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A review by evanssc4
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3.0
I'm having a harder time than usual in thinking of what I want to say about this book. Maybe it's because I still haven't sorted out my thoughts on it. Maybe it's because I simply don't have thoughts on it. I think the most likely reason, however, is that my three year old nephew is currently trying to see how fast he can press every noise making button on his toy steering wheel. Regardless of the reason it is clear to me that my thoughts aren't precisely... clear. So, I think the best thing for me to do is just spend a paragraph outlining my likes, and another outlining my dislikes. With any luck this will lead to a concise conclusion of what I truly feel about Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.
Lets start with what I didn't like. That way I can leave off with my likes and make everything seem more positive. I didn't like the number of characters in the book. Sure, it can be enriching to the realm of a story to have a full cast of characters, but it seems to me that Tolstoy added too many characters, which resulted in me being rather confused about who was who throughout the book. A name would pop up that I vaguely remembered being mentioned or some character would suddenly have another brother that I was unaware had even existed before. While this didn't detract from the story itself I found myself forced out of the stream of thought whenever I had to try and recognize just who any given character was. To me being able to stay in the groove of reading and being able to forget that I'm not actually in the book is very important so when that gets upset I notice. The good news is that this was my only explicit dislike.
Now for the things I liked. Very importantly, I liked the story. I know that seems a little broad, but I can't exactly think of a better way to put it. I enjoyed learning of the events as the author wanted me to learn them. I liked the commentaries on social status, on prejudices, and on the human condition that Tolstoy offered (even if I didn't exactly agree with them). In regards simply to what was happening I liked the book. I also liked the primary characters. Although I thought that there were too many names thrown around, when focusing just on the main people that were being followed throughout the book I found them to be dynamic and relatable. I didn't have any trouble at all imagining that any given character could, in fact, be a real person. That made me care about what happened to them and how they treated each other.
Okay, so I've gone through all of my distinct likes and dislikes, but I still don't feel like I understand my feelings about it any better. Maybe that's the important part, though. Objectively it looks like I really liked the book, or at least the important parts of it. But something, though I don't know what, is holding me back from giving it more than three stars. I would definitely recommend that others read it if they're willing to take the time (and it does take time to read this book), but I don't see myself including it in a list of my favorite books any time soon.
Lets start with what I didn't like. That way I can leave off with my likes and make everything seem more positive. I didn't like the number of characters in the book. Sure, it can be enriching to the realm of a story to have a full cast of characters, but it seems to me that Tolstoy added too many characters, which resulted in me being rather confused about who was who throughout the book. A name would pop up that I vaguely remembered being mentioned or some character would suddenly have another brother that I was unaware had even existed before. While this didn't detract from the story itself I found myself forced out of the stream of thought whenever I had to try and recognize just who any given character was. To me being able to stay in the groove of reading and being able to forget that I'm not actually in the book is very important so when that gets upset I notice. The good news is that this was my only explicit dislike.
Now for the things I liked. Very importantly, I liked the story. I know that seems a little broad, but I can't exactly think of a better way to put it. I enjoyed learning of the events as the author wanted me to learn them. I liked the commentaries on social status, on prejudices, and on the human condition that Tolstoy offered (even if I didn't exactly agree with them). In regards simply to what was happening I liked the book. I also liked the primary characters. Although I thought that there were too many names thrown around, when focusing just on the main people that were being followed throughout the book I found them to be dynamic and relatable. I didn't have any trouble at all imagining that any given character could, in fact, be a real person. That made me care about what happened to them and how they treated each other.
Okay, so I've gone through all of my distinct likes and dislikes, but I still don't feel like I understand my feelings about it any better. Maybe that's the important part, though. Objectively it looks like I really liked the book, or at least the important parts of it. But something, though I don't know what, is holding me back from giving it more than three stars. I would definitely recommend that others read it if they're willing to take the time (and it does take time to read this book), but I don't see myself including it in a list of my favorite books any time soon.