Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Anna Karenina by Amy Mandelker, Leo Tolstoy

20 reviews

demo's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.5

An excellent book occasionally spoiled by Tolsoy's tendency towards the driest didacticism .

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Grief

Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, and Animal death

rebekahvldz's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.5

 I’m not sure I could’ve appreciated that ending the way I did a year or two ago. Anna Karenina is one of the most complex, provocative, reflective, moving and vibrant books that I have ever read. The characterization was spectacular- Dolly, Stiva, Levin, literally felt like they were buzzing off the page. It was a beautiful, insightful book, one that I am so glad I can now say I have read. I can’t believe the accuracy of my instinct that this would be one of my favorites, because it is, without a doubt, in my top three and already, it has shaped my vision of the book beginning in me, no matter how small the idea is right now.
 

One thing kept going through my head as I read those last remaining pages- how true this post (https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/9hws4r/i_read_anna_karenina_in_5_days_and_now_i_think_my/) rang. This book is the peak for me- the writing, the story, the insights, the characterization, the personal significance of the story, the timelessness of its moral lessons even now- all of it enthralled me. It swept me up and took me with it and just like that Redditor, I will dearly miss the characters. 

The only two gripes I have with it is that I wish there had been more study of Vronsky and Kitty’s characters and how dissatisfied I was with the ending. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the ending with Levin. It was one of my favorite parts of the book but I didn’t like that it was literally the last page or how none of the characters’ reactions to

Anna’s death were explored. I wanted more closure, more insight into how Dolly, Levin, Kitty, Stiva, Alexei, etc. would’ve reacted. I wanted to know how the high society which so poorly treated her received the rocking news. I wanted to read about Vronsky being told, running to the station and dropping to his knees with heaving sobs. I wanted to hear that Alexei, wracked with guilt, ran to his son and grabbed him close, sobbing into Seyrhoza’s unsure chest. I wanted to read the various measures with which everyone who loved and didn’t love her responded to this horrifying news. But I didn’t get that. Instead, I got hardly a glimpse of Vronksy’s despair. It was dissatisfying and even more so, because her death didn’t feel justified enough. I needed a more concrete reason other than her sudden descent into paranoia-induced madness. The expectations I carried into this book and even up until the halfway mark was that this was simply a story of her trying to leave Alexandrovich and him refusing, forcing her only resort to become her death at the train station. To read how they dragged on for months, in resentment and restlessness, instead of the grand romance I had expected was extremely disappointing and anti-climactic. Especially that her suicide was over some fickle feeling she’d contrived in her head. Maybe if the expectations of society and the weight of what she would do after he left her were more prominent, it would have felt more justified.

Regardless, I cannot say enough good things about this book and think that everyone should, given the chance, immerse themselves in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death

Minor: Antisemitism and Racism

Nikolai's death was pretty disturbing and depressing to read about

lidz_2tc's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Abandonment and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Antisemitism, Mental illness, and Racism

funmilayo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Antisemitism, Racial slurs, and Racism

lauren_loves_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, and Death

Minor: Child death, Antisemitism, Racism, and Racial slurs

kengore's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, and Infidelity

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Antisemitism

karenaerts's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Antisemitism, Blood, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Islamophobia

wlarianna's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Racial slurs and Antisemitism

amurray's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Medical content, Infidelity, Death, and Antisemitism

meepymeep's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It's good, definitely worth the read. I enjoyed parts of it, and it was interesting to see the development of some characters and the fall of others. All the characters felt like real people who could have actually existed in 1873. However, I did find there were some sections in the book that were really, really dull and I found myself reading other books instead of Anna Karenina as I just found certain bits really boring. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Antisemitism and Racism