Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Anna Karenina

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

93 reviews

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

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

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

3.0

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

4.25

emotional informative sad tense medium-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

timblee's review against another edition

3.0

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

samants's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A collection of thoughts:

HUGE TW for suicidal ideation. 3 characters contemplate and/or attempt it, and you get really into the minds of two of them. Consider yourself warned.
Rich people being messy!
I don't think the book is actually about Anna Karenina. It's really about Levin, who is an author self-insert, and kind of an annoying one at that. He's prone to jealousy, emotionally erratic, and self-pitying to an extreme. I don't mind an annoying main character, but it feels a bit bait-and-switch for this to be called Anna Karenina.
The characters are incredibly full of life and fun to read about. I can see why people say this is a masterpiece; Tolstoy captures the nuances of human relationships, societal mores, and day-to-day living stunningly. The characters felt so alive and just very human. People in late 1800s Russia: they're just like us! A mark of how well-done this was is how I have thoughts about each and every character (but I will only give some of my thoughts here).
- Stiva was such a shitty husband but sooooo fun to read about. So charming and fun and funny. Terrible husband and father. Great friend to party with.
- Anna was such a flawed person, seeking happiness but going about it in the worst way possible. So messy and toxic but you really feel for her when
  she is snubbed in St Petersburg
  .
- Poor Dolly. She should never have
  listened to Anna
  .
- I felt so bad for Seryozha. He did nothing wrong and has a really rough go of it. I hope he and
  Annie
  made it out of everything ok.
- RIP
  Frou-Frou. Terrible name that made me laugh aloud.
I don't have any experience with suicidal ideation, but
Anna's unspooling at the end of her life felt very frantic and genuine. You could feel her panic and I found it very affecting.
The philosophical and economic essays in the book were sort of interesting but made it a bit slow at times. Honestly, it made me kind of want to read a book or take a course about Russian history, which is overall a positive review of the book, I guess, but it really did slow everything down. I want to read an essay about Anna Karenina and the Russian Revolution.
Unexpected queer representation: Countess Lidia Ivanovna is canonically bisexual (like, literally written in the text) and Kitty is almost certainly bi as well (she becomes infatuated with both Varenka and Anna). Slay
Anna
kills herself
and there are still 19 chapters left in the book. It's kind of a weird denouement and really makes it feel like the book is two different novels put together. I didn't mind Levin's story, but his
finding God/spirituality
was a bit of a letdown after the breathless last chapter of Part 7.
Lastly, I think one of the biggest complaints people have about Russian literature is the number of names, which is honestly fair because the cast of this book is massive. However, if you take the time to understand the Russian naming system (given name, patronymic, family name, nickname(s)) it gets much easier. Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky is usually referred to as one of: Stepan, Stiva, Stepan Arkadyevitch, and Oblonsky. Maybe I'm just Filipino and used to nicknames, but to me this makes complete sense.

Content Warnings

novel_slayer's review against another edition

3.0

emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

jling09's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

thisiswhy_wecanthavenicethings's review against another edition

4.5

emotional sad tense 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

This was surprisingly a really interesting book, and while I did struggle a bit in understanding, want to reread again. Some parts of the book felt a bit unnecessary and overly long, however overall felt complete.

Content Warnings

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