Anna Karenina in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 20, 2019 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it it was amazing

Shelves: happiness, favorites, relationships, must-read, around-the-world, philosophy, death, the-classics-club

I heard it called the world's best known soap opera. I heard it called the world's greatest novel.

It's the world's greatest novel.

It's a brilliant intertwining of characters, characters who are as fully human as you can ever get on the page. There is Dolly Oblonsky, a matronly wife who has lost her husband's affections and doesn't know why and doesn't know what to do. There's her husband, Stiva Oblonsky, the womanizing yet charming fellow who can't stop flirting with women and can't manage mone I heard it called the world's best known soap opera. I heard it called the world's greatest novel.

It's the world's greatest novel.

It's a brilliant intertwining of characters, characters who are as fully human as you can ever get on the page. There is Dolly Oblonsky, a matronly wife who has lost her husband's affections and doesn't know why and doesn't know what to do. There's her husband, Stiva Oblonsky, the womanizing yet charming fellow who can't stop flirting with women and can't manage money. There is Kitty Alexandrovna, the woman at the height of her beauty who is intrigued with the easily-bored Count Alexei Vronsky. There is Konstantin Levin, a country farmer, confused about life, estranged from religion, and deeply taken with the young Kitty. There is Alexei Karenin, the dutiful husband who seeks guidance about what is right. And there is Anna Karenina herself, the title character, who is swept up in a mad romance with Count Vronsky, and has to deal with the consequences, a situation where no move is a happy one for herself or for anyone else.

I was especially taken with Konstantin Levin and his anguished search for truth and happiness, in his work relations with others, in the choosing of his wife, in his philosophy of life. I will never forget the final paragraph of this book, a paragraph that deeply resonates with me, lines from Levin as he finally is able to put together everything he has learned into a wonderful personal philosophy of life:

"I shall go on in the same way, losing my temper with Ivan the coachman, falling into angry discussions, expressing my opinions tactlessly; there will be still the same wall between the holy of holies of my soul and other people, even my wife; I shall still go on scolding her for my own fright and being remorseful for it; I shall still be as unable to understand with my reason why I pray, and I shall still go on praying; but my life now, my whole life apart from anything that can happen to me, every minute of it is no more meaningless, as it was before, but it has the positive meaning of goodness, which I have the power to put into it."

I can see that I am going to be pushing everyone I meet to read this book. I apologize in advance. It's, after all, over eight hundred pages. But it's worth it. It's definitely worth it. ...more

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Jan 02, 2010 Andrea rated it it was amazing

It's hard to say anything original about a classic, but I would just say this is about lots of things besides romance, although that's in there. The major theme that interested me was the idea of self-centeredness and its destructive effects on relationships. ...more

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Mar 31, 2020 Lindsey Z rated it liked it · review of another edition

What Tolstoy does well: examine romantic and familial relationship dynamics and how and why people act the way they do when they're jealous, in love, out of love, confused, depressed, joyful, etc. There were so many moments where I thought, "Wow he nailed that. That's exactly how I felt in X situation." The writing was compelling and not a "slog" like some other classics are.

What Tolstoy doesn't do well: control his narrative (the book was way too long and there were stretches of self-indulgent ...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Mary Paul rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I admit I didn't expect to like this, as I hadn't much enjoyed the other Russians I've read, but rather than being grandiose and overbearing morality, the beauty of this piece is the humanity of small moments: the stupidity and wonder of a new marriage, the conflicting emotions and suffering accompanying the convalescence and death of a loved one, the small slights which can be fostered into mad self-harm and suicide. I felt this was a genuine and true glimpse of humanity and the foolish things ...more

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