Crime & Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Originally published during the winter of his discontent, 1866, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment dissects the complex relationship between man and the crime he commits. Translated from Russian, The Modern Library Edition includes a spectacularly entertaining pop-up feature where you can pretend to be the tortured protagonist, Rodya Raskolnikov as he hacks up an old peasant pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna and her step-daughter, Lizaveta. It seems that in St. Petersburg, Russia it was tough to make a real good go of things.
Raskolnikov is a brooding student with radical ideas relating to the nature of crime and asserts that the act of murder can be justified in certain circumstances. He hypothetically asks the question of whether or not it is acceptable to commit murder if that single act of violence betters the human condition. Is it justified to kill if the one doing the killing is particularly brilliant and a competent conversationalist? He writes a thesis on it then bottoms out and gets depressed. His melancholic mother, Pulcheria Alexandrovna is this shrilly dramatic creature who sobs constantly. Dounia Avdotya Romanovna, his sister, is willing to sell herself off to a wealthy ignoramus with a receding hairline and control issues. There’s a guy named Razumihin and some other cat named Porifry Petrovich who is a cop and armchair psychiatrist. I got a decent chunk into to before becoming hopelessly obsessed with the pop-up part of the book so consequently I never actually finished it. As all great Russian novels have happy ending, I'm sure things'll work out fine.(See 'Here is the end')
Here is the beginning: On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge.
Here is the end: But that is the beginning of a new story—the story of the gradual renewal of man, the story of his gradual regeneration, of his passing from one world into another, of his initiation into a new unknown life. That might be the subject of a new story but our present story is ended.
BOOK #2
C'mon Get Happy
David Cassidy
• He played David Partidge on Partridge Family.
• Became famous, real fast.
• Made guest apperances on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Merv Griffin.
•Popularized embroidered overalls, the shag cut and coral necklaces.
• Lots of groupies in green slacks.
•Established a legitimate singinging career selling over 20 million albums but got royally screwed on merchandise.
•He was at one time bigger than McCartney, Elton John but was way skinnier than Elvis.
It’s the age old story but still a thrill-a-minute rollercoaster like The Thorn Birds or The Winds of War.
Here is how this thing begins: Somewhere between the sublime and rediculous is a book called C’mon Get Happy…Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus. And as I, at the tender age of forty-three, have nearly completed this venture, I thought I mightgive you a little insight into my own take on it. I always believed that any celebrity autobiography carries just slightly more significance, in terms of literary contribution, than does goose poop on theeastern shore of Maryland...
Yes folks, he actually said ‘goose poop’ which means that even though Cassidy did fall ass over heels into the debauchery that is the music and television field, he’s keeping the tale pretty sanitized. Poor Dave doesn’t seem the realize that he no longer has to polay it safe for fear of offending hysterical twelve-year-old girls. They’ve all grown now and are probably on antidepressants.
Okay, so here’s how it ends: “So…” somebody asked me the other day with a hint of disapproval in his voice, “when are you going to give up this ‘David Cassidy teenager’ thing?” Huh? “I don’t know,” I told him, surprised by the question. And I grinned. “I’m having too much fun to give it up now.”
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