Crime and Punishment (Recorded Books Edition)

By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett - translator

Narrated by: George Guidall

Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is universally regarded as one of literature's finest achievements, as the great Russian novelist explores the inner workings of a troubled intellectual. Raskolnikov, a nihilistic young man in the midst of a spiritual crisis, makes the fateful decision to murder a cruel pawnbroker, justifying his actions by relying on science and reason, and creating his own morality system. Dehumanized yet sympathetic, exhausted yet hopeful, Raskolnikov represents the best and worst elements of modern intellectualism. The aftermath of his crime and Petrovich's murder investigation result in an utterly compelling, truly unforgettable cat-and-mouse game. This stunning dramatization of Dostoevsky's magnum opus brings the slums of St. Petersburg and the demons of Raskolnikov's tortured mind vividly to life.

Translation by Constance Garnett, originally published in 1917.Public Domain (P)1991 by Recorded Books, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The novels of Dostoevsky are seething whirlpools...which hiss and boil and suck us in. They are composed purely and wholly of the stuff of the soul." (Virginia Woolf)

the unconscious made conscious

Dostoevsky was said to be able to bring the human unconscious to life in his writings. I have read this masterwork 3 times in my life; it exhausted me each time! I felt somewhat better when I learned that Robert Louis Stevenson had a similar experience. This audiobook is read by a master narrator. One truly experiences Raskolnikov's inner mind, which is the book's essence. This is a must-have for any serious lover of literature.

Superlative narrator!!!

I read the print book years ago, and even saw a BBC tv production of this story (starring John Hurt) and decided to revisit Crime and Punishment as an audiobook. Audible offers multiple versions of it and I sampled each and every one before choosing this one. In every case I couldn't bear to listen to more than a few seconds because the narrators sounded like mindless reading machines...that is, until I sampled George Guidall's rendition. He breathed life into every word, and I knew I'd found a real gem of an audiobook. I just finished listening to all 25 hours of it (over a period of several weeks) and the story never reached me as deeply as this recording did. I can't recommend it enough. Now that I've learned about Mr. Guidall (I googled him too) I'll be looking to buy more of his spoken work. He's narrated a large number of books so I'm sure to find a few that interest me. Guidall could even make reading the dictionary sound riveting, he's that good! Thank you, George, for a most wonderful first introduction to your reading style. I look forward to inviting your voice back into my brain.

best narration ever

Mr. Guidall reads this complex story in a way that is better than I could have imagined possible. The fact is that the story is so complex, and with so many characters, only a world class thespian such as he could have pulled it off so successfully. THIS is the version to get. Very good translation, too.

I tried, I really really tried...

I figured it was time for me to get some culture and dig into a literary classic. I know this is a great story and perhaps things would have been different for me if I had read the book instead of listening to George Guidall. He's not a bad reader, but his cadence was w....a....y t....o....o s...l...o...w. I couldn't stay awake. Unfortunately, I deleted the book from my mp3 player and moved onto something a little faster-paced. Good on those who could tough it out. The recording drags too much for my type-a personality.

Flawless reading of a timeless classic.

I wasn't sure I could get through 24-plus hours of a Russian classic, but as it turned out, I was sorry when it ended. Crime and Punishment is a literary treat. Most of the action takes place in the minds of the characters but it is nonetheless a "page-turner."