"oh, how aptly this book is named..."
"It was a crime and a lot of punishment to have to had read this 'classic.'"
"It's a punishment in and of itself."
"I considered it crime and punishment to have to read it!"
"My crime was ego, this book was my punishment."
"A more appropriate title for this book would have been just Punishment without the crime."
"the crime happens in the first 30 pages and the rest of the book is sheer punishment."
"Only one crime and more of a punishment for me than him."
"It definitely was a punishment. And I'm not sure what exactly my crime was."
"it felt like I was actually being punished for his crime"
"It was punishment enough getting through it."
"you realy don't know after reading the novel the diffrence between the crime and who realy deserve the punishmint ;)"
"The real punishment was reading it."
"Buying it was my Crime, Reading it was my Punishment"
"I felt like my crime was buying the book and my punishment was reading it."
"The Crime was him writing the book, and the Punishment was my reading it."
"It is a crime that I was punished by this wordy tripe!"
"C&P sucks. Face it."
Monday, February 7, 2011
Fyodor Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment
"I stopped reading somewhere in the third chapter. If you have a need for more child prostitution, alcoholism, theft, and depression, then this book is probably for you. If you get all the way to the end, you can nod knowingly at the other pretentious louts who agree (but can't say why) Dostoevsky was a genius.
If you would rather dwell on the blessings of freedom than the diseases which engendered by socialism, read something else."
"The blurb describes the book as 'a preternaturally acute investigation of the forces that impel a man toward sin, suffering and grace.' Uh huh. You can tell I'm really impressed can't you?"
"Even as a play, it would still fail to meet my criteria for literature."
"Was this book brilliant? Yes. Was it well written? Yes. Was it geniously structured? Yes. Was the Psychology incredible? Yes. Does that make me hate it any less? No."
"In C&P, the main character wanders around, feeling awful about what he's done, but not awful enough to actually take responsibility for it or do anything about it."
"I'm 17, Can't do the normal review, but I have thoughts on this trash....
A Kid's Review
This is so boring. This is down right trash. Don't waste your time with this garbage."
"This book is depressing and intentionally boring and exploits a religious theme to curry favor over books by much better Russian authors who readers are denied the pleasure of reading as a result."
"Too dark for me. Is it my imagination or is everyone 'mad'?"
"I am sure it's blasphemy to give this only 1 star, but that's just who you're dealing with. You should read my movie reviews; you'd be equally offended. Frankly, I can't remember much about this book except for my strong and immediate dislike of it. Whiny narrator who I cared not a lick about. Is this missing the point? I don't really give a shit about that either. Down with the patriarchy!"
"This book sucks. People were fucking stupid 1,000 years ago."
"The character I most hated was the prostitute with the 'heart of gold' who was deeply religious (a contradiction, if you think about it)"
"I wasn't really impressed with the writing style either when Dostoevsky used dialogue to move the story instead of describing the happenings."
"The only people who should read this book are people who belong to so called ' intelectual' parties, or people who have commited terrible crimes - it can replace death as ' The Capital Punnishment' ."
"I also resent the role of women in the book: angel or whore and no in between."
"There is no doubt that 'Crime and Punishment' would have been one of the greatest novels of the century had not Dostoevsky leaned towards the more acceptable sense of morality related to the weak tenets of Chrisitanity. In doing so, he made Rasknolikov a caricature of himself, lethargic and yet redeemable by accepting Christ's suffering. It was more appropriate to adapt Nietzsche's figure of 'the noble superman' but Dostoevsky, at the time of his writing, was a destroyed soul, drinking and plagued by debts, a gambling and morphine addiction and on top of that, he was a converted Christian, which is to say he resembled a 'spineless worm'.
There is a powerful beginning in which the bold character Rasknolikov conceptualizes the murder of an old aged hag who serves no purpose to society but beyond that, Dostoevsky tortures us with the conscience of an obstinate man who is shattered by an insignificant crime. In all effect, Dostoevsky became an apologist not only for bourgeois values and the Czar with his corrupt regime, but for Orthodox Christianity, which not only supported the exploitation of the Russian population but welcomed it. The end of the novel, which portrays a once proud, noble, and intellectually superior young man weeping before a prostitute and the image of the bible, brings about the demise of Dostoevsky's credibility."
If you would rather dwell on the blessings of freedom than the diseases which engendered by socialism, read something else."
"The blurb describes the book as 'a preternaturally acute investigation of the forces that impel a man toward sin, suffering and grace.' Uh huh. You can tell I'm really impressed can't you?"
"Even as a play, it would still fail to meet my criteria for literature."
"Was this book brilliant? Yes. Was it well written? Yes. Was it geniously structured? Yes. Was the Psychology incredible? Yes. Does that make me hate it any less? No."
"In C&P, the main character wanders around, feeling awful about what he's done, but not awful enough to actually take responsibility for it or do anything about it."
"I'm 17, Can't do the normal review, but I have thoughts on this trash....
A Kid's Review
This is so boring. This is down right trash. Don't waste your time with this garbage."
"This book is depressing and intentionally boring and exploits a religious theme to curry favor over books by much better Russian authors who readers are denied the pleasure of reading as a result."
"Too dark for me. Is it my imagination or is everyone 'mad'?"
"I am sure it's blasphemy to give this only 1 star, but that's just who you're dealing with. You should read my movie reviews; you'd be equally offended. Frankly, I can't remember much about this book except for my strong and immediate dislike of it. Whiny narrator who I cared not a lick about. Is this missing the point? I don't really give a shit about that either. Down with the patriarchy!"
"This book sucks. People were fucking stupid 1,000 years ago."
"The character I most hated was the prostitute with the 'heart of gold' who was deeply religious (a contradiction, if you think about it)"
"I wasn't really impressed with the writing style either when Dostoevsky used dialogue to move the story instead of describing the happenings."
"The only people who should read this book are people who belong to so called ' intelectual' parties, or people who have commited terrible crimes - it can replace death as ' The Capital Punnishment' ."
"I also resent the role of women in the book: angel or whore and no in between."
"There is no doubt that 'Crime and Punishment' would have been one of the greatest novels of the century had not Dostoevsky leaned towards the more acceptable sense of morality related to the weak tenets of Chrisitanity. In doing so, he made Rasknolikov a caricature of himself, lethargic and yet redeemable by accepting Christ's suffering. It was more appropriate to adapt Nietzsche's figure of 'the noble superman' but Dostoevsky, at the time of his writing, was a destroyed soul, drinking and plagued by debts, a gambling and morphine addiction and on top of that, he was a converted Christian, which is to say he resembled a 'spineless worm'.
There is a powerful beginning in which the bold character Rasknolikov conceptualizes the murder of an old aged hag who serves no purpose to society but beyond that, Dostoevsky tortures us with the conscience of an obstinate man who is shattered by an insignificant crime. In all effect, Dostoevsky became an apologist not only for bourgeois values and the Czar with his corrupt regime, but for Orthodox Christianity, which not only supported the exploitation of the Russian population but welcomed it. The end of the novel, which portrays a once proud, noble, and intellectually superior young man weeping before a prostitute and the image of the bible, brings about the demise of Dostoevsky's credibility."
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Milton - Paradise Lost
"Unfortunately, the book is a chore and a bore. The whole thing is written in blank verse, which puts a stranglehold on composition. Shakespeare was smarter: he only used meter when he thought it made things better, but Milton has to shove words around and play games counting syllables even when it hurts readability. Frankly I might have been able to slog through this is I'd been able to reading it in translation; say in French or German where some later writer had moderated Milton's poetic compulsion.
But that isn't the only flaw. Milton wants to cram more erudition into this absurdly long poem than it really needs. So he tosses in references to stuff that have nothing to do with the story. Reading along, and suddenly there's an unknown word: some place Satan flew over, or maybe an animal who's fur is a color that makes a nice comparison to the color of an angel's robe. But you've got to check, in case that unknown word actually is important. The bottom of each page is full of footnotes explaining what these words mean, and almost all of them are worse then useless, since they distract from the flow of the text (which, recall, is already burdened by that meter)."
"I am fairly certain that we can blame this author for all gender inequalities in the chrisitan faith"
"This book is responsible for most of the incorrect assumptions Christianity has held for centuries concerning male superiority"
"Thanks to this wonderful book...women around the world are viewed as less than men. Thank you so much John Milton, for your negative portrayal of Eve."
THANK YOU LADIES. MIGHT I SUGGEST THAT YOU REACQUAINT YOURSELVES WITH LITERALLY EVERYTHING THAT HAS OCCURRED IN THE WESTERN WORLD SINCE THE INVENTION OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE
"Up in my top 10 worst/most boring books ever. Prose makes no sense and to me it's the opposite of an epic. You compare this load of crap to Homer's verse and there really is no comparison. This is no epic. It's insipid and boring with literally zero plot."
"Thought this was a novel."
"I dislike having to read a book in which I have to analyze every word just so I can gain a better understanding of what the author wants us to understand."
"I do love summarizing/paraphrasing sections for other people, though. I always make Jesus sound like a stoned hippie."
"Okay, we all know by now that John Milton was blind. WE KNOW!"
"First, let me state that I am not a fan of poetry. I find the way it obscures meaning and ebroiders every last thought in metaphor and simile to be frustrating and distracting... Although stated at the start of the book that rhyme was deliberately avoided, I found the absence of any rhyme reduced the poetic impact for me."
But that isn't the only flaw. Milton wants to cram more erudition into this absurdly long poem than it really needs. So he tosses in references to stuff that have nothing to do with the story. Reading along, and suddenly there's an unknown word: some place Satan flew over, or maybe an animal who's fur is a color that makes a nice comparison to the color of an angel's robe. But you've got to check, in case that unknown word actually is important. The bottom of each page is full of footnotes explaining what these words mean, and almost all of them are worse then useless, since they distract from the flow of the text (which, recall, is already burdened by that meter)."
"I am fairly certain that we can blame this author for all gender inequalities in the chrisitan faith"
"This book is responsible for most of the incorrect assumptions Christianity has held for centuries concerning male superiority"
"Thanks to this wonderful book...women around the world are viewed as less than men. Thank you so much John Milton, for your negative portrayal of Eve."
THANK YOU LADIES. MIGHT I SUGGEST THAT YOU REACQUAINT YOURSELVES WITH LITERALLY EVERYTHING THAT HAS OCCURRED IN THE WESTERN WORLD SINCE THE INVENTION OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE
"Up in my top 10 worst/most boring books ever. Prose makes no sense and to me it's the opposite of an epic. You compare this load of crap to Homer's verse and there really is no comparison. This is no epic. It's insipid and boring with literally zero plot."
"Thought this was a novel."
"I dislike having to read a book in which I have to analyze every word just so I can gain a better understanding of what the author wants us to understand."
"I do love summarizing/paraphrasing sections for other people, though. I always make Jesus sound like a stoned hippie."
"Okay, we all know by now that John Milton was blind. WE KNOW!"
"First, let me state that I am not a fan of poetry. I find the way it obscures meaning and ebroiders every last thought in metaphor and simile to be frustrating and distracting... Although stated at the start of the book that rhyme was deliberately avoided, I found the absence of any rhyme reduced the poetic impact for me."
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