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Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
Audiobook39 hours

Anna Karenina

Written by Leo Tolstoi

Narrated by Lorna Raver

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Vladimir Nabokov called Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina "one of the greatest love stories in world literature." Set in imperial Russia, Anna Karenina is a rich and complex meditation on passionate love and disastrous infidelity.

Married to a powerful government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful woman who falls deeply in love with a wealthy army officer, the elegant Count Vronsky. Desperate to find truth and meaning in her life, she rashly defies the conventions of Russian society and leaves her husband and son to live with her lover. Condemned and ostracized by her peers and prone to fits of jealousy that alienate Vronsky, Anna finds herself unable to escape an increasingly hopeless situation.

Set against this tragic affair is the story of Konstantin Levin, a melancholy landowner whom Tolstoy based largely on himself. While Anna looks for happiness through love, Levin embarks on his own search for spiritual fulfillment through marriage, family, and hard work. Surrounding these two central plot threads are dozens of characters whom Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together, creating a breathtaking tapestry of nineteenth-century Russian society.

From its famous opening sentence-"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"-to its stunningly tragic conclusion, this enduring tale of marriage and adultery plumbs the very depths of the human soul.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 30, 2010
ISBN9781400186105
Author

Leo Tolstoi

Leo Tolstoy grew up in Russia, raised by a elderly aunt and educated by French tutors while studying at Kazen University before giving up on his education and volunteering for military duty. When writing his greatest works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Tolstoy drew upon his diaries for material. At eighty-two, while away from home, he suffered from declining health and died in Astapovo, Riazan in 1910.

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Rating: 4.066037735849057 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Tolstoy’s greatest novel, what some deem the greatest novel ever written, seems to ‘proceed as plotlessly and accidentally as life itself’ (E. B. Greenwood, Introduction to Anna Karenina, p. xii). Tolstoy contrasts two people of different character and temperament both of whom we squirm, flinch and weep in response to their actions. Anna lives for her own needs, passions and freedom. Levin lives for the good of others and his soul. In this way Anna and her affair with Vronsky depicts so outstandingly what modern philosophers call expressive individualism, where being true to our authentic self by expressing our deepest desires and acting on them is heroic. The Tolstoy critic Andrew Kaufman says in an interview that the 1860s were a time of great transition in Russia whereby the more traditional value system was being replaced by a new value systems. Tolstoy watched his friends and family members were getting divorced at alarming numbers. And this concerned him because in his view, the family is one of the key social units. And when families fall apart, he believed societies begin to fall apart. This is a central theme in Anna Karenina. Tolstoy heard people saying, "maybe marriage isn't the be all and end all of life. Maybe even if you do get married, not having kids might lead to a greater happiness." And, and of course, this is something that's very much echoed in today's world. In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy shows that the problem with these arguments is that they come from a false set of assumptions: This idea that more freedom means more fulfillment, that the gratification of one's personal desires, leads to more happiness. Tolstoy came to the opposite conclusion; that in many cases, less freedom can lead to a more abiding happiness because it forces us to make choices to make hard choices, and to commit to those choices with the fullness of our being. And family life is the ultimate embodiment of making those kinds of choices, of limiting our freedom for the sake of love. And so it is the characters who embrace the duties, the pain, the vulnerability of family life—of fatherhood, motherhood, being a son, being a daughter—those are often the characters who in the end, end up achieving the deepest kind of fulfillment.Kaufman gives an example from Tolstoy's own life. While writing War and Peace, he used a very interesting metaphor to describe what he was like before he got married, and what he's like now. It was the metaphor of an apple tree that he described himself as. An apple tree, that once sprouted in all different directions. But 'now, that it’s trimmed, tied, and supported, its trunk and roots can grow without hindrance.' It's a very powerful image. At the heart of it is this idea that sometimes limits are what allow us to grow more fully. And limits are actually what allow us to realise our fullest human potential.So according to Tolstoy a life like Anna's, which looks so romantic and promising, usually ends in tragedy. The reversal of fortunes is shown when Anna and Kitty are contrasted by Dolly (Kitty's sister): “‘How happily it turned out for Kitty that Anna came,’ said Dolly, ‘and how unhappily for her! The exact reverse,’ she added, struck by her thought. ‘Then Anna was so happy and Kitty considered herself miserable. Now it’s the exact reverse.’” (p. 551)Anna becomes a slave to her love/lust for Vronsky and finds herself trapped without access to her son, with excessively jealous of Vronksy, and unable to live without his enmeshed love.Tolstoy contrasts Anna's persist of freedom to desire what she wants to Levin's. Upon his engagement to Kitty, Levin's brother and friends question him about the loss of freedom he will experience when he is married. Levin replies, “‘What is the good of freedom? Happiness consists only in loving and desiring: in wishing her wishes and in thinking her thoughts, which means having no freedom whatever; that is happiness!’” (p. 442). Levin’s desire is not possessive self serving eros (like Anna’s), but generous other-centred agape. The result is that while Levin’s life is not easy, although there is doubt and jealousy and fear and conflict, there nevertheless is true freedom, fulfilment and happiness. He is not enslaved but a servant of love and goodness. I found the book long and tedious at points but I suppose that is because Tolstoy so wants us to “love life in all its countless, inexhaustible manifestations”. He packs in so much of life into the 806 pages, not just in the grand moments but also in the ordinary ones. The result is that you end up on a journey through 19th century Russia, a place and time I have now lived vicariously through. But Tolstoy also takes you on a journey to the very heart of human experience. The plot changes don’t come quickly. Instead Tolstoy spends significant time taking you into the mind and heart of all these different kinds of characters: nobels and peasants, philosophers and farmers, men and women, the promiscuous and duty-bound. Tolstoy draws you in to empathise with all these as you realise you share their same hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, temptations and regrets. The conversions of Karenin, Anna and Levin all demand attention. I am not sure Tolstoy ever really grasps the nature of the gospel of grace. He comes close at points but never really gets there. The closest we get is Karenin’s forgiveness of Anna, Anna’s cry for forgiveness at her death, and Levin’s humble recognition of the gift and goodness of life.I think this novel is like the book of Ecclesiastes: it teaches us about life under the sun and concludes that the meaning of life is “to live for God, to the soul” (p. 785). or as Solomon says, "A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?" (Eccl 2:24–25)Yes this is the meaning of life, but what does that look like? And how is atonement possible when we fail. Tolstoy raises this question superbly, hints at an answer, but in many ways it's still a mystery. For a clear answer we must turn to the Gospels or perhaps to the novels of Dostoevsky who perhaps understood better the gospel of grace.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    First, I started this book 4ish years ago. I would read a chunk of it, than stop for awhile, and pick it up a few months later. Its not an easy read - mostly because it seems like the names keep changing. I understand, what a person in Russia is called is dependent on the relationship, but its difficult. It took me awhile to figure it out. It also helped that the last third of the book had less characters. It would have helped to have a list of full names for the characters. Its a difficult book, but the pay off is immense if you can stick with it.This next part has spoilers, so, read at your own risk.Anne Karenina isn't necessarily about Anna - although the other characters revolve around her. This is a story about relationships. Good relationships, bad relationships and how society views relationships depending on gender. Anna is bored wife of a bureaucrat. Her husband provides for her, and lets her do her own thing, he doesn't make her a part of his life, basically ignoring her until he needs her presence. Anna is intelligent, beautiful, and make a whole room light up when she walks in. When she meets a military man named Vronsky, her whole world is turned upside down. He is a cad, leading young women on, and than dropping them as soon as he looses interest. But, Anna seduces him - even after she denies him, he continue to pursue and eventually Anna gives in. Her husband tries to make it work, but the allure of Vronsky calls - Anna eventually leaves him for Vronsky. But, Anna is still not free. Until she is granted a divorce, she is only a mistress and is ostracized from society, living a lonelier life than before. Eventually, this gets to her and she commits suicide by throwing herself before a train.The next couple is Dotty and Oblansky. Oblansky is Anna's brother, and like to spend money, dote on ballerina's, and gamble. Dotty holds the family together - making sure that there is money for the most basic of upper-class necessities. She considers divorcee him a number of times throughout the book, but it would leave her in a similar state as Anna, even though she would be in the right of the law.The last couple is Kitty and Levin. Kitty is Dotty's sister, and she was the young girl Vronsky led on right before Anna. Kitty ends up sick from the whole experience, but ultimately recovers when Levin ultimately proposes to her. They are the perfect couple, in love, and able to talk through problems, understanding each other's personalities, the good and the bad. These three couples form the core of what Anna Karenina is about. There is also a large parts of the book devoted to Levin's thoughts about peasantry, land management, pointlessness of the upper-class life in Moscow, and belief in God. I'm still pondering what this adds to the book, because it seems not to add anything, and at times, its overwritten and tends to ramble. I do think Levin is based off of Tolstoy and his life, but large chunks of this could have been removed to no effect of the rest.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was my second time reading Anna Karenina and I loved it so much more this time! I didn’t have to work so hard trying to figure out who was who, and could just enjoy the story this time:). This narration was excellent!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a great translation with wonderful notes.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Several years ago I made a concerted effort to upgrade the quality of my reading material. I wasn’t exactly a comic book aficionado; however I had failed to read most of the classics during my years of formal education. Since that time, I’ve read more than my fair share of Dickens, Steinbeck and Hemingway. I’ve also dabbled in some of the more recently highly acclaimed literature, happily in some cases, in others not so much. I read Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and the Brothers Karamazov, much preferring the former, but having no problem with comprehension or appreciation for the writing. I read War and Peace several years ago (meh), and the recent release of the major motion picture adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina prompted me to order this book, wanting to read it before seeing the movie.Now, it should be noted that the purpose of my reading is predominantly for pleasure and entertainment. I enjoy acquiring some historical education if such is a by-product of the experience, but it is not my aim or intention to delve deeply into philosophy or existentialism. As noted, I have read and enjoyed Dickens but will never take on the chore of trying to decipher Sartre, Camus or Nietzsche. When reading authors such as Dickens, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and others from previous historical, and sometimes vastly different cultural periods, it has been my experience that a period of acclimation is required before the reader can fully appreciate the writing and the landscape and such was the case with this novel. And while I became increasingly comfortable with the writing style and cultural landscape, I can’t say that I overly enjoyed it. Many of the characters affectations became rather tiresome midway through this rather long book. Not my favorite, but not a total waste of time.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a great book. And it is very well written. We get to know not only what is spoken between people, but also what they think when they say speak. In that way we learn everything about the main characters.
    The story is about love and marriage in the Russia before the revolution. One can hardly say more about the storylines without giving too much away. We follow three couples quite extensively, and we learn what they think about married life. Not the slightest mentioning of sex, but nevertheless with a high erotic value at times. This too is brilliant. Modern authors could learn from this!
    Because the thoughts of the characters is so extensively described, the story is a bit slow at times, but just at times. Tolstoy keeps our attention throughout the book. The only criticism I could give, is that some parts (about hunting and farming) have little to do with the story, and did not interest me much, but where they are mentioned, they are of great importance to the main characters, and should be mentioned for that reason. Anyway, a great novel by a brilliant writer.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Worth purchasing and owning. Will probably re-read again some day.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5

    After several months of procrastinating and putting off listening to this book, I finally dived in, deciding that I would finish this before the end of the year. Surprisingly, I ended up finishing it in a little over a week! I enjoyed almost every bit of the book, and the Audible narrative by Maggie Gyllenhall is very good. She is about as far from being my favorite actress as she can get, but she read this classic admirably.

    This book is known as the “single greatest novel ever written”, and it is very good. Tolstoy's narrative moves easily from stage to stage and scene to scene; the characters’ lives progress naturally through Russian society in the 1870s.

    The story focuses on just a few main characters: Anna Arkadyevna Karenina and her husband Aleksey Alexandrovich Karenin; Count Aleksey Kirilich Vronksy, Konstantin Dmitrich Levin, and Kitty Scherbatskaya. These characters propel the story, and it is their lives and relationships that are followed most closely. Supporting characters include Prince Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky, his wife Darya Alexandrovna Oblonskaya, and Levin's brothers, truly a small cast for such a grand Russian novel.

    The novel’s theme centers on relationships, specifically, the relationships in 19th Century Russian aristocratic society of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Anna Karenina is an elite, beautiful woman married to a powerful government official, Aleksey Karenin, with whom she has a son, Seryozha. She has an extended affair with the rich, dapper Count Aleksey Vronksy, and has a child with him, a daughter. Their story follows her inability to divorce her husband, and her increasing unhappiness in the relationship with Vronsky, as she is bannished by society and resents the freedom he has as a man to move in his old circles. Her jealousy and insecurity grow throughout the course of the novel, rendering her nearly mad.

    The other relationship, which serves as contrast Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky, is that of Levin and Kitty Scherbatskaya. Levin is several years older than the young and beautiful Kitty, daughter of one of Moscow's many princes. He is an aristocratic farmer and meticulously cares for his family's vast agrarian holdings in the country. At the beginning of the novel, he was courting Kitty, but had returned to the country. When he returns to ask her to marry him, he sees that she is infatuated with Vronksy, whom he doesn't trust. Vronsky meets Anna Karenina at a ball and stops calling on Kitty, breaking her heart. After a long separation, Kitty and Levin meet again and she happily agrees to marry him. Their storyline follows their marriage and the birth of their son, Dimitry.

    This novel is a slice out of life. The characters are incredibly realistic and complex, as is the pace and plot of the novel. The true artistry, however, lies in Tolstoy's effective setting of one relationship against another. The "good couple" Levin and Kitty have difficulties in adjusting to each other and in their relationship. Levin, like Anna, is jealous, but unlike Vronsky and Anna, he is motivated by love and generosity to overcome his angry feelings for the benefit of a harmonious home. Other aspects of the two different relationships greatly contrast one another. A very compelling character is made of Aleksey Alexandrovich Karenin, whom Anna despises, but who undergoes a convincing and sad degeneration of self as Anna leaves him and he maintains custody of the son that she loves. He gets caught up with a society woman who has converted to a fundamentalist, ecstatic Christianity and gives him advice, ultimately leading him to allow a French faux-mystic to decide the fate of his marriage to Anna.

    The novel has a well-known climax, beautifully written, which allows the reader to come through the shock and pain to what Levin discovers beyond the love of the family life he craved. This is definitely a masterpiece, worth the time spent on every page.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    By far the best book I have ever read. The insight into human nature that Tolstoy reveals, the description of Russian life, the analysis of the characters, the intertwining of plots, the style and everything in this marvellous piece of literature is simply magnificent.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    (After caught cheating on his wife)"What had happened to him at that moment was what happens to people when they are unexpectedly caught in something very shameful. He had not managed to prepare his face for the position he found himself in with regard to his wife now that his guilt had been revealed. Instead of being offended, of denying, justifying, asking forgiveness, even remaining indifferent — any of which would have been better than what he did! — his face quite involuntarily (`reflexes of the brain', thought Stepan Arkadyich, who liked physiology) smiled all at once its habitual, kind and therefore stupid smile. That stupid smile he could not forgive himself. Seeing that smile, Dolly had winced as if from physical pain, burst with her typical vehemence into a torrent of cruel words, and rushed from the room. Since then she had refused to see her husband. `That stupid smile is to blame for it all,' thought Stepan Arkadyich."Anna Karenina has been on my bookshelf for such a long time, but its size and reputation were a little intimidating. The last section of the first chapter quoted above is the part that won me over. I was not expecting the humorous parts and I knew at that point it would definitely not be a dull, lifeless read!Tolstoy's characters really are the greatest. They are fully formed individuals who make mistakes, have regrets and conflicting thoughts and develop naturally (for better or worse). I really felt like I was in the character's heads. When Kitty feels heartbroken, I feel heartbroken. When Levin is in the midst of the best time of his life, I feel elated too. Stepan (Mr. "If I knew it would bother her, I would have been more discreet!" and Anna's brother) can be a completely ridiculous at times, but you can't help but laugh at his antics and perceptions. I am still cracking up at Stepan's love of sending drunk telegrams! Tolstoy even slips into the "minds" of inanimate objects and dogs and it seems completely natural! The novel really delves into the complexities of love and marriage.I was a bit surprised that there was less of the actual Anna Karenina in "Anna Karenina" than I expected. I expected at least 80% AK, but it couldn't have been more than 50%. It goes back and forth between the Kitty/Levin storylines and the Anna/Vronsky storyline, with a little bit of Stepan and Darya mixed in. I actually preferred the Levin story, because Anna Karenina (the character) can be so insufferable at times. She had incredibly difficult and unfair societal rules to deal with, but she also made some of the most frustrating choices! I am wondering what my opinion of Anna and Vronsky would have been if I had read this book when I was younger.I deducted the one star because there are sections that I found really boring and those sections kept me from completely loving the book. Farming & Russian politics; I'm looking at you Levin! I did find the "boring" sections less of an issue than I did in War & Peace. The digressions do get irritating, but Tolstoy uses such short chapters. If I can just power through those difficult chapters, I know that I will eventually get to an interesting part again. For the difficult sections, I will usually read chapter summaries online before I read the actual text. If I have some context, it is much easier to read.Overall, it was a wonderful book and the characters will stay with me.___________________________________________________One of my favorite parts was watching Levin and Kitty evolve, because I found them especially relatable.Levin returning home disappointed and heartbroken decides that he is going to give up on love and focus on farming issues (short-lived of course):‘The study was slowly lit up by the candle that was brought. Familiar details emerged: deer’s antlers, shelves of books, the back of the stove with a vent that had long been in need of repair, his father’s sofa, the big desk, an open book on the desk, a broken ashtray, a notebook with his handwriting. When he saw it all, he was overcome by a momentary doubt of the possibility of setting up that new life he had dreamed of on the way. All these traces of his life seemed to seize hold of him and say to him: ‘No, you won’t escape us and be different you’ll be the same as you were with doubts, with an eternal dissatisfaction with yourself, vain attempts to improve, and failures, and an eternal expectation of the happiness that has eluded you and is not possible for you.’But that was how his things talked, while another voice in his soul said that he must not submit to the past and it was possible to do anything with oneself.’ (Part 1, Chapter 26, 93)Who hasn't set out with big plans to become a better person, but moments later been doubtful of their ability to do so?Levin's maturation at the end: "This new feeling hasn’t changed me, hasn’t made me happy or suddenly enlightened, as I dreamed – just like the feeling for my son. Nor was there any surprise. And faith or not faith – I don’t know what it is – but this feeling has entered into me just as imperceptibly through suffering and has firmly lodged itself in my soul.I'll get angry in the same way with the coachman Ivan, argue in the same way, speak my mind inappropriately, there will be the same wall between my soul's holy of holies and other people, even my wife, I'll accuse her in the same way of my own fear and then regret it, I'll fail in the same way to understand with my reason why I pray, and yet I will pray--but my life now, my whole life, regardless of all that may happen to me, every minute of it, is not only not meaningless, as it was before, but has the unquestionable meaning of the good which it is in my power to put into it!” (Part 1, Chapter 19, 817)
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Some classics are classics because they are that good. Other classics are classics for no apparent reason. This book falls into the latter half as the story is essentially supposed to be a sob fest but the reader is left high and dry without a tear to be found.  
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    To me this reads more like a series of short stories connected together into a chronological order than a book with one story (and message). There are several scenes I felt were great when read but add next to nothing to the book.The message at the end of the book is clear and many situations that don't really fit into the book builds towards that. Yet Russian politics could have been cut out of the book and it would still have had the same overarching story and just a few scenes changing places. I enjoyed learning about how Tolstoy thought about the time-period and its people but didn't feel it added much to the story being told.Overall I am happy to have read it but will stand by what I said when asked about it, it has great scenes but doesn't feel like a book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I just finished Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. This book definitely belongs in that category of 'books that you read (and hated) when you were in high school, but should read again.' What made me pick this one up is that it is narrated by Davina Porter - one of my favorite British narrators. Although I found parts of the book to be very long and verbose, I loved some of the descriptions of everyday life. Whether it was a pasaage about peasants working the harvest or an agonizing childbirth scene, parts of this book were mesmerizing and I found myself sitting in the car not wanting to turn it off. Porter's narration was amazing - truly worthy of her Golden Earphones award for this book. If you hated this book in high school - give it another chance in audio. You just might change your mind.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I know this book is on many all time best novels lists, and, having loved War and Peace when I first read it some 35 years ago, I had expected to like Anna Karenina. But I didn't. I found Anna and Vronsky and Karenin to all be odious (and Oblonsky for that matter). If anything, they deserved each other. I liked Levin, but found him frustrating and his pseudo-epiphany at the end rather trite. I thought Kitty and Dolly were shallow and inept.I kept looking for some insightful commentary on Russian society, an indictment of the Petersburg world in which, as Vronsky observes, "paltry, stupid, and, above all, ridiculous people" embrace conventional morality and real people "abandon themselves unblushingly to all their passions and laugh at everything else." But in the end all I could see was an admonition be faithful (to God, not one's spouse).I kept wondering whether I was missing some nuance, whether a different translation might have connected the dots in a way that this one did not. Oh, well...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In Anna Karenina Tolstoy explores one of the most pressing questions we all face: how do we find happiness? Through Levin, Anna, and a host of supporting characters, we see several approaches to happiness. Levin searches for fulfillment through work; Anna and Vronsky through love; Alexey Alexandrovitch through duty; Stiva through superficial amusements; and Dolly through her children. All of them (perhaps except Stiva) fail to find permanent, complete happiness. This failure leads to death in some cases (Anna) and reluctant acceptance in others (Dolly). In the final chapters, however, it seems that Levin finds a solution to this problem of unhappiness. His conclusion--that knowledge of God and His creation of morality gives life meaning--was somewhat off-putting. Is Tolstoy arguing for religion or simply providing reasoning for why people are so attracted to it? Without faith and morality, are people fundamentally unhappy (evinced in the case of Anna and her subsequent suicide)? I don't think I accept Tolstoy's message here, but I think that his work in Anna Karenina is one of the best investigations into this fundamental question of how we can find meaning and happiness in our lives. For me, an agnostic, this conclusion suggests that I'm either condemned to be unhappy or that I must believe in something I consider to be implausible and unknowable in order to find peace.

    I didn't always enjoy Anna Karenina as I was reading it, but I'm glad I took the time to finish this long, long (754 pages!) book. Apparently, most people know the famous and tragic ending to this book before reading it, but besides knowing that a vague something bad was going to happen with a train, I had no idea. So figuring out how the plot would unfold was an encouraging factor, however, I mostly just read to see how Tolstoy wove these themes and characters together.

    The best writing exposes something undeniably true about human nature, and Tolstoy is definitely a master writer. There were so many moments when I paused after a paragraph and realized that these old-fashioned Russian nobles were experiencing feelings I've felt as well. And that's where literature can be so powerful--when it connects people across time and space. I have read few authors that match Tolstoy's insight into humanity.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first book I'd read since High School. Totally got me reading again.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book could happily have been ~300 pages long, so by the time Anna fell in front of the train I was rooting for it as a sign that the book was close to over.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not only was this a remarkable read, but the love/ hate relationship that I had with several of the characters was an interesting experience. Tolstoy developed his characters in a way that I have never experiences. All of the political hub bub was a bit heavier than I would of likes, but still, brilliant.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of my top 10 favourite books ever.Tolstoy is the best,smartest writer ever.his observations of human behavior is pure and genius, and Anna Karenina is also an easier read than War And Peace,based on a melodramtic,romantic narrative.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    this book needs no testimonial - maybe one of the most perfect works in history. all i want to add is that, although it also does not need oprah's testimonial, i would recommend getting her "version" because it's translated by, in my opinion, the best translators of russian literature, richard pevear and larissa volokhonsky. i would look for their translations of any tolstoy, dostoevsky, or other major russian body of work.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    many thanks to tom for reminding me i wanted to read this. what a delight of a book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Wonderful literature, gives the feel of old Russian days. The novel sometimes gets over stretched but the author is not to be blamed, coz during the older era people preferred weighty tomes over short novels. More than Anna, I liked the character of Lavin. Anna Karenina is believed to be Leo Tolstoy's autobiographical kind of work for many details of Levin resembles the life of Tolstoy himself.
    All in all, a must read for classic lovers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Tolstoy is a wonderful author and the translation I have by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky; I could not have been happier with. It is a lovely translation.The story begins with duplicity and ends with a man finding himself, the reason for his life and his life's work.The tragedy of Anna Karinina was, for me, almost a backdrop for the rest of the book. I liked how the author built her character and toward the end showed how a person, through their search for the ultimate happiness of self, can literally become so filled anxiety, angst, and depression that they lose their grip on reality and destroy themselves.The writing is such that I came to know the characters in this novel and I thought that they and their behavior was understandable and within their characterizations. I must admit that the politics of it totally confused me but did not disturb the storyline. I liked how the author went back and forth with the different character's stories and I found it easy to follow.Although the title of the book is Anna Karinina, for myself the main character of the book and the one I cared the most about was Levin. To me, it was his story with all of these subplots written behind it. He is the one I related to, cared the most about, and wanted to know about. He is the one I found to be the most mulitfaceted character and there were many layers to him. I also enjoyed Kitty's character. Anna, on the other hand was very shallow and altogether a rather boring, though beautiful character. Her demise was almost anticlimactic, but with it Vronsky finally became a man.I loved the last part of the book where Levin really challenged himself and thought the ending quite beautiful.This was my second reading of the book within 35 years and I am sure I won't wait so long for the next reading. It read very differently this time around. I highly recommend this classic. I found it to be a beautifully and calmly written novel. Tolstoy was indeed masterful with the pen
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Much Russian literature, this included, is a labour of love. It is hard work making headway at first, and sometimes I felt I didn't understand where Tolstoy was leading me. Yet I now feel that that is half the point; do we ever really know where we're going in life? What better reflection of it therefore to have some of this echoing through a literary work. This is a book about life. It soaks to your core.You fall in love with the characters and their lives and therefore as is the case with loved ones, begin to be interested in what they are interested in. When something good happens to them, you find yourself walking down the street later beaming with smiles. When something bad happens, you sink into melancholy. Tolstoy shades the people within the book in such a way as to make them real; not just a 'goody' or a 'baddy'. Nowhere before have I seen this so perfectly executed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I got more than I expected (and I liked it).The novel Anna Karenina is composed of parallel narratives: the story of Anna Arkadyevna Karenin’s dive from grace (a fall implies an accident), and Konstantin Dmitrich Levin’s search for meaning and purpose in a country that is swiftly changing around him. Both stories are played out in the highest social circles of 19th century Russia, among people who admire and condemn Anna’s passionate decision-making by turns and continually condemn Levin for failing to observe a host of social “niceties” borrowed from the French. Rounding out the tale are all the characters who travel between the Levin and Anna’s spheres: Anna’s lover Vronsky and the young girl he was toying with before he spotted Anna (Kitty Scherbatsky), Anna’s philandering brother Stepan Arkadyich Oblonsky and his long-suffering wife Dolly (sister of Kitty), and Anna’s cuckolded husband Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin.Add to this milieu a host of other Russians with a pile of names each, which change depending on who is addressing them (Stepan, for example, might be referred to as Stepan, Stiva, Oblonsky, or Stepan Arkadyich), and there is a lot going on.William Makepeace Thackeray said of his novel Vanity Fair that he had written “a novel without a hero”. If Thackeray reveled in the wickedness and self-centered nature of the characters in his epic, Tolstoy has sympathy for each and every one of his. Anna Karenina is the kind of book that teaches one a lot about oneself, as each character is presented from his (or her) own point of view and the reader is left to choose sides. Oblonsky is as charismatic and socially adept as he is irresponsible, Alexei Karenin’s dutiful and magnanimous nature is undercut by his emotional reticence. Tolstoy did a phenomenal job of presenting an extremely complex situation equally from all sides.Awesome Stuff:1. This novel is a master class in pacing. Tolstoy brings the reader to the absolute edge of blibbering despair with the impossibility of Anna’s situation, only to take up Levin’s story in the next section which is on a happier tack. The two narratives balance each other this way through the whole novel: if Anna’s up, Levin’s down and vice versa. Only once do they come together in tone if not time and space, the “long dark night of the soul” that decides the fate of each character.2. The analogies and metaphors. It’s a classic for a reason. An example, the feelings of Anna’s husband after reaching a decision about her situation (over which he had quite literally worried himself sick):“He felt like a man who has had a long-aching tooth pulled out. After the terrible pain and the sensation of something huge, bigger than his head, being drawn from his jaw, the patient, still not believing in his good fortune, suddenly feels that what had poisoned his life and absorbed all his attention for so long exists no more, and that he can again live, think and be interested in something other than his tooth.”3. The complexity. This is not a novel in which the suffering wife leaves the loutish brute of a husband for her sexy new lover, riding off into the sunset on a white horse. That may be how Anna sees it for a time, but she is the only one, and the novel shows the far-reaching effects of each of her choices. Choices that have consequences not only for her, but for her son, her husband, Vronsky, her brother, her in-laws, her friends. No one associated with her escapes her affair unscathed. Equally as complex is Levin’s search for meaning and companionship, though it is a source of one of the novel’s less successful attributes.Less Awesome Stuff1. Things lost in translation. This is a book translated not only from a language with an alphabet fundamentally different from my native tongue, but from a culture two hundred years past. Once I got the hang of Russian naming conventions, there were still many moments in the novel at which I felt I was not quite getting the sense of something due to cultural differences. Something meaningful was happening but I didn’t have the knowledge to comprehend it.2. Footnotes at the end. It’s a matter of taste, but I like my footnotes on the page with the relevant text, so I can inform my understanding and adjust my impressions as I read. With them at the end I end up just reading all of them once I finish the novel, rather than flipping back and forth. The translation itself was very good, great pains were taken to maintain the sense of things.3. The axes. Levin’s story is often used to elaborate the author’s feelings on certain issues. There are lengthy passages on farming, feudalism versus socialism versus communism, Russian election practices, faith and spirituality, etc. The ax-grinding sessions came very close to swamping the narrative, like the whaling chapter in Moby Dick or the socialist manifesto that commandeered the last third of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.It’s a very good novel, and well-deserving of it’s recognition as a classic, but it’s probably not for everyone. There is a lot of heavy thinking to do, and I re-read pages many times when I felt I hadn’t absorbed the text. History buffs, introverts, and those with a sociological bent will love it as-is. If you just want the drama, skip Levin’s story and read only the parts concerning Anna and Vronsky.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book! Hard to get into at first, but after the first 100 it's a page turner.Tells the story of the ill-wed Anna Karenina and her new love.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Anna Karenina, set in Russia, early 19th century, was a soap-opera type story of two sets of lovers and the people they interacted with. Great character development - so great that I actually think I used to date Levin (quiet, set in his own ways, didn't understand the greater picture, and was quite chauvinistic). I used to be Kitty (change myself for the man she loved, only happy if her man was happy, yadda yadda). They were a perfect couple. Anna was an independent woman who turned quite needy and whiny when she found a lover. I'm hoping that she will have more spine in Android Karenina. Anna's lover Vronsky, poor guy, was hopelessly in love wtih Anna and had no clue what he was doing. Adultery, forgiveness, technology vs. farming, peasants, faith, and trains are recurring themes.I really enjoyed reading this book. The character development and the writing style was really a breath of fresh air. I would definitely read it again.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    great way to kick off '09. loved it. probably in my top 10 favorite books ever if i kept a list like that..
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I tried to read it in High School and got through 100 pages. I reread it this year and it devoured my soul. Beautiful, mesmerising, and so complex you feel like you must have read 1000 pages in a sitting, only to discover it was more like 15.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Particularly impressed by this translation by Constance Garnett - it does capture the 'Russian' heart and the 'Class/Gender-based' divisions & sensitivity of Russia in that era - I have a fair grasp of Russian, but Garnett's mastery of language nuance within Tolstoy's text enriches its English telling: In many ways a fairly basic story of an illicit affair that wrecks marriages & lives, nonetheless Tolstoy again displays an insight of the social mores & conditions that prevailed and manages to look at them with a very modern (for his time) approach - very few authors of the period would have dealt so warmly and generously with besotted Anna - though Tolstoy inevitably must have the 'heroine' destroyed as a factual reality of the era the sympathetic delivery for her predicament throughout the novel shows the great author had a mastery of human compassion a good many authors of the 20th/21st Centuries regularly fail to achieve.PS: WSMaugham (July 18, 2016) in their review, like so many others, appear not to actually have understood the era in which Anna Karenin was living in Russia: The notion of 'divorce', a second marriage, having custody/access to her child were simply non-existent: Social etiquette, social taboos & the whole weight of Russian Nobility would've made such things impossible. Therefore, Tolstoy far from moralising and condemning Anna, was decades ahead of his time dealing with Russian social order in his treatment of the heroine - that she loses everything is not within Tolstoy's power to correct and somehow bring about a 'happy ending' - they were not possible in that suffocating Russian Social climate.