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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”
Considered one of the greatest novels of all time, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina follows a corner of society during the love affair of the title character. We follow Anna as she is weighed down by society forcing her to choose between the things in her life she loves. She is surrounded by her husband Karenin, a man who shuns all warmth; her brother Stiva, a carefree man with connections to everyone; Stiva's sister-in-law Kitty, an ingenue trying to find herself; Levin, the man in love with Kitty and Stiva's best friend; and Count Vronsky, the charming younger man Anna falls for.
This book was so rewarding to read. It's one of the world's most beloved classics, it's long and episodic, and it covers lots of people and time at a point of cultural shifting. I would like to note that I read the Garnett translation, and while it's not the translation that the most popular versions of quotes are pulled from, I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it. This copy was stunning as well, and easy to read out of. The only thing I would have wanted more from it was maybe some more resources for historical context, etc.
What were the things I really liked about this book? Anna and her plotline is my favorite part by far. Her crime is loving and wanting love, uncompromisingly seeking truth and a life based on genuine emotions. She is a creature of grand emotions, feeling the highest highs or the lowest lows and few things in between. She is wrought by guilt as her desire for truth leads her to follow her heart in loving Vronsky, because she is not allowed to have a truthful life with him while also maintaining a relationship with her son. She is shunned by Russian society for her choices, but to her, she cannot see them as choices but as the most survivable path. She doesn't always do the most "right" thing - nobody in this book does - but I find her to be a visceral and admirable character. She suffers, but I don't think she is necessarily punished by the narrative; she cannot be supported by the society she is in, but we as a reader do not see her as the guilty party.
I was nervous when reading a classic written by a man that the female characters may not be well-realized or respected through the lens of the narrative, but that was not the case. While Levin, who is Tolstoy's most autobiographical character, is certainly the most main of the main characters, the female characters are respected and well-rounded. Some of the comments about women also seemed rather feminist to me, for the time it was written.
Each of the characters we follow have their own purposes to the story, and none are without merit. We see several characters through trial and error try to find their raison d'être and the morals they can allow themselves to live by. Kitty tries living for performing good deeds; Karenin tries living strictly on logic. Levin has several moral debates, from his questions on religion, to how he runs his farm and what that means for society at a whole as the caste distances shrink, to his dealings with his loved ones, the wife who he wants to protect and his brother who is an outcast in society. Each of the characters also has their own foils within the story, and as such we see - and they the characters see - how their differing characters traits bring out the best and worst of them all.
The most challenging part of this book for me was the episodic nature. I was aware going into this that it was published serially, but if I wasn't, I still would have been able to guess as such. Some chapters felt less important to the overarching narrative than others did, and because of that I was less driven to pay attention to them. The chapters on farming were particularly dry to me. Compared to chapters where characters are pouring their hearts out through internal or external monologues, the stakes seemed less concrete.
Overall, this is a classic that I prepared a long time for, I read for a long time, I actively turned over for a long time, and will be on my mind for a long time. It's not a brand new classic of all time, but it's one that I'd love to tear apart again more than once. 4.5 stars.
Considered one of the greatest novels of all time, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina follows a corner of society during the love affair of the title character. We follow Anna as she is weighed down by society forcing her to choose between the things in her life she loves. She is surrounded by her husband Karenin, a man who shuns all warmth; her brother Stiva, a carefree man with connections to everyone; Stiva's sister-in-law Kitty, an ingenue trying to find herself; Levin, the man in love with Kitty and Stiva's best friend; and Count Vronsky, the charming younger man Anna falls for.
This book was so rewarding to read. It's one of the world's most beloved classics, it's long and episodic, and it covers lots of people and time at a point of cultural shifting. I would like to note that I read the Garnett translation, and while it's not the translation that the most popular versions of quotes are pulled from, I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it. This copy was stunning as well, and easy to read out of. The only thing I would have wanted more from it was maybe some more resources for historical context, etc.
What were the things I really liked about this book? Anna and her plotline is my favorite part by far. Her crime is loving and wanting love, uncompromisingly seeking truth and a life based on genuine emotions. She is a creature of grand emotions, feeling the highest highs or the lowest lows and few things in between. She is wrought by guilt as her desire for truth leads her to follow her heart in loving Vronsky, because she is not allowed to have a truthful life with him while also maintaining a relationship with her son. She is shunned by Russian society for her choices, but to her, she cannot see them as choices but as the most survivable path. She doesn't always do the most "right" thing - nobody in this book does - but I find her to be a visceral and admirable character. She suffers, but I don't think she is necessarily punished by the narrative; she cannot be supported by the society she is in, but we as a reader do not see her as the guilty party.
I was nervous when reading a classic written by a man that the female characters may not be well-realized or respected through the lens of the narrative, but that was not the case. While Levin, who is Tolstoy's most autobiographical character, is certainly the most main of the main characters, the female characters are respected and well-rounded. Some of the comments about women also seemed rather feminist to me, for the time it was written.
Each of the characters we follow have their own purposes to the story, and none are without merit. We see several characters through trial and error try to find their raison d'être and the morals they can allow themselves to live by. Kitty tries living for performing good deeds; Karenin tries living strictly on logic. Levin has several moral debates, from his questions on religion, to how he runs his farm and what that means for society at a whole as the caste distances shrink, to his dealings with his loved ones, the wife who he wants to protect and his brother who is an outcast in society. Each of the characters also has their own foils within the story, and as such we see - and they the characters see - how their differing characters traits bring out the best and worst of them all.
The most challenging part of this book for me was the episodic nature. I was aware going into this that it was published serially, but if I wasn't, I still would have been able to guess as such. Some chapters felt less important to the overarching narrative than others did, and because of that I was less driven to pay attention to them. The chapters on farming were particularly dry to me. Compared to chapters where characters are pouring their hearts out through internal or external monologues, the stakes seemed less concrete.
Overall, this is a classic that I prepared a long time for, I read for a long time, I actively turned over for a long time, and will be on my mind for a long time. It's not a brand new classic of all time, but it's one that I'd love to tear apart again more than once. 4.5 stars.
challenging
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed reading "Anna Karenina". I loved reading from Kitty's point of view, especially during the first half of the book. Anna's story wasn't my favorite, but I still liked reading about her life. I was surprised how easy the story was to follow, and also how easy the language in this translation was to understand.
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
The book is interesting and great if you like history and politics… however by the last 2 parts it feels like it’s dragging on
Je l'ai commencé l'année dernière en avril je crois, il m'a pris plus de 8 mois pour le terminer tout simplement parce que 1) c'est un livre bien fat (1000 pages), 2) j'ai une vie à cote de se livre et 3) il est interminablement long en description... pas très glorieux c'est tout ce que je déteste chez un livre normalement, mais comme c'est un classique plus un livre qui l'a été offert et que je voulais voir le film je me suis Why Not... c'est une belle histoire, on se perd dedans plus d'une fois parce qu'il y a juste 36947 personnages différents avec tous des noms similaires... je dis ça mais c'est pas tout à fait vrai. Bref, je l!ai bien aimé, la romance a l'ancienne est très kitsch mais je n'ai absolument pas aimé le côté raciste et misogyne des hommes envers les femmes, même si a la fin ça s'améliore un peu.
D'ailleurs je ne comprends pas comment on peut tomber malade pendant des semaines au point de presque mourir seulement parce que telle personne m'a dit quelque chose qui m'a "bouleversé" ... non mais les gens se cette époque étaient vraiment faible d'esprit
D'ailleurs je ne comprends pas comment on peut tomber malade pendant des semaines au point de presque mourir seulement parce que telle personne m'a dit quelque chose qui m'a "bouleversé" ... non mais les gens se cette époque étaient vraiment faible d'esprit
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes