Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a fascinating Russian classic if you want to dive in to that part of the world's history. There are loads of reviews about this book. But nothing can beat to actually reading it. Who has read it? What do you think about it?

I read this story last fall. It was excellent and has started me on a love affair with the Russian writers of the Golden Age (and now the Silver Age too.)

Crime and Punishment was an intense fascinating read. Raskolnikov, the main character, is both sympathetic and pathetic. I got a real kick out of his good friend Razumikhin. I saw a Masterpiece Theatre British production of this story starring John Hurt as Raskolnikov, which wasn't bad. The one thing I don't think any of the film versions I've see so far have caught is the ill/feverish element that Raskolnikov was suffering from just before and when he performed the murders. The book makes it clear.

Currently, I am just past the halfway point of Tolstoy's War and Peace and just finished Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, as well as his A House of Gentlefolk. I have started on another Dostoyevsky story "The Eternal Husband." At first I was a little put off by the long winded character set up--but then--WHAM--it got me hooked! I will report on this one later.

I must say these Russian writers are amazing for their depth of understanding the human condition. Quite frankly it makes someone like Hemingway superficial by comparison.