wow, it really took me a while to get into this book, but by the time i finished, dostoyevsky had me smitten. the story itself was unique and quite unlike anything i'd ever read before. set as a journal-type novel, house of the dead is believed to be autobiographical after some time he spent in a russian penal institution. dostoyevsky carefully brings us into the the criminal mind and shows us life under the moral, as well as physical, oppression that comes from prison life. a stark insight into annals of punishment. can't wait to read dostoyevsky's crime and punishment!