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Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

Start date: October 1, 2020

Finish date: December 31, 2020

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What Members Thought

Feb 02, 2009 Chrissie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: love, relationships, 2014-read, audible-us, soviet-union, hf, classics

I am going to listen to this, having read it years and years ago. Will I still give it five stars?

No, definitely not. In my view Tolstoy doesn't compare to Dostoyevsky.

Maybe when I was younger I was enthralled by the love story, but now with more years weighing me down and hopefully a better understanding of marital relationships, heavens I wasn't even married then, I found the whole story rather boring. I felt like kicking just about all the characters. I kept exclaiming, “Get a grip on yourse I am going to listen to this, having read it years and years ago. Will I still give it five stars?

No, definitely not. In my view Tolstoy doesn't compare to Dostoyevsky.

Maybe when I was younger I was enthralled by the love story, but now with more years weighing me down and hopefully a better understanding of marital relationships, heavens I wasn't even married then, I found the whole story rather boring. I felt like kicking just about all the characters. I kept exclaiming, “Get a grip on yourself, girl! Stop being so neurotic! Damn, have a little courage. Do something with your life rather than bemoaning your circumstances.” And Konstantin Levin let me down too. He had zero self-confidence; he was so childish! I didn't like Count Vronsky from the start and not by the end either. Stiva, starts out as being the "bad guy", but by the end I found him the only one who had a little perspective about life in general......not that I am saying I admire him! What a sad bunch of people.

And the religious tone to the ending totally put me off. As with the characters’ exaggerated behaviors, Tolstoy here too chose to employ extreme exaggeration. The proselytizing tone was a real let-down for me! NO THANK YOU, Tolstoy!

Here is what I did like. Each character feels real; they are not caricatures. These are people that have particular personalities. Even when they do unpredictable things they do what such a person would do. Tolstoy draws people of flesh and blood; he is observant of how we behave and respond and talk and communicate with each other! So rarely do authors capture such in a book of fiction......and that is why I like non-fiction and biographies. I can even forgive what Tolstoy does with his Kostya (i.e. Konstantin Levin figure), it is not unbelievable, albeit unsatisfying for me.

Again I seem to differ from how others react. I had zero trouble with the Russian names. Just print out a character list from the web and keep it in front of you. If you are paying attention you KNOW who must be saying those particular words. Nobody else would d say them! Secondly, everyone complains about the discussion of agrarian policies and labor. I found this interesting. Keep in mind that this book was written for Russian people of the 1870s; this book was published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. The Emancipation of the Serfs took place in 1861. Agriculture and labor were of prime interest to the people of those times, and I, a reader centuries later, find it interesting. This is a book of historical fiction! That Tolstoy was exploring the idea of profit-sharing back in the 1870s was an eye-opener for me. I had little trouble associating with the higher echelons of aristocracy, which usually puts me off, because their life style is so carefully and accurately depicted. Neither did I have trouble with Tolstoy's tendency to throw in characters that have tics. This wasn't excessive, in my view.

There is humor. I also smiled every time the chapter ended as a cliffhanger, due the story being written for a magazine. This keeps the pace moving. Something is always happening.

I absolutely loved Tolstoy's depiction of dogs. (Not just dogs, but horses and other animals too. There is a horse race that will have you gripping your seat.) His dogs think....and often they are smarter than the leading characters! Isn't this unusual for an author of the 1870s?! I say people then and people now really have not changed much! In any case, I loved it.

The narration by David Horovitch was very good, almost as good as Simon Vance/ Richard Whitaker, but not quite. I felt I was in a theater watching a performance. Along with the varied intonations and Tolstoy's descriptive details I could see the dress and mannerisms of these people. What do I know of such? Nevertheless, I saw it with my eyes and heard it with my ears.

I am glad I gave this a second reading, but the theme of a passionate love affair annoyed me rather than making me swoon. This one went from a five to a three star book.

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Jul 24, 2012 Laura rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-and-movie, read-2012, historical-fiction, audio-books, drama, russian-fiction, fiction-19th-century

How to resist to this great BBC dramatization?

From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
In 19th century Russia, a bored high society wife embarks on a love affair. Teresa Gallagher and Toby Stephens star in Tolstoy's love story set in 19th century Russia.

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Feb 13, 2008 Laura rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-and-movie, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, classics, russian-fiction, fiction-19th-century

Anna Karenina is the tragic story of a married aristocrat/socialite and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. The story opens when she arrives in the midst of a family broken up by her brother's unbridled womanizing—something that prefigures her own later situation, though she would experience less tolerance by others.

It is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. ...more

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Nov 22, 2008 Herschel Stratego rated it really liked it · review of another edition

i'm going to feel bad selling this text back to the college book store--you see...it was a very well written and engaging novel...and i'm proud to have read it...it is the longest book i have ever read--apart from the Old Testament. and although it's long...it's not a tough read--surprisingly! it's quick...but still begs for at least a couple of weeks.

don't be intimidated by the length...it's quite good in the end...the only reason it didnt get five stars is its final part, which is too long an ...more

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