Crime and Punishment

December 20, 2010
Dostoyevski's classic novel of murder and guilt, featuring the conflicted killer Raskolnikov and his intellectually nimble antagonist Porfiry Petrovich, is read by the well-regarded Dick Hill. The combination should make for a must-listen audiobook, but the results are disappointingly plodding. Hill overemotes much of Dostoyevski's emotionally charged dialogue, rendering a delicate series of encounters as an array of outbursts and breakdowns. Listeners might find themselves wishing that Hill would restrain himself from the pitfalls of facile emotion in favor of a straight delivery of the inherent drama and descriptive splendor of the novel In a welcome technological twist, however, Tantor includes an e-book with this audiobook (as it does with most of its classic audiobooks), giving readers multiple options for how they might prefer to encounter Dostoyevski.

Many people consider this title to be the greatest novel ever written. This full-cast dramatization by BBC Radio superbly captures the intensity that is so crucial to the story of Rodion Raskolnikov and the psychological torment he endures following his murder of a money lender and her sister. The adaptation works well on audio because the characters and their voices are clear and well defined. In addition, the performance is true to the novel and easy to follow. While George Guidall's unabridged reading remains the gold standard, listeners who prefer shorter production will find this recording is a solid substitute. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine