ABOUT THE BOOK

  • ADVANCED LEVEL
  • 3100 HEADWORDS
  • 65 PAGES (PDF)
  • 2H 03M OF AUDIO

Raskolnikov, a young student, has been forced to give up his university studies because of lack of money. He withdraws from society and, poor and lonely, he develops a plan to murder a greedy old moneylender. Surely the murder of one worthless old woman would be excused, even approved of, if it made possible a thousand good deeds? But this crime is just the beginning of the story…

$9.99

KEY FEATURES

PRINTABLE PDF

You´ll receive the book in PDF format that you can download, open on any mobile device, or print.

HIGH-QUALITY AUDIO 

The audio has been recorded in a professional studio. All audio files are downloadable.

STRESS MARKS

All Russian words have accent marks to help you pronounce them correctly.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

English translation of difficult words and phrases. Don´t waste your precious time looking up unknown words!

COMPREHENSION Qs

Comprehension questions are included at the end of each chapter so that you can test your understanding.

KEY FEATURES

PRINTABLE PDF

You´ll receive the book in PDF format that you can download, open on any mobile device or print.

HIGH-QUALITY AUDIO

The audio has been recorded in a professional studio. All audio files are downloadable.

STRESS MARKS

All Russian words have accent marks to help you pronounce them correctly.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

English translation of difficult words and phrases. Don´t waste your precious time looking up unknown words!

COMPREHENSION Qs

Comprehension questions are included at the end of each chapter so that you can test your understanding.

LOOK INSIDE

     Молодо́й челове́к вы́шел из камо́рки, в кото́рой жил, и ме́дленно, сло́вно в нереши́тельности, пошёл к мосту́. Ему́ удало́сь избежа́ть встре́чи с хозя́йкой.

          Его́ камо́рка находи́лась под кры́шей высо́кого пятиэта́жного до́ма и была́ бо́льше похо́жа на чула́н, чем на ко́мнату. Хозя́йка камо́рки жи́ла этажо́м ни́же. Ка́ждый раз, выходя́ из до́ма, он до́лжен был проходи́ть ми́мо её ку́хни, дверь кото́рой всегдá остава́лась откры́той. И ка́ждый раз, проходя́ ми́мо, молодо́й челове́к испы́тывал стыд. Он был в безнадёжном до́лгу пе́ред хозя́йкой и боя́лся встре́чи с ней.

SAMPLE AUDIO

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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ANGELO PORTA PUGLIA – ITALY

Although my level of Russian knowledge is rather ‘intermediate’, I have gone through this ‘advanced’ adaptation of Dostoevsky literary achievement with the utmost pleasure. It has contributed to the improvement of my vocabulary without too much effort thanks to the accurate translation notes. The audio files are good for the progress in listening skills. I think it is perfectly fit for advanced student but also of good help for those at an intermediate level.

LOUIS HANSELL – USA

I recommend this reader. First, because it is a classic story I was familiar with and loved in English. Beyond that, although the language can be advanced in some sentences, there is always the translation just below, so you can make sense of the story as you read it. And some of the more unique words are repeated periodically in the story, and that repetition helps hammer home. I feel that every time I reread these books, I add one or more vocabulary words to my Russian. Kristina, with your books, movies, and songs, you do an excellent job of providing great learning materials for students of Russian.

CHEBLAK MOUNA – CANADA

I am an intermediate student and this advanced book helped me gain confidence in myself while learning Russian. It is hard for me to memorize new vocabulary but the way it is written makes the reader understand the sentence by its simple construction. I must say I improved my Russian syntax and grammar. I certainly recommend it for other readers, especially those who already have some vocabulary and grammar roots. To sum up, after reading this book, I say with certainty that Russian is not a complicated language to learn: just go ahead!

THOMAS TURNER MD – USA

This is a great introduction to Dostoyevsky’s genius work. The Russian is suitably challenging at an intermediate level, but understandable. My vocabulary improved, without question, as I made my way through the book. I would recommend this book without reservation to Russian learners looking to polish their grammar and vocabulary.

BERYL HUNTER – SOUTH AFRICA

This book, which was a bit over my level at first, was a personal challenge for me. The translations were helpful, informative and to the point. As with all your other tutorials, your reading and pronunciation is clear and after listening to the audio and reading the text numerous times I became familiar with both the written word and the sound and was able to identify words easily in other parts of the story. I have enjoyed reading the abridged book and look forward to a time when I will be able to read the actual book in Russian. Yes, I most definitely would recommend your readers to any learner wishing to learn Russian.

KEN CAVINESS – USA

Reading is the best way to gain more vocabulary without being “bored out of your gourd” — learning words in context. But normally you have to have quite a large vocabulary before you get enough out of your reading to be able to make sense of it. Kristina offers us a nice compromise: reading real Russian in context, but with handy interspersed explanations after every paragraph, so you can follow what’s going on. And ideally you should read the text several times, perhaps many times, until you can easily skip the explanations. I especially appreciate the stress accent marks, so I can confidently read aloud or at least pronounce the words under my breath. And I’m finally reading Dostoyevsky in the original Russian! Hurrah!

DAN FLICK – USA

This book is based on one of the greatest novels ever written. I’d always heard of Crime and Punishment but had never read or watched it. This book was my gateway to the story and it was fabulous. In fact, after reading it, I bought the English Language version as well. This book was a perfect telling of the story in many fewer pages. All the major parts of the plot were covered. I hope to read the full novel in Russian but that is a long way off as the English version was a semi-tough read and would be insane in Russian. That is what makes these books so wonderful. And they build your vocabulary like crazy.

JOE DILLON

I am enjoying this reader very much. Although this novel is a little above my current Russian level, I chose it because the story is so interesting. Thanks for including the accent/stress markings, they have been very helpful. With my French background, the Russian word stress is not always intuitive!  I feel that this novel, although challenging, is definitely boosting my Russian. I’m being extra careful whilst reading so as not to lose any valuable plot information.

JONATHAN WALKER – UK

Kristina’s approach to teaching Russian is very well worked out, and I only wish her books and audio recordings had been available a couple of decades ago when I was first studying Russian. I’ve studied many languages to various levels, and Kristina has managed to produce some of the best language-learning material I’ve seen, and she has clearly thought through the problems of previous methods. In particular, she understands the need to offer learners material that they will be strongly motivated to read and study (as opposed to, say, antiquated dialogues about buying a stamp in a post office, or at a higher level, dull news reports on alcoholism statistics in Chelyabinsk).

Her inclusion of accents is very welcome, even in a book marked as “advanced”, since I’ve been told (by a Russian) that even senior academics in Russian/Slavonic Studies departments still regularly mis-stress various words in their conference papers (normal words, not just surnames) – so this is a serious problem that besets even those whose Russian is at a very high level, and Kristina is trying to prevent her students from going the same way as their predecessors.

In books for language learners that have a gloss, the editors often seem to misjudge or simply overlook what the learner needs to see explained, with the result that easy phrases are covered unnecessarily while opaque idioms are left without any key. Again, Kristina has judged her explanations very well, and has obviously taken care of this aspect of the book.

I’ll admit that I haven’t yet begun to compare Kristina’s version of the text to Dostoevsky’s, but given the hard work and expertise she shows in other areas, I have little doubt that she has carried out her editing of the original with the same care.

I look forward to learning from many more of Kristina’s books and videos, and I hope that others who have benefitted from her teaching will support her excellent work by continuing to purchase her books.

GIANNI – Switzerland

What I like about this book is that it is very much condensed, meaning there are no long (and maybe unnecessary) descriptions of people, nature, towns, but it is pretty straightforward just the story. Of course, it’s not the same as the real book, but it’s a good way to get the first glimpse of Russian classics. The structure of the book is ok, you have short paragraphs and then follow the vocabulary, mostly phrases, not single words. All in all, it’s a good way to improve your Russian skills by reading and listening to the classics. The price is ok. Of course, you’ll find the real version for free, but it will be way more difficult to read.