Crime and Punishment

By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett - translator

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

In this intense detective thriller instilled with philosophical, religious, and social commentary, Dostoevsky studies the psychological impact upon a desperate and impoverished student when he murders a despicable pawnbroker, transgressing moral law to ultimately "benefit humanity".

©1866 Public Domain (P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

great reading

This is a dark, intense novel. The reader does an excellent job making it seem alive and interesting. I never read the book so I can't compare the reading to the actual writing by Dostoevky. It is quite lengthy. I kept wondering what else could happen to make the story so long. I was not disappointed.

Great story and outstanding narrator, but

There is no question that Dostoevsky is a great writer. I love it when his characters say outrageous things (more fun than Tolstoy's stories, I think). But the motivation of the murder was not strong enough for me. I liked Brothers Karamazov better.

The narrator was outstanding. I am giving 4 stars to the narrator rather than 5 only because his voice's dynamic range is so wide (from whispering to yelling) that it was not suitable for listening during my commute, which consists of subway riding and walking through busy streets, even with a good pair of earphones. The narrator's voice got lost in the surrounding noise when he was whispering, but his yelling (during the characters' arguments) got too loud when I was walking through less noisy areas so that I had to be constantly re-adjusting the sound level. After listening to more than a hundred audiobooks, this is the first time I faced this technical problem, not because the narrator was not good but because he was too good! So, if you are a commuter like me, be warned.

I’ve never tired of this powerful read, this audible narration is magnificent!

Oh my what an incredible read. An incredible listen as well. I hadn’t revisited this legendary tale since my high school days, and I can say so many years older, I only now really appreciate how truly deep and powerful this story is. In epilogue II when he has his dream I couldn’t believe that the dream was about a world with a plague that started in China, and it over took the world and men fought and couldn’t believe the power that they had and losing control over that power… truly incredible that Dostoevsky wrote this and it was 1866. How eerily insightful this brilliant man was. The narration is beyond words, I almost lost myself in the story being caught up in my imagination of the characters, his unique and highly animated and quite appropriate characterization is priceless.

Anthony Heald was wonderful

Anthony brought this classic to life with his narrative and verbal development of so many characters. His narration is to be applauded. I read this novel 40 years ago and relished being exposed again to the wealth and complexity of language. A triumph for me from beginning to end. .

Incredible book incredible narrator.

Somehow didn’t read this book in high school. Finally just read it. Very contemporary in the way it tackles nihilism and meaningless that leads to murder much like the mass shootings of our current day. Very powerful. Anthony Heald was incredible. Without getting in the way of the text he completely brought it to life.

Awesome all around.

Simply put, the book is a classic. This narrator did an amazing job bringing the different characters to life. He also made it easy to follow along and keep each character’s dialogue separate.

Brilliant reading

The story, of course, is a classic. This reading really brings the translation to life.

Marvelous narration

I’ve listened three times. Each time it gets better. World’s greatest novel read by excellent narrator!

Amazing!

This gripping tale was made so much better by this amazing reading. Well done!

Worthwhile

Heald's oral interpretation of Dostoevsky's novel helped to keep me engaged when I felt the author was longwinded in character dialogue or narration. he has a pretty good repertoire of voices so sometimes I think the women sounded a bit weak. I appreciated the author's inclusion of the philosophies of crime, Nihilism, and tenets of the Christian faith. I found Sonya beautiful and transformative in her loving kindness; not many other characters are even close to likable. So glad that I listened to this recording and I look forward to viewing the book in film adaptations.