រ៉ូ | ro > Recent Status Updates

81 pages in, and this feels like a 3 star read for me so far. I do find the psychological exploration of the emotion of pity fascinating and the writing beautiful in certain parts, but the storytelling, overall, is far too descriptive for my liking. Zweig, I feel, has a tendency to over-explain or reiterate the meaning of something repetitively through different similes and allegories, which I find tiring.

“I realized that there was no point in denying oneself a pleasure because it was denied another, in refusing to allow oneself to be happy because someone else was unhappy.

By purposely dimming his light so as not to upset the crippled Edith, Anton reveals how pity only leads to unnecessary shame and burden. Across cultures, pride is frowned upon and yet the very lack of pride is what breeds shame and, thus, pity. Rather than letting the sense of “undeserved privilege” dictate your life, one may be better off practising gratitude and embracing said privilege.

“Make the blood of the bad man blush not gush” - On punishing cowardice

The protagonist’s reaction is understandable. Equating his social blip with a crime, is a common reaction that all social anxiety sufferers (which is to say, all of us) know too well.

However, I can’t help but cringe. Perhaps I would have found it more tolerable in third person narration. First person narration, I’ve come to find more and more recently, to be overbearingly melodramatic.

The dinner & conversation between Luzhin, Dunya, Pulkheria, Raskolnikov and Razhumikin - arguing who’s more aggrieved by whom.

Luzhin and his fragile pride and expectations; his offense at being compared to Raskolnikov and his audacious demand to be prized above one’s brother.

I’m loving all the shots being fired. 🍿

But don’t think I’ll continue.

How fascinating is Raskolnikov’s classification of people: "ordinary vs. extraordinary."
Although clearly an attempt to justify crime on his part—this idea that certain people are above the law and have the "right to commit crime"—he cleverly disguises it behind the notion that sometimes crime is necessary for progress.

This part where raskolnikov meets Porfiry for the first time and and a debate about the “environment” being the sole cause of crime was being discussed; is razumikhin disagreeing with the idea and instead believing in an innate human morality > the environment? Is this the debate of nature vs nurture where the “environment” is essentially the “nurturer”. Is this a discussion of free will?

“To help, one must first have the right to help” - Is Raskolnikov agreeing with Luzhin belief in Rational Egoism when he tells his mother about his giving away all his money to Marmeladov’s widow; despite reprimanding Luzhin for this beliefs during their initial encounter in the prior chapter?

What is all this talk about the landlady being jealous of Dunya and Razumikhin himself? Isn’t the landlady old. How rather unhinged.

The Native Soil Philosophy (mentioned in the footnote) is interesting. Is that why Razumikhin so eager, so helpful and almost so selfless towards Raskolnikov? The cynicism in me finds that hard to comprehend. The way Razumikhin talks and talks, is this the effect of his growing infatuation with Donya?

Raskolnikov’s nerves are making me so anxious. And did they just leave crime scenes open for anyone to drop by and wander around like that, back in the day?