Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a 493-page hardcover published by Random House, New York, 1965.  The dust jacket is intact but in poor condition, with numerous open clips and tears, and dryness along the spine.  The book itself is in very good condition, with crisp clean pages and tight binding.  There is some bumping to the top and bottom spine due to age and handling, but otherwise is in good condition.

Book Summary

This is one of the supremely great novels of the world.  But this supremely great novel is sheer melodrama--melodrama seemingly of the kind we have been taught to smile at.

We are told that the form of Crime and Punishment is that of the detective story.  Its admirers claim it to be the greatest detective story ever written.  It probably is.  But what are we to say of a detective story in which the criminal is known virtually from the first page?

So:  Crime and Punishment is a detective story--unlike any ever written.  So many-sided is the fascination of this book, it can make its appeal to readers who may be baffled by its psychology.  It can be read as a vision, it can be read as a thriller, it can be read on several levels in between these two.