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Anna Karenina (8 volumes) #1
Anna Karenina, Vol 1 of 8
Anna Karenina is the wife of a prominant Russian government official. She leads a correct but confining upper-middle-class existence. She seems content with her life as a proper companion to her dignified, unaffectionate husband and an adoring mother to her young son, until she meets Count Vronsky, a young officer of the guards. He pursues her and she falls madly in love with him. Her husband refuses to divorce her, so she gives up everything, including her beloved son, to be with Vronsky. After a short time, Vronsky becomes bored and unhappy with their life as social outcasts. He abandons her, returns to the military and is immediately accepted back into society. Anna, a fallen woman, shunned by respectable society, throws herself under a train.
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First published April 1, 1877
About the author
Leo Tolstoy
4,566 books22.5k followersLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
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April 27, 2022
Anna Karenina, Vol. 1 of 8 (Anna Karenina 8 volumes), Leo Tolstoy
The novel opens with a scene that introduces Prince Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky (Stiva), a Moscow aristocrat and civil servant who has been unfaithful to his wife, Princess Darya Alexandrovna (Dolly).
Dolly has discovered his affair with the family's governess, and the household and family are in turmoil. Stiva informs the household that his married sister, Countess Anna Arkadyevna Karenina, is coming to visit from Saint Petersburg in a bid to calm the situation. Meanwhile, Stiva's childhood friend, Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin (Kostya), arrives in Moscow with the aim of proposing to Dolly's youngest sister, Princess Katerina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya (Kitty).
Levin is a passionate, restless, but shy aristocratic landowner who, unlike his Moscow friends, chooses to live in the country on his large estate. He discovers that Kitty is also being pursued by Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky, an army officer.
Whilst at the railway station to meet Anna, Stiva bumps into Vronsky who is there to meet his mother, the Countess Vronskaya. Anna and Vronskaya have traveled and talked together in the same carriage. As the family members are reunited, and Vronsky sees Anna for the first time, a railway worker accidentally falls in front of a train and is killed. Anna interprets this as an evil omen. Vronsky, however, is infatuated with her. Anna is uneasy about leaving her young son, Sergei (Seryozha), alone for the first time.
At the Oblonsky home, Anna talks openly and emotionally to Dolly about Stiva's affair and convinces her that Stiva still loves her despite the infidelity. Dolly is moved by Anna's speeches and decides to forgive Stiva. Kitty, who comes to visit Dolly and Anna, is just eighteen. In her first season as a debutante, she is expected to make an excellent match with a man of her social standing.
Vronsky has been paying her considerable attention, and she expects to dance with him at a ball that evening. Kitty is very struck by Anna's beauty and personality and becomes infatuated with her just as Vronsky. When Levin proposes to Kitty at her home, she clumsily turns him down, believing she is in love with Vronsky and that he will propose to her, and encouraged to do so by her mother who believes Vronsky would be a better match (in contrast to Kitty's father, who favors Levin). At the big ball Kitty expects to hear something definitive from Vronsky, but he dances with Anna instead, choosing her as a partner over a shocked and heartbroken Kitty. Kitty realizes that Vronsky has fallen in love with Anna and has no intention of marrying her, despite his overt flirtations.
Vronsky has regarded his interactions with Kitty merely as a source of amusement and assumes that Kitty has acted for the same reasons. Anna, shaken by her emotional and physical response to Vronsky, returns at once to St. Petersburg. Vronsky travels on the same train. During the overnight journey, the two meet and Vronsky confesses his love.
Anna refuses him, although she is deeply affected by his attentions to her. Levin, crushed by Kitty's refusal, returns to his estate, abandoning any hope of marriage. Anna returns to her husband, Count Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, a senior government official, and her son, Seryozha, in St. Petersburg. On seeing her husband for the first time since her encounter with Vronsky, Anna realizes that she finds him unattractive, though she tells herself he is a good man.
Characters:
Anna Arkadyevna Karenina,
Count Aleksei Kirillovich Vronsky,
Prince Stepan (Stiva) Arkadyevich Oblonsky,
Princess Darya (Dolly) Alexandrovna Oblonskaya,
Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin,
Konstantin (Kostya) Dmitrievich Levin/Lyovin,
Nikolai Dmitrievich Levin/Lyovin,
Sergei Ivanovich Koznyshev,
Princess Ekaterina (Kitty) Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya,
Princess Elizaveta (Betsy) Tverskaya,
Countess Lidia (or Lydia) Ivanovna,
Countess Vronskaya: Vronsky's mother,
Sergei (Seryozha) Alexeyich Karenin,
and ...
عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «آنا کارنینا»؛ «آنا کارنین»؛ «آنا کاره نین»؛ نویسنده: لئو ن تالستوی؛ ادبیات روسیه؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دوم ماه آوریل سال2012میلادی
عنوان: آنا کرنینا: جلد یک از هشت؛ نویسنده: لئو تالستوی؛
آنا کارهنین، ترجمه منوچهر بیگدلی خمسه، گاشائی
با عنوان: آنا کارنینا؛ مترجها خانمها و آقایان: محمد علی شیرازی؛ سروش حبیبی؛ قازار سیمونیان؛ مشفقهمدانی؛ سودابه مبشر؛ مهناز فلاحعلیآبادی؛ علیاکبر داودیپور؛ طیبه احمدیجاوید؛ احمد پشتسیمین؛ زهرا چفلكی؛ فرناز آشتیانی؛ مرجان صادقی و ...؛
با عنوان: آنا کارنین؛ مترجم: مشفق همدانی؛
بیش از نیمی از داستان، درباره ی «آنا کارنینا» است؛ باقی درباره ی فردی به نام «لوین» است، البته که این دو شخصیت، در داستان رابطه ی دورادوری با هم دارند؛ به عبارتی، «آنا کارِنینا» خواهرِ دوستِ «لوین» است؛ در طولِ داستان، این دو شخصیت تنها یکبار، و آنهم در اواخرِ داستان با هم رودررو میشوند؛ پس، رمان تنها به زندگی «آنا کارِنینا» اشاره ندارد، و در آن به زندگی و افکار شخصیتهای دیگرِ داستان نیز، توجه شده است؛ «آنا» نام همسر «کارِنین» است، و ایشان به مناسبت نام شوهرش «آنا کارِنینا (مؤنثِ «کارِنین»)» نامیده میشوند؛ «تولستوی» در نوشتن این داستان کوشش داشته، برخی اندیشه های خویش را در قالب گفتگوهای متن، به خوانشگر بباوراند، تا او را به فکر وادارد؛ در قسمتهایی از داستان، «تولستوی» درباره ی شیوه های بهبود کشاورزی، یا آموزش نیز، سخن گفته اند؛ البته بیان این داده ها و اندیشه های نگارنده، گاهی باعت شده، داستان از موضوع اصلی دور شود، و داستان برای خوانشگر خسته کننده، بنماید؛
داستان از آنجایی آغاز میشود، که زن و شوهری به نامهای: «استپان آرکادیچ»، و «داریا الکساندرونا»؛ با هم اختلافی خانوادگی دارند؛ «آنا کارِنینا»، خواهر «استپان آرکادیچ» است، و از «سن پترزبورگ» به خانه ی برادرش ــ که در «مسکو» است ــ میآیند؛ و اختلاف زن و شوهر را به سامان میکنند؛ حضور «آنا» در «مسکو»، باعث به وجود آمدن ماجراهای اصلیِ داستان میشود...؛ فضای اشرافیِ آن روزگار بر داستان فرمان میراند؛ زمانی که پرنسها و کنتها، دارای مقامی والا، در جامعه ی آن روزگار «روسیه» بودند؛ داستان روندی نرم و دلنشین دارد؛ و به باور دیگران فضای خشک داستان «جنگ و صلح» نویسنده، بر داستان «آنا کارنینا» حکمفرما نیست؛ این داستان، که درونمایه ای عاشقانه ـ اجتماعی دارد، پس از «جنگ و صلح»، بزرگترین اثر روانشاد «تولستوی» بزرگ، به شمار است
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 31/03/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 06/02/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
The novel opens with a scene that introduces Prince Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky (Stiva), a Moscow aristocrat and civil servant who has been unfaithful to his wife, Princess Darya Alexandrovna (Dolly).
Dolly has discovered his affair with the family's governess, and the household and family are in turmoil. Stiva informs the household that his married sister, Countess Anna Arkadyevna Karenina, is coming to visit from Saint Petersburg in a bid to calm the situation. Meanwhile, Stiva's childhood friend, Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin (Kostya), arrives in Moscow with the aim of proposing to Dolly's youngest sister, Princess Katerina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya (Kitty).
Levin is a passionate, restless, but shy aristocratic landowner who, unlike his Moscow friends, chooses to live in the country on his large estate. He discovers that Kitty is also being pursued by Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky, an army officer.
Whilst at the railway station to meet Anna, Stiva bumps into Vronsky who is there to meet his mother, the Countess Vronskaya. Anna and Vronskaya have traveled and talked together in the same carriage. As the family members are reunited, and Vronsky sees Anna for the first time, a railway worker accidentally falls in front of a train and is killed. Anna interprets this as an evil omen. Vronsky, however, is infatuated with her. Anna is uneasy about leaving her young son, Sergei (Seryozha), alone for the first time.
At the Oblonsky home, Anna talks openly and emotionally to Dolly about Stiva's affair and convinces her that Stiva still loves her despite the infidelity. Dolly is moved by Anna's speeches and decides to forgive Stiva. Kitty, who comes to visit Dolly and Anna, is just eighteen. In her first season as a debutante, she is expected to make an excellent match with a man of her social standing.
Vronsky has been paying her considerable attention, and she expects to dance with him at a ball that evening. Kitty is very struck by Anna's beauty and personality and becomes infatuated with her just as Vronsky. When Levin proposes to Kitty at her home, she clumsily turns him down, believing she is in love with Vronsky and that he will propose to her, and encouraged to do so by her mother who believes Vronsky would be a better match (in contrast to Kitty's father, who favors Levin). At the big ball Kitty expects to hear something definitive from Vronsky, but he dances with Anna instead, choosing her as a partner over a shocked and heartbroken Kitty. Kitty realizes that Vronsky has fallen in love with Anna and has no intention of marrying her, despite his overt flirtations.
Vronsky has regarded his interactions with Kitty merely as a source of amusement and assumes that Kitty has acted for the same reasons. Anna, shaken by her emotional and physical response to Vronsky, returns at once to St. Petersburg. Vronsky travels on the same train. During the overnight journey, the two meet and Vronsky confesses his love.
Anna refuses him, although she is deeply affected by his attentions to her. Levin, crushed by Kitty's refusal, returns to his estate, abandoning any hope of marriage. Anna returns to her husband, Count Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, a senior government official, and her son, Seryozha, in St. Petersburg. On seeing her husband for the first time since her encounter with Vronsky, Anna realizes that she finds him unattractive, though she tells herself he is a good man.
Characters:
Anna Arkadyevna Karenina,
Count Aleksei Kirillovich Vronsky,
Prince Stepan (Stiva) Arkadyevich Oblonsky,
Princess Darya (Dolly) Alexandrovna Oblonskaya,
Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin,
Konstantin (Kostya) Dmitrievich Levin/Lyovin,
Nikolai Dmitrievich Levin/Lyovin,
Sergei Ivanovich Koznyshev,
Princess Ekaterina (Kitty) Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya,
Princess Elizaveta (Betsy) Tverskaya,
Countess Lidia (or Lydia) Ivanovna,
Countess Vronskaya: Vronsky's mother,
Sergei (Seryozha) Alexeyich Karenin,
and ...
عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «آنا کارنینا»؛ «آنا کارنین»؛ «آنا کاره نین»؛ نویسنده: لئو ن تالستوی؛ ادبیات روسیه؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دوم ماه آوریل سال2012میلادی
عنوان: آنا کرنینا: جلد یک از هشت؛ نویسنده: لئو تالستوی؛
آنا کارهنین، ترجمه منوچهر بیگدلی خمسه، گاشائی
با عنوان: آنا کارنینا؛ مترجها خانمها و آقایان: محمد علی شیرازی؛ سروش حبیبی؛ قازار سیمونیان؛ مشفقهمدانی؛ سودابه مبشر؛ مهناز فلاحعلیآبادی؛ علیاکبر داودیپور؛ طیبه احمدیجاوید؛ احمد پشتسیمین؛ زهرا چفلكی؛ فرناز آشتیانی؛ مرجان صادقی و ...؛
با عنوان: آنا کارنین؛ مترجم: مشفق همدانی؛
بیش از نیمی از داستان، درباره ی «آنا کارنینا» است؛ باقی درباره ی فردی به نام «لوین» است، البته که این دو شخصیت، در داستان رابطه ی دورادوری با هم دارند؛ به عبارتی، «آنا کارِنینا» خواهرِ دوستِ «لوین» است؛ در طولِ داستان، این دو شخصیت تنها یکبار، و آنهم در اواخرِ داستان با هم رودررو میشوند؛ پس، رمان تنها به زندگی «آنا کارِنینا» اشاره ندارد، و در آن به زندگی و افکار شخصیتهای دیگرِ داستان نیز، توجه شده است؛ «آنا» نام همسر «کارِنین» است، و ایشان به مناسبت نام شوهرش «آنا کارِنینا (مؤنثِ «کارِنین»)» نامیده میشوند؛ «تولستوی» در نوشتن این داستان کوشش داشته، برخی اندیشه های خویش را در قالب گفتگوهای متن، به خوانشگر بباوراند، تا او را به فکر وادارد؛ در قسمتهایی از داستان، «تولستوی» درباره ی شیوه های بهبود کشاورزی، یا آموزش نیز، سخن گفته اند؛ البته بیان این داده ها و اندیشه های نگارنده، گاهی باعت شده، داستان از موضوع اصلی دور شود، و داستان برای خوانشگر خسته کننده، بنماید؛
داستان از آنجایی آغاز میشود، که زن و شوهری به نامهای: «استپان آرکادیچ»، و «داریا الکساندرونا»؛ با هم اختلافی خانوادگی دارند؛ «آنا کارِنینا»، خواهر «استپان آرکادیچ» است، و از «سن پترزبورگ» به خانه ی برادرش ــ که در «مسکو» است ــ میآیند؛ و اختلاف زن و شوهر را به سامان میکنند؛ حضور «آنا» در «مسکو»، باعث به وجود آمدن ماجراهای اصلیِ داستان میشود...؛ فضای اشرافیِ آن روزگار بر داستان فرمان میراند؛ زمانی که پرنسها و کنتها، دارای مقامی والا، در جامعه ی آن روزگار «روسیه» بودند؛ داستان روندی نرم و دلنشین دارد؛ و به باور دیگران فضای خشک داستان «جنگ و صلح» نویسنده، بر داستان «آنا کارنینا» حکمفرما نیست؛ این داستان، که درونمایه ای عاشقانه ـ اجتماعی دارد، پس از «جنگ و صلح»، بزرگترین اثر روانشاد «تولستوی» بزرگ، به شمار است
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 31/03/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 06/02/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
May 24, 2012
the characters in Anna Karenina are always trying to reconcile the three different modes of human experience: the ideal, the real and the societal. anna's love for vronsky moves between the ideal and the real: "she was making the picture of him in her imagination (incomparably superior, impossible in reality) fit with him as he really was." whereas alexey's consideration of his marriage to anna moves between the real and the societal: "he had translated the matter from the world of real life to the world of ink and paper..." Levin's farming endeavors flit between all three: he is possessed by a vision of agricultural progress for russia, sidetracked by unforeseeable forces such as the weather or his laborers' mistrust, and desires validation from society through conversation and the sucessful publishing of his new theory of labor.
the ideal is the passion, the recklessness, the pursuit of perfection. the real is the hard facts of life, poverty, divorce, betrayal. and society is the group of judges that press upon us, the framers of convention. in tolstoy, we find a fluid, at times ingenious, balance of the interactions of the three in human life.
the characters also seek to differentiate themselves from the generalizations and behavior of the masses. Levin "thought his engagement would have nothing about it like others, that the ordinary conditions of engaged couples would spoil his special happiness; but it ended in his doing exactly as other people did..." and Alexey feels that his situation with Anna is unique in its contrast with other divorce cases. like actual human beings, the characters give priority to their own perspective.
the real project of the book is to convey a successful means of circumventing the eventual disillusionment of idealism or the ennui of a realistic ideology. several strategies are presented: the sacrifice of passionate love, the satisfaction of physical labor and the fruit of career success are detailed impeccably with all their shortcomings and virtues. tolstoy is an amazing writer on the macro level. there are scenes in this novel packed with dialogue, dramatic irony and conflicting motivations that are just so gracefully executed, always with little flourishes of detail in the right places to make them organic. he's a master. a real slice of human life.
the ideal is the passion, the recklessness, the pursuit of perfection. the real is the hard facts of life, poverty, divorce, betrayal. and society is the group of judges that press upon us, the framers of convention. in tolstoy, we find a fluid, at times ingenious, balance of the interactions of the three in human life.
the characters also seek to differentiate themselves from the generalizations and behavior of the masses. Levin "thought his engagement would have nothing about it like others, that the ordinary conditions of engaged couples would spoil his special happiness; but it ended in his doing exactly as other people did..." and Alexey feels that his situation with Anna is unique in its contrast with other divorce cases. like actual human beings, the characters give priority to their own perspective.
the real project of the book is to convey a successful means of circumventing the eventual disillusionment of idealism or the ennui of a realistic ideology. several strategies are presented: the sacrifice of passionate love, the satisfaction of physical labor and the fruit of career success are detailed impeccably with all their shortcomings and virtues. tolstoy is an amazing writer on the macro level. there are scenes in this novel packed with dialogue, dramatic irony and conflicting motivations that are just so gracefully executed, always with little flourishes of detail in the right places to make them organic. he's a master. a real slice of human life.
May 21, 2014
" Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
So profound isn't it
End of part one
34 chapter and the point of the plot doesn't show clearly yet , Anna karenina herself doesn't show up until chapter 18 , Tolstoy picked up
An aristocratic class families of Russian society talking about its complicated relationships starting with the shaken marriage of the Oblonsky's Stepan and Dolly, Levin's one-sided love to kitty, and her unrequited love for Vronsky which leads them in the end to be stuck in a love triangle, taking in the fact that Vronsky will end up in love with married Anna, so here we are Waiting for the disastrous Upcoming affair.
Reading to Tolstoy such as Russian literature in general is almost epicness to me and Definitely its my classical way If I ever fed out off poorly written novels.
Of course I have seen the film, which I absolutely loved and right now I'm in the process of reading it in arabic which makes it much easier for getting the writer's point.
May 24, 2012
A classic, for a reason. A lot of narration and introspection, which makes it philosophical as well as an incredible tale. Every woman can relate, I think, to Anna Karenina, but there were times when I felt very much like Levin.
May 24, 2012
When Doug Bonzo plopped this book down on my desk in AP English in High School, I hadn't the slightest idea why.
Now, over 10 years later, I finally read it, and I am enamoured. I adore all the characters, and look forward to more Russian Literature.
Now, over 10 years later, I finally read it, and I am enamoured. I adore all the characters, and look forward to more Russian Literature.
May 24, 2012
This beautifully written book pulls the reader into the realities of mental, emotional and moral conflict.
May 24, 2012
OK so let me say first off that I am happy to say I finally finished this book. I started it five years ago and gave up the daunting novel. I was determined to finish it this summer. So- now I have read it and let me just say....I don't like Anna Karenina. She was such a week and pathetic woman!! I started out liking her and was amazed that she would have an affair in that time. However, she turned out to be weak, unsure of herself and her choices, unable to love her children (abandoning one), and totally paranoid and depressed at the end. I was not at all upset at what she chose to do at the end. The book was practically filled with "forshadowing" on death. The first time we meet Anna is right before a tragic death.
A note on Tolstoy- YES I know he is considered a great writer but COME ON- we don't even meet Anna until like chapter 20!!!!! So many characters and so long winded.... I need to read something fluffy now....
A note on Tolstoy- YES I know he is considered a great writer but COME ON- we don't even meet Anna until like chapter 20!!!!! So many characters and so long winded.... I need to read something fluffy now....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2012
Try to read this. Really try. It is a great book with good storylines, but numbering over 900 pages it is like being in a committed relationship. The four main characters have interesting storylines to follow, but verbious nature of Tolstoy makes the reader want to skim over pages and pages of text and 'thoughts' and skip ahead to dialoge or more dramatic portions of the book. I started reading this while I was commuting on the bus/train, and the being forced to sit and read the book once or twice a day for a half hour, I was breezing through it, but once I didn't have that time to read as much anymore I couldn't get back into it.
So, if you like loooong books from a looong time ago, give it a try
So, if you like loooong books from a looong time ago, give it a try
May 24, 2012
Vronski and Anna are one of the most tragic couples I've read about in a while, and for that reason I kept coming back until I finished the MASSIVE TOME that it is. The plot itself is so varied and diverse at times it's hard to remember who is who and what just happened but as I'm learning with the 2nd volume it all comes together for the story's greater good. With any good classic (I find) there are parts that are kind of a chore to read but that could also be because I had the misfortune of reading Tolstoy's translated Russian novel in French. Good luck!
May 24, 2012
Okay, so I know this is a classic and that means I am supposed to like it, but this was way too long and detailed. I think it could have been condensed in half, easily. This was the reading equivalent of doing an ironman for me and I have never wanted to do that.
May 24, 2012
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
June 10, 2021
Some thoughts on Volume 1:
- What I have always loved about Tolstoy is the immense humanity, realness and universality of his characters. Look around you, these characters exist. And that's astounding for a book written over 200 years ago.
- I never fail to admire Tolstoy's empathetic and humanely written female characters. They actually have grey areas. Another astounding thing for a 19th century male writer.
- Anna Karenina, like War and Peace, feels like Tolstoy's reckoning with himself, his privilege, spirituality and politics. There is something personal about all/most of his novels.
- Society is an enormously important character in Anna Karenina. It's society which is the cause of most human failings in this novel. Most profoundly, women find themselves imprisoned by society.
- Oblonsky is probably my most detested character. He is so terribly real... a political 'centrist', a seemingly 'sweet', good-natured man who never fails to misuse and exploit both his position in the upper class and his position as a man.
- Anna is so different from the other 'infamous' heroine, Madame Bovary. Her struggles are driven by a conflict of duty vs. passion, self-identity vs. societal identity.
- Levin, essentially Tolstoy's self-insert, is the spiritual center of this book. So awkward, so inward driven, so detested by 'civilized' upper class society. And yet he is far from perfect. He suffers from an illogical sense of perfectionism. His idealistic view of love, family, marriage, even his cattle (LOL) are polar opposites of the more worldly and realistic Vronsky and Oblonsky.
- What I have always loved about Tolstoy is the immense humanity, realness and universality of his characters. Look around you, these characters exist. And that's astounding for a book written over 200 years ago.
- I never fail to admire Tolstoy's empathetic and humanely written female characters. They actually have grey areas. Another astounding thing for a 19th century male writer.
- Anna Karenina, like War and Peace, feels like Tolstoy's reckoning with himself, his privilege, spirituality and politics. There is something personal about all/most of his novels.
- Society is an enormously important character in Anna Karenina. It's society which is the cause of most human failings in this novel. Most profoundly, women find themselves imprisoned by society.
- Oblonsky is probably my most detested character. He is so terribly real... a political 'centrist', a seemingly 'sweet', good-natured man who never fails to misuse and exploit both his position in the upper class and his position as a man.
- Anna is so different from the other 'infamous' heroine, Madame Bovary. Her struggles are driven by a conflict of duty vs. passion, self-identity vs. societal identity.
- Levin, essentially Tolstoy's self-insert, is the spiritual center of this book. So awkward, so inward driven, so detested by 'civilized' upper class society. And yet he is far from perfect. He suffers from an illogical sense of perfectionism. His idealistic view of love, family, marriage, even his cattle (LOL) are polar opposites of the more worldly and realistic Vronsky and Oblonsky.
January 4, 2021
Anna Karenina is my favourite book. I couldn't find the exact edition I read on here so this serialised version will have to do. Anyway. Many may find, as did I initially, that the rambling chapters on the politics and society of the day, and horse racing nerdiness are arbitrary to the juicy romance and tragedy of the main storyline, however, do stick with them and you will be glad. This book single-handedly ignited an all encompassing passion in me for Russia- its history, its language, its people- and lead to me visiting St. Petersburg- still the biggest experience of my life so far. Every word is intrinsic to the overall story, each detail helps to further entrench you in the atmosphere of the day and therefore adds to the story as a whole. I would love to read more Tolstoy soon, he was a master of social commentary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2020
uh yeah I'm just reading the regular 1-volume edition irl, but if I don't log some progress I don't how to feel accomplished
like this book is LONG
I've read Dune, 2666, and Moby Dick
and this book is
L O N G
k that's all
like this book is LONG
I've read Dune, 2666, and Moby Dick
and this book is
L O N G
k that's all
December 27, 2021
Una maravilla. Describe la alta sociedad rusa con todo lujo de detalles. Una novela muy psicológica, centrada en el personaje de Anna y en sus tormentos. Tambien ensalza la vida vida el campo (la que lleva Levin) y critica la vida de la ciudad (la de Anna y Vronski). Una obra maestra.
December 15, 2021
Gooood...
May 24, 2012
Pre,predugačko. Po mom mišljenju veoma razvodnjeno. To je i razlog što sam ostao na prvom svesku. Drugi pročitah iz sažetka na wikipediji. Nemojte me krivo shvatiti - dijelovi koji se odnose na srž priče su odlični, ali se u drugima autor (ili ja kao čitatelj?) malo pogubio. Čitajući ovu knjigu, imao sam konstantan osjećaj da ju je vrijeme pregazilo. To je prvi put da sam osjetio takvo što čitajući ruskog pisca!
Tema je odlična, ali se to moglo puno jezgrovitije i sadržajnije izvesti. Larpurlartizam mi ovdje jednostavno nije dovoljan (što se tiče duljine romana). Dijelovi koji se tiču ruskog seljaka su potpuno nezanimljivi. Ne zato što je tematika promašena, nego se u te dijelove jednostavno nisam mogao unijeti i zamisliti ih u današnjem životu ili im naći ekvivalent - mada on postoji. U Uskrsnuću je pitanje potrebe za društvenom , a ujedno i osbnom promjenom puno lijepše iznešeno.
Pročitavši rat i mir, polovinu Karenjine i Uskrsnuće, moram istaknuti da je posljednji najbolji. Njegov zadnji veliki roman (koji kod kritičara i čitatelja nije toliko cijenjen) meni je potpuno pogođen, a prva dva precijenjena.
Tema je odlična, ali se to moglo puno jezgrovitije i sadržajnije izvesti. Larpurlartizam mi ovdje jednostavno nije dovoljan (što se tiče duljine romana). Dijelovi koji se tiču ruskog seljaka su potpuno nezanimljivi. Ne zato što je tematika promašena, nego se u te dijelove jednostavno nisam mogao unijeti i zamisliti ih u današnjem životu ili im naći ekvivalent - mada on postoji. U Uskrsnuću je pitanje potrebe za društvenom , a ujedno i osbnom promjenom puno lijepše iznešeno.
Pročitavši rat i mir, polovinu Karenjine i Uskrsnuće, moram istaknuti da je posljednji najbolji. Njegov zadnji veliki roman (koji kod kritičara i čitatelja nije toliko cijenjen) meni je potpuno pogođen, a prva dva precijenjena.
February 13, 2013
A tedious read. Had some difficulty with the names not only because they were Russian, that I was not familiar with, but also because the author gave each person about three different names and seemed to randomly use them throughout the book. Several different story lines were going on in the book and at points it felt more like reading people's day to day diary entries. All the miscellaneous details drew attention away from the actual plot. The ending felt anti-climactic to me. Leo Tolstoy could have continued writing forever but I am thankful he did not in this case. Reading this story was like doing homework. I even had to stop near the middle to read a different book just to get an exciting break. I am not recommending this book.
April 19, 2013
...aaaand, four months later, I can cross this classic off my list. Tolstoy can certainly pump out a gush of verbosity! I mined some wonderful gems from his writing, but unfortunately they were pulled from a poorly-formatted, free electronic version of the book. It was the first text that I read on my Christmas-gifted Nook, but I was so disappointed and distracted by the awkward formatting that the story lost some of its magic. And yet..I was too cheap to splurge for the $2.99 version of the book. Sorry, Tolstoy. Perhaps I'll give you more kudos after reading a paperback version of The Kreutzer Sonata.
November 16, 2012
I want to go on record as LOVING this book before the movie comes out. My husband and I talked about it on our first date together. We both agreed that the more compelling and satisfying story is the parallel story of Levin, whose life opens up while Anna's closes in. The book is insightful about human nature, relationships and morality. I have high hopes for the new movie, both for its innovative setting and for the promise that it promises Levin as its center influence.
(Woops! I loved the whole book, not just volume 1 in large type as I see I've accidentally chosen here! :c) )
(Woops! I loved the whole book, not just volume 1 in large type as I see I've accidentally chosen here! :c) )
December 14, 2012
Anna Karenina overwhelmed me. It gave me a great view of life in Russia; how the privileged lived; the way servants and peasants were treated; even a slight glimpse of how finances were handled when Vronsky sorted his bills, deciding what must be paid first; how Oblonsky spent money with no thought of how his wife would maintain their home without money. I'm curious to know why the book title was Anna Karenina instead of Kitty and Costia. I'm glad I read this book and I have to give it 5 stars, but I don't imagine I'll ever go back to read it again.
April 26, 2014
I can see why this was such a controversial book in its day; it was much like an informal treatise on Russian government and politics.
Although the characters are well formed, I found myself getting very annoyed with Anna and Levin. Both have a propensity toward abnegation of happiness which is utterly frustrating. I threw my hands in the air when Anna made her final mortal decision, until I realized that her abuse of Opium greatly affected her perception of reality (I was curious if addiction would be known of or addressed in history). But, my goodness, the drama!
Although the characters are well formed, I found myself getting very annoyed with Anna and Levin. Both have a propensity toward abnegation of happiness which is utterly frustrating. I threw my hands in the air when Anna made her final mortal decision, until I realized that her abuse of Opium greatly affected her perception of reality (I was curious if addiction would be known of or addressed in history). But, my goodness, the drama!
May 24, 2012
My all-time favorite book. As with all Russian novels (or so it seems), the plot can get tedious and Tolstoy is prone to long philosophical rants. However, his characters are so real that they could be your neighbors, even now. You must read this book. Yes, it will take you a long time. Yes, it's complete with difficult Russian name translations. And yes, it will change your life and how you view it.
May 24, 2012
You either love this style or it drives you crazy. For a book entitled Anna Karenina; it's amazing that it takes Tolstoy over 10 chapters before you even meet Anna! All I can say is that Tolstoy is incredibly detailed in his descriptions. I've heard that his aim was to create a fully believable, full-bodied world. He succeeds and takes the reader into the tragic, spiraling downward life of Anna Karenina.
May 24, 2012
Tolstoy's boundaries between light and darkness, shows an almost obsessive preoccupation with the themes of human suffering and love. Anna at first made me feel tender and adorable towards her..later on..as I read the last few chapters I fell in love with Kitty and struggled to like Anna's character. But it's one of my top 10 favorites.
May 24, 2012
Tolstoy based these characters on himself, his wife and their acquaintances.
One of the things I enjoy about Russian literature is the link they share to Eastern Orthodoxy. EO is such a commonplace way of life among classical Russian authors that it permeates throughout the stories -from the settings to the characters themselves.
At all times- I have a bookmark between the pages of this story.
One of the things I enjoy about Russian literature is the link they share to Eastern Orthodoxy. EO is such a commonplace way of life among classical Russian authors that it permeates throughout the stories -from the settings to the characters themselves.
At all times- I have a bookmark between the pages of this story.
May 24, 2012
I appreciated the brilliant mind of Leo Tolstoy and his ability to give so much detail. I did, however, get a little weary when he dwelled on too many details of farming. It was interesting,but at times I wished he would move on.
I would definitely read it again, though, if time permitted. I have "War And Peace" ready to read in the near future, although I will read other books in between.
I would definitely read it again, though, if time permitted. I have "War And Peace" ready to read in the near future, although I will read other books in between.
May 24, 2012
Tough subject. Tragic death. I missed some of the deep insight at the end that my mom understood once I talked to her about the book. I loved the beginning of the book, it took off quickly and then got a little distracted by all the talk of Russian politics but overall a good read. Definitely a classic.
May 24, 2012
I would give this book 3.5 stars. Although a lengthy classic novel, the book reads fairly well. We learn of life in 1800's Russia through the intricacies of 3 different yet related relationships. I enjoyed the human nature aspect of this novel but thought it went too deep in some technical aspects, e.g. farming methods.
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