From the Bookshelf of Should have read classics…

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy,

David Magarshack (Translator)

Start date: January 14, 2012

Finish date: March 1, 2012

Discussion: Buddy Reads-Current

Why we're reading this: This is the Depths of Winter buddy read for January. This will run around 6 weeks.
[close] This is the Depths of Winter buddy read for January. This will run around 6 weeks.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 2 topics — 60 comments total

Buddy Reads-Current

Buddy Reads?
By Rena · 5 posts · 83 views

last updated May 14, 2012 06:53AM

Depths of Winter Russian Lit Buddy Read
By Lisa , the usurper · 35 posts · 96 views

last updated Dec 27, 2011 02:24PM

showing 2 of 2 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Oct 30, 2011 Tasha rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, should-read, russian, to-read-in-2012, around-the-world, proud-i-got-through, read_in_2012

"Anna Karenina" was one of the books I've been wanting to read for a long time and as it is often the case with those books, I<#ve thought quite a lot about what it might be like. I knew the main story of course but still it was completely different from what I had expected.
Firstly I was surprised it was so enjoyable to read. I thought it would be much more difficult and straining, but Tolstoi seems to be one of the authors who doesn't feel the need to show off and thus uses a clear style of wri "Anna Karenina" was one of the books I've been wanting to read for a long time and as it is often the case with those books, I<#ve thought quite a lot about what it might be like. I knew the main story of course but still it was completely different from what I had expected.
Firstly I was surprised it was so enjoyable to read. I thought it would be much more difficult and straining, but Tolstoi seems to be one of the authors who doesn't feel the need to show off and thus uses a clear style of writing and no overblown vocabulary.
The humor in the first chapters also surprised me. I expected the novel to get darker but glimpses of humor tended to show through all the time.
There is fiction that strikes you as uterly real and for me "Anna Karenina" belongs into that category. The characters seem to be taken directly out of real life with all their faults and also their loveable cahracter trades. In some novels you always know what will happen next. If a man and a woman seem to fall in love with each other, they will surely be married. In "Anna Karenina" you can never be sure, just as in real life. I found that somehow relieving.
I also didn't expect that I would like Anna so little. I'm an admirer of headstrong and defiant female characters in literature, but throughout the book I never really liked her. Not even in the end when I felt deeply sympathetic towards her. Maybe because I know that she would have grudged me my sympathy.
Even though she made the drastic decision of leaving her husband I felt that she could never really go through to the end with it. Her happiness depended completey on Wronskij and even though that wasn't really her fault but due to her circumstances, this kept annoying me.
I must say that all in all I liked Ljewins and Kitty's story better, because they were the more likeable characters. Ljewin was my favourite character in the book.
Strangely enough I liked Alexej Karenin almost from the first time he was mentioned. Maybe because his own wife despised him so much. I never expected that he would actually turn out to be a noble character and was extremely surprised. He stopped being interesting for me however when Duchess Iwanowna started influencing him.
Alltogehter "Anna Karenina" was a rewarding read for me and I feel that I learned a lot about people from Tolstos gift to observe and describe them. ...more

Like · see review