An Overview---Raskolnikov reacts badly to the visit from his mother and sister.
-A drunken Razumikhin escorts R's mother and sister back to their lodgings, and goes off on a big rant that he later regrets. He is enamoured by the lovely Dunya.
-R's mother and sister show Razumikhin the letter from Luzhin, which badmouths' Raskolnikov for the way he gave the money to Marmeladov's family.
-They all return to Raskolnikov's 'coffin' and find him apparently recovered. Actually he is washed and shaved, and putting on the appearance of being recovered (probably to get everyone off his back.)
-Raskolnikov is shown the letter, and decides to meet with Luzhin, even though Luzhin told him not to. Troubles' a brewin'..
Benefactors--
I don't have a lot to say this week, but I one thing I found pretty interesting was a conversation between Raskolnikov and his sister, especially this bit--
'The whole trouble with you is that you seem to believe I'm sacrificing myself to someone for someone else's sake. That really is not the case. I'm simply getting married for my own sake, because things are not well for me; later on, of course, I shall be pleased if I can succeed in being of assistance to my family, but that is not the principal element in my determination...'
'She's lying!' he thought to himself, biting his fingernails in fury. 'The proud bitch. She doesn't want to admit that she has an ambition to be a benefactress... What arrogance! Oh, these base characters! Even when they love it's as if they hated... Oh, how I...hate them all!'
Pretty full on. It says a fair bit about their relationship, their understanding of each other, their similarities.. and it is a very clear example of R's ridiculous hypocrisy.
For Next Week-- Read Pt 3, iv-vi
15 comments:
Oh, I'm slack sorry and have dropped the ball ... Because of the wedding I then had to do some work at home on the weekend etc and didn't get to it. And I am going to Tasmania for a few days on Thursday morning - but I shall catch up sometime soon!
Nevermind.. I am sort of struggling too. If I take a break though, I know I'll never get back to it, so I'm trying to push through!
I hope you can catch up and come back into the fold soon though! Have a great time down in Tassie too.
Gotta love Razumikhin, funny guy that he is. Absolutely head over heels for Ras's sister.
Keep going peoples! Such a good book, so worth the time. There's so much good stuff to come - we haven't really met Sonya yet.
Oh, I am going to finish it for sure! - just so I can drop it into some high-faluting conversation one day if for no other reason ;) - and I actually do quite like it, even if some of the characters are driving me mad ...
so I can drop it into some high-faluting conversation one day if for no other reason
Which is why we read, of course.
of course!
Confession - I am finding C&P really frustrating, now that the drama of the murders are gone. But maybe it's because I feel absolutely nothing for these characters.
I do think though the Ras crush on Donia is funny:) And I find the mother and sister combo very interesting. I remember learning about the "hysterical woman" archetype when I did a film major, about how her presence in film noir signified disturbance and disruption of the natural order - years ago...this reminds me of that. Mum and daughter are great foils for each other.
Yeah, I like a good hysterical woman. My favourite is the mad wife in Jane Eyre. Good stuff.
I would say that I'm finding it hard to, and would have probably dropped off if it weren't for my weekly posts keeping me in check..
BUT i actually am really liking the book, and think it is very clever, and very interesting.
This weeks' reading has been very intreaging, as we find out more about motives.. but I'll talk about that on monday.
I do feel for several for the characters, even R himself. Yes, he is a monster, but so are lots of characters in books- that doesn't mean the books a write-off.
I feel a lot for Sonya, and suspect that she will play more of a starring role in chapters to come.
Yep, a hard slog, but really rewarding, I reckon.
Yes, he is a monster
Does this make him hard - or easy - to relate to?
both, I suppose. On one hand as 'fallen humans', monstrous behaviour isn't THAT foreign, even though we don't care to admit it.
On the other hand it's nice to have a protagonist you like and can feel for, to keep the reading experience pleasurable. This book sort of straddles both, for me.
I think I find this book like spinach - really unpleasant to read, but rewarding all the same because the ideas and depth behind it is substantial and intriguing.
It's not so much that Ras is a monster (I'm not even sure if I would call him a monster?) that I find unappealing, but rather his self indulgence. I agree though that you don't need to like a character to like a book...but I think you do need to feel a certain attraction to the world the author draws for you, whether it be because it's so beautiful, horrific or strange. And Dos's writing just doesn't do it for me.
But admittedly, C&P is far from the kinds of books I usually like to read. So this club is good,a s it forces me to deal with something challenging, rather than just read books that I enjoy.
sorry - just reread my comment and realised it sounds really negative! I am getting a lot out of the book, I guess it's just at a point where the narrative is dragging its feet a bit.
Yeah, I agree. It is not really the sort of thing I would usually read either.
Yeah, the indulgence is hard to take, but at least it is balanced a bit with the surrounding characters. I had to give up this other book called Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, because of that reason.. One horridly self-indulgent protagonist, and no one else to bounce off. Too much for me.
Out of interest, Soph, what sort of authors do you like to read?
no need to apologise:) say what you like!
thanks Ben, I will! I think I have a bad case of "friday-itis" at the moment:)
Authors I like include Isabel Allende, Lily Brett, Margaret Atwood (she would be my favourite), Zadie Smith, William Goldman, Jeffrey Eugenides, Ian McEwan, Helen Garner (another favourite of mine). I'm not sure what genre they're all in?
In terms of the classics - I do like Austen, Orwell, Woolf, and a few others (though very few). I'm not very widely read, in that I don't read books which would make any "top 100 books you must read" list or books that have any cultural/historical gravitas - I guess I'm a bit of a lightweight!
Hey Soph-- I haven't read any of those authors, so I can't comment. E has read a Margerat Atwood book, and she said it was good. I might give her a go.
Don't worry, I am definately light weight too1 I only really started reading over the last three or four years. I sort of aimed to start at the classics and work forward-- so I don't really know many current authors, except for say, Annie Proulx.
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