Reviews - Anna Karenina-Vol II

9.57k reviews for:

Anna Karenina-Vol II

Leo Tolstoy

3.97 AVERAGE

gixxxxxx's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

yassie's review against another edition

5.0

…is this…my new favourite…classic………

dairaglynn's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

pot_licious's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

grapplepie's review against another edition

4.0

Excellent journey underwhelming ending

celeste2006's review against another edition

3.0

Leí este libro debido a que mi profesor de literatura estaba dando clases sobre el realismo. Recuerdo bien que mencionó tres obras en concreto, donde las protagonistas eran víctimas del entorno social de la época: La Regenta, Madame Bovary y Anna Karenina. Yo, fan de la literatura, quise leer por primera vez un libro ruso. El punto es que este libro me dijó patas arriba y vuelta loca. No sé qué opinar ni qué pensar de esta mujer. Me enloqueció. Un día amo el libro y al día siguiente lo odio.

ciana_a's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

jimsreadingandstuff's review against another edition

4.0

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:

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:
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kimmecrow's review against another edition

4.5

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.

kelsis_book_nook's review against another edition

5.0

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

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