A review by reverie_and_books
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Anna Karenina 🇬🇧 + 🇩🇪 

I have a book recommendation for all of you who want to take part in a journey to the High Society of the late 19th-century Russia 🇷🇺 . There you are going to meet the captivating woman Anna, as the title implies. But she is by far not the only main character of the book. Parallel to hers there is the story of Levin, a man with many thoughts and doubts. And you are getting to know the people surrounding Anna and Levin intimately, whose lives meet or are interwoven with one another. If your reading experience is anything like mine, you are going to feel for all of them. You are going to be vexed with them, you might want to shake them, hug them or you'll be smiling into your book. 

It is a telling about society, morals, politics, love, marriages, affairs, double standards, prejudices, the meaning of life, religion and the judgement of others. After reading Anna Karenina I've put a few more Russian Classics on my TBR-list. It is a long book so there is much to say about it. If you're not into the politics of farming you might want to speed read a few pages. However, I was fine with that, since I was so drawn into the intertwined lives of the characters. They are FAR from perfect and Tolstoy has put me to the test: Who am I to judge? 

💡 I do have a tip for reading this brick stone of a book 🧱 : It is a story in eight parts. I marked these in the hardcopy to see my reading progress. And the chapters are really short, mostly less than five pages long, so it was not much of a commitment to say: Just one more chapter! 

One of my favorite citations, regarding marriage: He was happy, but having embarked on a family life he saw at every step that it was not at all what he had anticipated. At every step he took he felt as a man would feel who, after admiring the smooth happy motion of a little boat upon the water, had himself got into the boat. He found that besides sitting quietly without rocking he had to keep a lookout, not for a moment forget where he was going, or that there was water under his feet, and that he had to row, although it hurt his unaccustomed hands; in short, that it only looked easy, but to do it, though very delightful, was very difficult. 

___
Ich habe eine Buchempfehlung für alle von euch, die sich gerne auf eine Zeitreise in die High Society des späten 19. Jahrhundert nach Russland 🇷🇺 begeben möchten. Dort triffst Du Anna, wie man es vom Titel her vermutet. Aber Du triffst auch Levin, einen sehr nachdenklichen Mann, dessen Geschichte parallel zu der von Anna verläuft. Rund um Anna und Levin gibt viele weitere interessante Charaktere mit denen Du vertraut wirst. Wenn Deine Leseerfahrung auch nur so ähnlich ist wie meine, wirst mit ihnen mitfühlen: wütend sein, sie schütteln oder umarmen wollen und manchmal vor Freude breit in Dein Buch grinsen. 

Es ist eine Erzählung über die Gesellschaft, Moral, Politik, Liebe, Ehe, Affären, Doppelmoral, Vorurteile, den Sinn des Lebens, Religion und das Urteilen über andere. Nachdem ich dieses Buch beendet habe, sind direkt ein paar weitere russische Klassiker auf meine Leseliste gewandert. Es gibt ein paar Kapitel die über schneller überflogen habe (Politik der Farmwirtschaft zu der Zeit), was für mich aber völlig okay war, wurde ich doch so in den Bann der ineinander verwobenen Leben gezogen. Die Charaktere sind bei weitem nicht perfekt, aber Tolstoy hat mich auf die Probe gestellt: Wer bin ich, dass ich urteilen sollte? 

💡 Ich habe noch einen Tipp zur Bewältigung dieses Ziegelsteins 🧱 von Buch: Es ist in acht Teilen erzählt, die habe ich mir markiert um besser meinen Fortschritt zu sehen. Außerdem sind die Kapitel meistens keine fünf Seiten lang. Da fällt es leicht zu sagen: Nur noch ein Kapitel! 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings