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Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

Start date: August 1, 2018

Finish date: October 31, 2018

Discussion: 2018 RT Tournament of Books

Why we're reading this: Contender for the 2018 Tournament of Books, Round J
[close] Contender for the 2018 Tournament of Books, Round J

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2018 RT Tournament of Books

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What Members Thought

May 22, 2020 Henk rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

A panoramic view of the high society, obsessed with keeping up appearances, in a fast changing Russia. Full of reflections on love, faith, duty and (maybe less compelling for the modern reader) agriculture - 4 stars

Short chapters filled with multifaceted, very real characters and a lot of interesting contrasts is my characterisation of the reading experience of Anna Karenina. Commentary of society, with the opportunism and nepotism of the aristocracy is personified in Stepan "Stiva" Oblonski, wh ...more

145 likes · Like · see review

Dec 31, 2023 Sarah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 5-star-fiction

Tolstoy has completely won me over. He writes with such care and nuance that no character is without vice or virtue. When you are introduced to someone, it is obvious the author has a solid grasp on their distinct psychology. When going into a classic dating 100+ years, I’m often apprehensive of how the women will be portrayed. However, the women are complex with a wide spectrum of motivations and influences, putting them on equal footing with the men. Tolstoy making Anna smart and well read, ki ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Nov 11, 2018 Rachel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, hardbooks

I'm glad I reread this. I didn't like it as much as I did at the first reading, but I felt a clearer understanding of its themes and ideas. I thought it was interesting as I read in the afterward (thank you for putting it at the end and not spoiling the novel by having it up front!) that Tolstoy had travelled Europe and was influenced by Europe writers, specifically George Eliot's Middlemarch, which was the last significant book I read. You can see her influence on his converging storylines, whi ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 30, 2017 Elise rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 1800s, translated, read-in-2017

A masterpiece of characterization that explores its lives in all their mundane, petty, angst-filled, and sometimes touching detail. While realistic depiction of the habitual is necessarily repetitious, the plot does seem to thin out around halfway, using up its store of memorable events too soon. It doesn't help that Levin left to his own thoughts is a total boring wiener. ...more

1 like · Like · see review