reports and a series of white supremacist novels. The second was to stir a sense of outrage over lynchings and violence upon blacks.

I appreciate what Chestnut did in writing this book. The intertwined characters and plots made for an interesting story. Given the backdrop of good storytelling, Chestnut tackled a variety of difficult subjects and offered his audience alternative perspectives. He successfully documented the riots and gave the reader a context to understand them. I think that The Marrow of Tradition still has a lot to offer the modern reader as for as understanding the origins of nature of race relations, especially in the south. I’m glad I read it, but for my own taste the book was sometimes arduous.

Given the gravity of the subject matter, the nobility of purpose, and the many excellent technical aspects of the book, it is difficult for me to give this book a review that is less than glorious. However, if truth be told, I did not enjoy the book as much as expected. It had a slow start, but that wasn’t the primary problem for me. So much of the book was written from the racist perspective, that I was bored much of the time. Personally, I found the racist voice wearing, and the expectation of it dampened my interest in the book.

Though I can only give this book 3 1/2 stars based on my own enjoyment, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

The W's are answered within the body of this post.



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