Scan barcode
jbriaz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Only 50 pages into War and Peace, I recognized its obvious brilliance, objectively-speaking the best book I have ever read. 500 pages into Anna Karenina, I only recognized my palm banging against my forehead at increasing frequency. Despite being 60% the length of War and Peace, Anna Karenina feels 60% longer with its languid pacing. In War and Peace, Tolstoy created three-dimensional characters throughout its entire main cast of characters. Each character bringing complexity with good, mediocre, and bad qualities to them. In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy mistakes giving every main character obnoxious and despicable traits for complexity, forgetting to round them out as people. Now that I’ve made it abundantly clear that War and Peace is the far superior work and anyone should just spend their time reading that book or re-reading instead of reading Anna Karenina. I will dive into Anna Karenina.
The worst thing about the novel Anna Karenina is the character Anna Karenina. I actually played this song when I reached the end of Part 7 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPz16LHTtpo). I’m guessing Tolstoy did not set out for his reader to respond accordingly to such an event – but let’s be clear: Anna is the worst. A character with no real depth to her whose “development” throughout the novel makes no sense, instead making erratic jumps from loyal, albeit unloved, wife, to adulterer, to crazy person. She, in fact, cannot stay evil in the same way. In Part 5, she says she loves her daughter and does not miss her son. And then immediately thereafter, all she talks about his seeing her son and how she does not care about her daughter. What? How? Why? No explanation given by Tolstoy to explain that change.
I’ve read numerous people write that this is a feminist novel because Tolstoy depicted the unfairness of 19th Century society in Russia in its treatment of women versus men when it came to adultery. Acknowledging unfair treatment does not make one a feminist or a novel feminist. In fact, Tolstoy through his self-representative character Levin repeatedly states that a woman’s place is at home and raising children. Tolstoy actually believed this and said this in non-fiction writings as well. More to the point, acknowledging a truth of unfair treatment does not make one a feminist without more said or done. And in fact, Tolstoy stated that the result of the main character was due to God’s vengeance. A vengeance God did not take out on the male adulterers. Feminist? I think not.
I’ve also read multiple critics compliment Tolstoy’s plot construction, symbolism, and structuring of the novel as a whole. If they were talking about War and Peace, they would be correct. With the exception of an entirely unnecessary second epilogue, that book succeeds in every almost every respect. In Anna Karenina, one character starts rich, becomes poor due to his decision that upsets his mother and due to a kindness he renders to a sibling, and then without explanation becomes rich again. Karenin has a sister that is obliquely referenced and never brought up again. And a character remains pregnant for approximately 13 months (no joke). This is the book people say is well-plotted, with brilliant internal symbolism and callbacks? (https://youtu.be/fRL80YB0x3s?t=11)
Karenin’s character arc made no sense. Karenin is a workaholic, career climbing bureaucrat in a loveless marriage, to a man out for revenge (understandably so), to a man all of the sudden forgiving adultery for no real reason, to finally religious zealot. Once again, none of these changes were organic or plotted well, just like Anna, which is inexcusable in a novel of this length.
Part 4 was an unmitigated disaster. Several main characters abruptly change personalities for no real reason. Once again, several people state Tolstoy is a master of characterization, not in Part 4. The novel functionally jumped the shark at Part 4, ruining what was in fact quite a good start to the book.
Then why don’t I rate this book 1 star or lower? Well, Parts 1-3 are actually quite good. If Tolstoy had figured out a way to plot better from that point and develop characters better, this could have been an all timer of a novel in my opinion. I also found selection portions from Part 5 to Part 8 to be terrific, including several of Levin’s (Tolstoy fictionalized) debating money distribution in society, local governments, religion, philosophy, etc. This reminded me of Bezukhov in War and Peace – and perhaps Tolstoy would’ve been better suited eliminating Anna’s plot from this novel and just focusing on Levin, thereby shortening it and improving it.
Tolstoy’s prose itself remained strong throughout. He sure knew how to make writing itself an aesthetic experience. I can only imagine how it reads in the original Russian. I read the Kyril Zinovieff translation, which was terrific. I highly recommend. I used the Rosamund Bartlett translation as a backup, which I found more stilted, but was a huge help when Zinovieff couldn’t find quite the right word in English; Bartlett would find the word, rendering the passage sensible. So I can recommend her translation as well.
Overall, 2.25 stars.
Did I mention that you should just read War and Peace?
The worst thing about the novel Anna Karenina is the character Anna Karenina. I actually played this song when I reached the end of Part 7 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPz16LHTtpo). I’m guessing Tolstoy did not set out for his reader to respond accordingly to such an event – but let’s be clear: Anna is the worst. A character with no real depth to her whose “development” throughout the novel makes no sense, instead making erratic jumps from loyal, albeit unloved, wife, to adulterer, to crazy person. She, in fact, cannot stay evil in the same way. In Part 5, she says she loves her daughter and does not miss her son. And then immediately thereafter, all she talks about his seeing her son and how she does not care about her daughter. What? How? Why? No explanation given by Tolstoy to explain that change.
I’ve read numerous people write that this is a feminist novel because Tolstoy depicted the unfairness of 19th Century society in Russia in its treatment of women versus men when it came to adultery. Acknowledging unfair treatment does not make one a feminist or a novel feminist. In fact, Tolstoy through his self-representative character Levin repeatedly states that a woman’s place is at home and raising children. Tolstoy actually believed this and said this in non-fiction writings as well. More to the point, acknowledging a truth of unfair treatment does not make one a feminist without more said or done. And in fact, Tolstoy stated that the result of the main character was due to God’s vengeance. A vengeance God did not take out on the male adulterers. Feminist? I think not.
I’ve also read multiple critics compliment Tolstoy’s plot construction, symbolism, and structuring of the novel as a whole. If they were talking about War and Peace, they would be correct. With the exception of an entirely unnecessary second epilogue, that book succeeds in every almost every respect. In Anna Karenina, one character starts rich, becomes poor due to his decision that upsets his mother and due to a kindness he renders to a sibling, and then without explanation becomes rich again. Karenin has a sister that is obliquely referenced and never brought up again. And a character remains pregnant for approximately 13 months (no joke). This is the book people say is well-plotted, with brilliant internal symbolism and callbacks? (https://youtu.be/fRL80YB0x3s?t=11)
Karenin’s character arc made no sense. Karenin is a workaholic, career climbing bureaucrat in a loveless marriage, to a man out for revenge (understandably so), to a man all of the sudden forgiving adultery for no real reason, to finally religious zealot. Once again, none of these changes were organic or plotted well, just like Anna, which is inexcusable in a novel of this length.
Part 4 was an unmitigated disaster. Several main characters abruptly change personalities for no real reason. Once again, several people state Tolstoy is a master of characterization, not in Part 4. The novel functionally jumped the shark at Part 4, ruining what was in fact quite a good start to the book.
Then why don’t I rate this book 1 star or lower? Well, Parts 1-3 are actually quite good. If Tolstoy had figured out a way to plot better from that point and develop characters better, this could have been an all timer of a novel in my opinion. I also found selection portions from Part 5 to Part 8 to be terrific, including several of Levin’s (Tolstoy fictionalized) debating money distribution in society, local governments, religion, philosophy, etc. This reminded me of Bezukhov in War and Peace – and perhaps Tolstoy would’ve been better suited eliminating Anna’s plot from this novel and just focusing on Levin, thereby shortening it and improving it.
Tolstoy’s prose itself remained strong throughout. He sure knew how to make writing itself an aesthetic experience. I can only imagine how it reads in the original Russian. I read the Kyril Zinovieff translation, which was terrific. I highly recommend. I used the Rosamund Bartlett translation as a backup, which I found more stilted, but was a huge help when Zinovieff couldn’t find quite the right word in English; Bartlett would find the word, rendering the passage sensible. So I can recommend her translation as well.
Overall, 2.25 stars.
Did I mention that you should just read War and Peace?
efimerabonhomia's review against another edition
5.0
He aquí la octava maravilla del mundo. Hoy os vengo a hablar de un viaje inigualable, la lectura de Anna Karénina. Cuando tenía quince años y la madurez mental de pensar que lo que ocurría en Crepúsculo era amor, fue la primera vez que leí este libro. Obviamente no lo digerí como debía y necesitaba volver a embarcarme en su lectura para poder tener una opinión más formada y clara de la obra. Ha sido un viaje magnífico, no sólo por la lectura conjunta y las personas que la conformaban, también por la gran calidad de la obra y que pese a tener mil páginas nunca llega a ser agobiante.
He compartido dos meses de mi vida, terminando 2021 y empezando 2022 con uno de los libros que más me han podido marcar por muchos motivos. Anna Karénina, pese a su título, no es un libro que se trate de una protagonista, podríamos considerarlo una obra coral donde el matrimonio de los Oblonski representan con claridad los estereotipos del siglo XIX, tenemos a Anna y Alekséi, un matrimonio que con sus acciones, sobre todo las de Anna, dejan muchos estereotipos atrás. Y a Levin, que para mí es el verdadero protagonista de la obra, el que hace que transcienda la historia y el que la concluye.
Una narración con base en la crítica hacia la sociedad, este libro demuestra ser el ladrillo transgresor de su generación. Llegando a la literatura para marcar un antes y un después. En pleno siglo XIX, Tolstói apuesta porque una mujer tenga derecho a defenderse, e incluso que esa opinión sea entendida por hombres y manifestada como tal. En un tiempo donde el matrimonio lo significa todo, nos propone un personaje que incluso duda de su maternidad y porqué ha tenido que ejercer como tal sin saber si era su deseo y se hace preguntas. Desde luego, la temática que más marca la historia es el matrimonio, pero no lo que se concebía como tal en la época sino el que evoca sentimientos y trae unas acciones con ello. Pero sin duda la gran característica de la obra es el monólogo interior de los personajes, como a través de sus pensamientos exteriorizan hacia el lector sus dudas, creencias e insinuaciones. Este monólogo interior está muy representado en el personaje de Levin, el que podríamos considerar el filósofo de la obra, y es que todos los rusos parecen tener esa figura en sus escritos.
La lectura de Anna Karénina no es ligera por el número de páginas pero la narración, pese a que haya momentos no tan atractivos como otros, hará que no quieras soltar el libro hasta el final. Porque incluso a las puertas de concluir, Tolstói acude a un giro que deja a dos de los grandes personajes en duda.
Si tuviera que definir lo que he sentido al leer este libro sería como el paso de niña a adulta. Unos sentimientos que se me generaron al descubrir a un personaje no tan reconocido como lo es Kitty y que me descubrió que la vida en unos momentos llega para dejar atrás las ilusiones y retener las realidades ante ti.
"¿En qué estaba pensando? En la posibilidad de encontrar una situación en que la vida no sea un tormento, en que todos hemos sido creados para atormentarnos, en que todos lo sabemos y buscamos medios para engañarnos. Pero ¿qué puede hacer uno cuando ve la verdad?"
He compartido dos meses de mi vida, terminando 2021 y empezando 2022 con uno de los libros que más me han podido marcar por muchos motivos. Anna Karénina, pese a su título, no es un libro que se trate de una protagonista, podríamos considerarlo una obra coral donde el matrimonio de los Oblonski representan con claridad los estereotipos del siglo XIX, tenemos a Anna y Alekséi, un matrimonio que con sus acciones, sobre todo las de Anna, dejan muchos estereotipos atrás. Y a Levin, que para mí es el verdadero protagonista de la obra, el que hace que transcienda la historia y el que la concluye.
Una narración con base en la crítica hacia la sociedad, este libro demuestra ser el ladrillo transgresor de su generación. Llegando a la literatura para marcar un antes y un después. En pleno siglo XIX, Tolstói apuesta porque una mujer tenga derecho a defenderse, e incluso que esa opinión sea entendida por hombres y manifestada como tal. En un tiempo donde el matrimonio lo significa todo, nos propone un personaje que incluso duda de su maternidad y porqué ha tenido que ejercer como tal sin saber si era su deseo y se hace preguntas. Desde luego, la temática que más marca la historia es el matrimonio, pero no lo que se concebía como tal en la época sino el que evoca sentimientos y trae unas acciones con ello. Pero sin duda la gran característica de la obra es el monólogo interior de los personajes, como a través de sus pensamientos exteriorizan hacia el lector sus dudas, creencias e insinuaciones. Este monólogo interior está muy representado en el personaje de Levin, el que podríamos considerar el filósofo de la obra, y es que todos los rusos parecen tener esa figura en sus escritos.
La lectura de Anna Karénina no es ligera por el número de páginas pero la narración, pese a que haya momentos no tan atractivos como otros, hará que no quieras soltar el libro hasta el final. Porque incluso a las puertas de concluir, Tolstói acude a un giro que deja a dos de los grandes personajes en duda.
Si tuviera que definir lo que he sentido al leer este libro sería como el paso de niña a adulta. Unos sentimientos que se me generaron al descubrir a un personaje no tan reconocido como lo es Kitty y que me descubrió que la vida en unos momentos llega para dejar atrás las ilusiones y retener las realidades ante ti.
"¿En qué estaba pensando? En la posibilidad de encontrar una situación en que la vida no sea un tormento, en que todos hemos sido creados para atormentarnos, en que todos lo sabemos y buscamos medios para engañarnos. Pero ¿qué puede hacer uno cuando ve la verdad?"
camicarreno's review against another edition
4.0
Me demoré demasiado, pero valió totalmente la pena.
Pobre Anna. La locura femenina tan bien retratada, los rollos que se pasa, que no tienen (tanto) que ver con la realidad son desesperantes, porque uno puede ver tantas actitudes que se ven una y otra vez.
Me sorprendió la historia de Levin, no sabía que tenía tanto protagonismo y, al final, sus cuestionamientos morales/religiosos se transforman en una de las cosas más interesantes del libro.
Es uno de esos libros que, pese a lo largo que era, no quería que se acabara. Cuando comencé a leer no entendía cómo iba a mantener mi interés durante tantas páginas, pero lo logra totalmente.
Pobre Anna. La locura femenina tan bien retratada, los rollos que se pasa, que no tienen (tanto) que ver con la realidad son desesperantes, porque uno puede ver tantas actitudes que se ven una y otra vez.
Me sorprendió la historia de Levin, no sabía que tenía tanto protagonismo y, al final, sus cuestionamientos morales/religiosos se transforman en una de las cosas más interesantes del libro.
Es uno de esos libros que, pese a lo largo que era, no quería que se acabara. Cuando comencé a leer no entendía cómo iba a mantener mi interés durante tantas páginas, pero lo logra totalmente.
yako_0's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
yzma_into_it's review against another edition
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
nevadeve's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
ladypenelope00's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
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? No