From the Bookshelf of EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club…

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

Start date: November 1, 2018

Finish date: November 30, 2018

Discussion: CLASSICS READS

Why we're reading this: Group pick for the Classics Read - Nov. '18…more
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CLASSICS READS

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What Members Thought

Dec 03, 2009 Jen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: no-pain-no-gain, classics

Yea! I'm done! And it only took 11 months!

I'm glad that I read this, because it's a classic and it challenged me, and it gave me an insight into a time in history and place that I didn't know much about, but dang is it long and depressing.

One thing I can't figure out, is why the title is Anna Karenina. Likely, she is the most tragic character, but by far not the most interesting.

For Russian literature, and a 900 page book, it was very accessible. That might be the translation that I was readi ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 09, 2021 Amy Ellis rated it really liked it

4.5, I think. There were some political sections that slowed it way down for me, and I wanted to slap Anna.
I have tried for years to read this book, but my book club chose it--which gave me the final push! I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did or for it to be as spiritual as it was. I think Levin might be my favorite literary character now. I am just in awe that Tolstoy can write women and childbirth so well. I got chills from the final paragraph! I loved it and will definitely read ...more

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Feb 05, 2020 Ketutar Jensen rated it liked it · review of another edition

It is brilliant... but I had forgotten that Tolstoy was very Christian.
(view spoiler)
This is really not a love story between Anna and Vronsky. Levin is the MC here. But - I suppose if people were aware of it, a lot of people wouldn't read this book :-D

BTW, I hate AnnaI found her extremely selfish, stupid, mean, entitled bitch. Even her death... *sigh* Stupid bitch!
I feel so bad for It is brilliant... but I had forgotten that Tolstoy was very Christian.
(view spoiler)
This is really not a love story between Anna and Vronsky. Levin is the MC here. But - I suppose if people were aware of it, a lot of people wouldn't read this book :-D

BTW, I hate AnnaI found her extremely selfish, stupid, mean, entitled bitch. Even her death... *sigh* Stupid bitch!
I feel so bad for Seryozha. I can't imagine how Anna Alexeyich's life is going to be, being brought up by Karenin, who hated both her parents. I can imagine how Seryozha hates his little sister who is a symbol of what took his mother away from him. I wish Anna had taken Seryozha and run away when she wanted to. Never mind Karenin's letter and wishes. Obviously she didn't really care about what he thought.
I was expecting Anna to be more judged, but people weren't really that nasty to her. One incident, which she should have expected to happen. I mean, how would she not understand people see her as the marriage breaker, when she is the only one who was unfaithful to her spouse? Vronsky was unmarried, Karenin never cheated on anyone.
And Vronsky really loved her and tried to do what was best for her. She was just so f-ing wound up with herself that she didn't even hear him. And, no, I don't accept the way the society and her husband treated her as any excuse. She refused to divorce him, and then she started whining because he changed his mind. After all, she lost her son when she chose Vronsky... even when Karenin had seen to that she could have a respectable life as a wife and mother, AND all the love and sex with Vronsky. I can only assume she was sick (like bipolar or something), and that, I suppose, is excuse enough. But I still don't like her.

I also love the description of Levin and the birth of his son :-D

I was a bit surprised by all the politics going on in the book. I didn't know about that.

...more

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