Finished: Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky). Thought-provoking book! A poverty-stricken, ex-university student in St. Petersburg, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, is the "protagonist". I put that in quotes because I've always thought the protagonist is to be the good person, or hero, or person to root for in the story. If the protagonist is just the main character, then fine. If Rodion Romanovich is supposed to be inherently good, then I have a problem calling him the protagonist. Anyway....Rodion Romanovich is destitute. He must quit the university because he can no longer pay for it. Instead of figuring out a way or taking a job, he sulks in his one-room, dusty, drafty rental. Rodion Romanovich has a mother and sister in the country who worship him, but Rodion Romanovich is all about himself.

Side note: I love reading the Russian books because of their names! Only those people most intimate with Rodion Romanovich call him Rodion. All other acquaintances call him by his first and middle name. Or, they may just call him Raskolnikov. In the Russian naming system, the middle name is always the father's first name with a "ovich" at the end for the guys and a "ovna" attached for the girls. So...Rodion's sister's name is Avdotia Romanovna Raskolnikov. Of course....no one calls her Avdotia. The nickname for Avdotia is Dunia. It gets very confusing!!! Anyway, I love all the names. :-) I can't imagine going through life being called Catherine of David by almost everyone but my family.

So, back to the story. Rodion Romanovich decides that he will kill a nasty, cheating woman who is the local pawnbroker, Aliona Ivanovna, and steal the money she has stashed in her room. She sorely takes advantage of all the struggling people who come to her for money. Rodion Romanovich feels that ridding the world of her would not only rid the world of a horrible influence, but at the same time provide him with the money he needs to get back on his feet and become the great person he is meant to be. However, Rodion Romanovich's thoughts go much deeper than these basic "needs". Rodion Romanovich has an underlying conviction in his soul that there are some people in the world who are geniuses, who are destined for greatness, and who are immune from the laws of the world, i.e., there are people who should be allowed to commit crimes such as murder because their advancement in the world by doing so makes the world a greater place. He justifies these thoughts by referencing "great" people like Napoleon quite a bit. He thinks that surely Napoleon sacrificed many innocent people along his way to greatness, so there must be other geniuses who just need the little push to get started, like himself.

So...Rodion Romanovich kills the pawnbroker and starts on his path to greatness. His path, however, stops in its tracks the instant Rodion Romanovich commits the crime. He panics and is sickened (physically and emotionally) by what he has done. He is also forced to kill Aliona Ivanovna's kind sister who comes upon the scene at the wrong time. Rodion Romanovich takes what little money he can find, but then he is so disgusted that he goes and buries the money and never uses a single bit of it, despite his poverty. At this point the reader discovers that Rodion Romanovich is less disgusted by his actual crime than by his own reaction to the crime. He realizes that if he is so panicked, disgusted, and physically ill, that he must not be one of those geniuses destined for greatness. If he was, he would have been ruthless, cold and calculating...and he would have definitely used the money and power from the killing to fuel himself. Rodion Romanovich spends most of the book vacillating between acting nervously guilty right to the face of the murder detective and haughtily defiant trying to thrown them off his trail. The detective is on to him, and practically tortures him mentally by NOT flat out accusing him until toward the end of the book.

There are some wonderful other characters in the book, by the way. I love Rodion Romanovich's best (really only) friend, who stands by him no matter what, Dmitri Prokofich Razumikhin. He's a true person and a good character. I also love Rodion Romanovich's sister, Dunia. And, of course, Rodion Romanovich falls in love (well, as much as he's capable of feeling something for another person) with Sofia Semionovna Marmeladov, nickname Sonia. (Why is the nickname for Sofia, Sonia???)

The book is very long and complicated, with many other characters....very rich in story! And, it really expounds on the psychological idea behind Rodion Romanovich's theory of great people having the right to commit crimes. Of course, the punishment aspect does come in as Rodion Romanovich is tormented with guilt throughout the entire book until he finally turns himself in.

This is my third Dostoevsky book and I can definitely see why he's considered one of the greatest writers! I'm quite certain, since The Brothers Karamazov was one of my dad's favorite books, that he must have also read Crime and Punishment.