Crime & Punishment, self-explanatory?

Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment has been quite an interesting novel. Far different from all the other ones I've read so far at least. The setting takes place in St. Petersburg (Russia) in the slums near the Hay market. This is where Raskolnikov, a former student (now a destitute), stays. He seems a bit unstable to me though, in a way, because he isolates himself from the rest of humanity for a whole month. There seems to be some sort of internal conflict going on inside of him as well because he wants to commit a crime (How obvious!), yet is disgusted by his actual plan. It seems, however, that with every day that passes by he grows increasingly serious about taking action. I guess he can only refrain himself from actually committing a crime for so long. Anyways, the story seems to be told from a third person omniscient point of view. So far it has mainly been from Raskolnikov's perspective though.  The story itself seems to be moving a bit slow considering the fact that he didn't even mention Raskolnikov's name until a few pages into the novel. It's mood seems depressing, almost. You can even say it's despairing and suspenseful! All the characters at this point are at their lowest point in life. Every one's getting drunk and evicted. Woohoo! Oh and prostitutes here are legal and registered with the police.