3 Review(s)

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky provide a magnificent translation of Dostoevsky's extraordinary psychological thriller, newly updated for his bicentenniel, with the same suppleness, energy, and range of voices that won their translation of The Brothers Karamazov the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Prize.When Raskolnikov, a poor student living in tsarist St. Petersburg, commits a murder and robbery, he sets in motion a drama that is almost unparalleled in world literature for its nail-biting suspense, atmospheric vividness, and characterization and vision. The horrible narrative of an old woman's murder is transformed into the nineteenth century's most profound and engaging philosophical work by Dostoevsky's drama of sin, shame, and redemption.