A review by bookish_bry
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

Overall I enjoyed Anna Karenina. It had a lot of interesting and complex characters. I found each of them being my favorite at different points in the novel (except Vronsky whom I did not particularly like) and I found myself annoyed with them at different times. 

The foreshadowing was done great. I especially liked how
trains were constantly mentioned throughout the book foreshadowing Anna's eventual suicide. The horse metaphor was also pretty well done.
 

It did drag in some places, though really what can you expect from a book of this length, and while I understood the strategy behind the last part
after Anna's suicide, Levin's revelation wasn't particularly interesting to me. I actually disagree with the choice to not share his spiritual thoughts with Kitty and think that could have been a more satisfying ending to me personally.
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