I read C&P in my youth. (Voluntarily, not as a school assignment!) I don't recall whether I actually liked it or simply slogged through it. I didn't recall (or maybe never got) the message you did, so thank you for the micro-review. I have always remembered the name Raskolnikov and him brooding in his attic hovel. (Was it an attic hovel?)

I read War and Peace not too many years ago and I enjoyed it. I can't say I remember any message from it.

I started reading The Brothers Karamotzov just recently, because I remembered liking the other two, and because TBK is one of the major classics. But I couldn't slog through more than 50 pages, and I gave it up. Maybe television has finally broken my mind. Or maybe TBK just sucks.