9.64k reviews for:

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

3.97 AVERAGE

junodams's review against another edition

5.0

challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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

sopell's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-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

blo_om's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

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Too long. Might pick up later.

nilonilo's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

feminerdity's review against another edition

4.0

emotional reflective 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

ari_odinson's review against another edition

4.0

sad slow-paced

darbirabs's review against another edition

3.5

medium-paced

ky_finley's review against another edition

5.0

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Tolstoy gives not only the best opening line in all of literature, but beautiful prose shaping and showing every day life of the Russian aristocrats of old. Also. Kitty and Kostya deserve a place next to Darcy and Lizzie as romance royalty! The chalk scene is hands down the most romantic scene in literature. An absolute must read for everyone who loves romance and drama.

lady_svoboda's review against another edition

1.0

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The protagonist is hard to relate to/ sympathize with. I didn't make it 1/3 of the way through.

impressionblend's review against another edition

4.0

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I did it, guys! My first classic of 2018 is read, and it's a major one.

I have to say, reading this as an adult is a VERY different experience from what it was like reading it for school in my mid teens. It's still not my favorite classic, but I appreciate it so much more now. I was also way more interested in the secondary storyline (Kitty and Levin) over the main one (Anna and Vronsky), as well as found myself sympathizing with Anna's husband. While on my first read, which clearly happened too early for me, I found Levin's chapters boring and his philosophical debates way too drawn out, this time around I actually thought most of them were fascinating. Meanwhile, Anna herself was easily the least sympathetic character for me.

There still were some pacing issues, and some sections could have easily been edited down, but overall this iconic classic is very much a must-read!