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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
I had Anna Karenina for many years on my want to read list and now I have finally read it. What a mammoth...the only way to tackle such a mammoth is a bite at a time. It is not a book to be rushed, it took me almost 4 months, though I did read other books concurrently. I'm happy to have read it, some parts were sublime, others a little tedious, Tolstoy has packed a lot into this novel. The story of Levin parallels that of Anna but almost in reverse. The opening line that differs in different translations:
Video link:
my review on YouTube
All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.sets the tone for the book, there are many unhappy families here. We begin with Dolly and Oblonsky, Dolly is devastated by her husband's infidelity. The book exposes the hypocrisy of high society in Moscow and St Petersburg, through the lens of a doomed love affair between Anna and Vronsky; it looks at love and modernity, it looks at agricultural practices in the Russian countryside and how to raise a family. It is epic in scale, Faulkner described it as the greatest novel of all time.
Video link:
my review on YouTube
emotional
reflective
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
I absolutely loved the writing of this book and the depth of knowledge displayed in all (there were so many) the different topics. There were a lot of interesting metaphors which I loved. And I think Tolstoy does an incredible job grasping the thoughts, feelings and reasonings of each character throughout their lives, then how that interacts with the others in the novel. Every relationship and interaction is so deep, just as real human relationships and interactions are. Through this the characters became so relatable, loveable, and hateable. However, it really was not necessary to spend so long on each one. Many times I wondered if what I was reading had any real purpose or relation to the story as a whole, but perhaps I need to look past the surface level on these sections. I also felt like sooo much of the story was build up to an event, and there would be no follow up after the event. Something HUGE would occur, and then the story would skip forward in time and focus on another character, leaving you confused, disoriented, and wanting for more. This usually would be a huge turn off for me in a book, but I loved the writing style so much that I really don’t care.
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beautiful and moving. Genius and complex in it's ideas, but elegantly simple in it's execution. Made me reflect on many aspects of my own life and existence, definitelly will return to it.
Well, I certainly feel like it was an accomplishment to finish this huge beast of a book! I listened to this as an audiobook and man oh man it took awhile to get through this giant tome. My goodness, it felt like 3 or 4 books in one. The initial third was interesting and I was curious about the story. I
particularly liked the story line with Kitty and Levin. However, as time dragged on in this book. I got annoyed at the sexism and really mad at the frustrating behavior of some of the characters. Especially some of the female characters just seem so flat. Ugh and the irresponsible manner of some of the men that spend money on all their own interests and leave their families to flounder was maddening. I also didn't understand all the references to people's teeth. Perhaps, that was a mark of the times. The references to French all the time just made some of the pompous characters seem even more snobby. It just seemed so hopeless and sad by the end and it certainly dragged in the last third for me, but since I had invested so much time already I wanted to see it through.
particularly liked the story line with Kitty and Levin. However, as time dragged on in this book. I got annoyed at the sexism and really mad at the frustrating behavior of some of the characters. Especially some of the female characters just seem so flat. Ugh and the irresponsible manner of some of the men that spend money on all their own interests and leave their families to flounder was maddening. I also didn't understand all the references to people's teeth. Perhaps, that was a mark of the times. The references to French all the time just made some of the pompous characters seem even more snobby. It just seemed so hopeless and sad by the end and it certainly dragged in the last third for me, but since I had invested so much time already I wanted to see it through.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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