Crime and Punishment is a novel of ideas, a philosophical and psychological story. These tend not to be my favorite reads, though I do respond to the psychological (I loved Notes from Underground). Characters can feel like they exist to defend or attack particular philosophies rather than experience...
It's not typical Fyo, that's for sure. Apparently this is like Gogol, but I've only read one of his stories so I really don't know. It's quite funny but it lacks much of his later insight. He really gets (nervous/neurotic) people but in later works he manages to make this understanding more unive...