corsakfan 's review for:

Anna Karenina (Annotated): Constance Garnett Translation by Constance Garnett, Leo Tolstoy

5.0

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This book is so chaotic and dramatic, I adore it! So much existential dread packed into many punches here.

The pace is plenty fast and this helped the story a lot. Since it's really long, it was good that things consistently move forward in the story.

The dialogue is also well-written.

So are the characters! I like a book with some unlikable characters. I enjoy seeing how flawed they can be, even though I wouldn't want to be their friends if they were real people.

Anna really grated on me, I felt bad for her because of how men got to get away with affairs while women for all the severely harsh consequences. Unfair for being so unbalanced, but at the same time, she was 100% responsible for all of her own unhappiness. She knew what the consequences of all of her actions would be and she still chose to do them all anyway. It was hard to feel sorry for her after a while.

I also thought Vronsky was insufferable. His arrogance and coldness was great for the story, though in real people, it's way too much.