Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Anna Karenina

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

168 reviews

ilovemyabby's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This story was my first introduction to Leo Tolstoy and I absolutely loved it. Highly descriptive, tons of backgrounds information, complex characters and relationships, historical. I listened to the audio version narrated by Maggie Gyllenhall, and her voice was pure perfection. Highly recommend listening to that version!

Content Warnings

ctatu's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

xoycheese's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Overall I really enjoyed this one, it felt like a different eras version of something like 'Sex in the City'. Sensational at points, frustrating at points, and nobody knew how to make good decisions, literally if their life depended on it.

Content Warnings

erin1096's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It's a foundational piece of modern literature for a reason. It was fascinating and I'm glad to have a personal understanding of AK, but it's definitely not a classic that I think everyone needs to read. The story was interesting and self propelling, it did hold my interest, but it is also a book so clearly, painfully written by a man. It's anachronistic, but I couldn't shake the thought that Tolstoy was an incel.
The book is centered around a woman and the slippery slope of her tragic life after she veers off the path that a "good" woman would take. She is juxtaposed against the goodness, grace, and purity of the protagonist's love interest. Knowing that Tolstoy identified strongly with this protagonist makes it so much more cringe.

ok there is a bit in a sanatorium and I would love to find some lesbian fanfic about Kitty and her friend there bc they had more chemistry than any other pairing in the book, that's all.

Content Warnings

cdstokes97's review against another edition

4.25

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

henasaro's review against another edition

4.75

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

picking_back_up's review against another edition

5.0

challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

New favourite. The amount of feelings that I have felt with this book solidified it.

Content Warnings

lailaology's review against another edition

3.75

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Whilst I have greatly enjoyed "Anna Karenina" [1878], with Tolstoy's expertise of societal structures, complex relationships, and political exploration being some of the most intriguing features of the novel, there were still some glaring issues which caused much discontentment in my reading process; most noticeably, the novel's editing (or lack thereof). Throughout the course of the eight-part novel [Part Five being my personal favourite], I realised there were many chapters that could have been removed and nothing significant would have changed. Many of the more meandering scenes that either detailed an arguably unneeded philosophical debate or contemporary [19th Century Russian] social issues/historical events, that whilst truly interesting to read, became so overdone. So much so that certain sections of the novel (most often Levin's Farm) felt more like a trial than a treat!

Overall, I think I have learnt more about Russian Agriculture than I would have ever imagined...

Content Warnings