Crime and Punishment

Dreary, cold January commutes are perhaps not the ideal time to listen to Crime and Punishment. But even with that disclaimer, boy did I dislike this novel–far more than I expected to. Scenes of gratuitous brutality, a thoroughly unsympathetic protagonist (and not bc he is a murderer but bc he is so very annoying in his self absorption), and women who are either totally hysterical or self-abnegating saints. Ewww. I understand it's 19th-century Russia; but that doesn't mean I have to like it.