The book revolves around the life of a young man in Saint Petersburg Russia in the 1860s named Rodya Raskolnikov. He is studying law in the city and is poor. His mother and sister live in a small village and send him money, but it wasn't enough and he ended his studies early. Raskolnikov starts to pawn his possessions to get money, the pawnbroker is old, cruel, and unforgettable for Raskolnikov, who is rich. He becomes upset with her, how could someone like her have so much money? Someone who cheats on people is horrible to her step-sister, and hogs all her money, someone like that didn't deserve it. He came to the conclusion that he did instead. He would be a lawyer and help people, the money was going to a better cause, so it shouldn't matter that he should take it. This was his mindset, he came to the conclusion that he would murder her and take her money. The book revolves around his mental state and how he grapples with the punishment of his crime. There is no conclusive evidence against him, but his real punisher was himself.
The book deals with themes of guilt and redemption. It was regarded as one of the best writing pieces ever made, showing Raskolnikov’s slow descent into madness. I personally loved the book, although the actual crime of murder happens in the first act, the book still has so much suspense around Raskolnikov and his murder with the way we see the people around him and how he reacts to different situations. The reason I gave this book only 4 stars is that although it is good, there are parts where it is excessively morning and there are just pages and pages of inner monologue that can get repetitive. As well as the way the writing is worded makes some parts wordy and hard to understand, especially since it was translated from Russian.