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A review by megij
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Firstly, I'll say that I'm disappointed with the book as I expected much more from it. It's mainly because the main character is not Anna nor is the book about her - it's about Levin (who might represent Tolstoy himself as I read online?).
So, the title is misleading and unlike Flaubert's Madame Bovary, we are not going in depth here about Anna's psychological portrayal, and every time when it finally feels like we will be reading about her and when it finally gets interesting (because she's the only interesting character in the book), Tolstoy decides to stop and then go on rambling about Levin, farming and his silly struggles (he does come across as childish a lot more often than you might expect).
The proof that the book is about Levin is the final 8th chapter where for 50 pages we're reading about his struggle with faith, religion, science and the universe (these are interesting pages though).
But one might expect that after Anna killed herself in the 7th chapter, we will be reading more about it and how it impacted everyone else in the last one at least. We only find out that Vronsky is going to Serbia to fight the Ottomans and how he was suicidal after her death and that was it.
Ultimately, if we throw away the pages about Levin, we would get a really good book about Anna. Even the ending in the 7th chapter would've made a perfect ending for the book.
But, instead, some of us might be left with a bitter taste after realising that this loved classic about (what I love to say) one of the first modern women in literature was not about her at all.
So, the title is misleading and unlike Flaubert's Madame Bovary, we are not going in depth here about Anna's psychological portrayal, and every time when it finally feels like we will be reading about her and when it finally gets interesting (because she's the only interesting character in the book), Tolstoy decides to stop and then go on rambling about Levin, farming and his silly struggles (he does come across as childish a lot more often than you might expect).
The proof that the book is about Levin is the final 8th chapter where for 50 pages we're reading about his struggle with faith, religion, science and the universe (these are interesting pages though).
But one might expect that after Anna killed herself in the 7th chapter, we will be reading more about it and how it impacted everyone else in the last one at least. We only find out that Vronsky is going to Serbia to fight the Ottomans and how he was suicidal after her death and that was it.
Ultimately, if we throw away the pages about Levin, we would get a really good book about Anna. Even the ending in the 7th chapter would've made a perfect ending for the book.
But, instead, some of us might be left with a bitter taste after realising that this loved classic about (what I love to say) one of the first modern women in literature was not about her at all.