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A review by _rg
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
5.0
Tolstoy Dances from the Mundane to Deep to Divine
It is a l-o-o-o-n-g book and it took me months to finish.
It was completely worth it. Some people call Tolstoy's creations "airport novels" but they are way off the mark. Tolstoy is a genius.
It is a philosophical treatise. Tolstoy goes very deep in the questions of existence, morality, god, and the goal of human lives. And he is the deepest in the last fifty pages.
But if you see the rest of the book as a mere preparation to the last fifty pages of philosophical treatment, then you will be out of breath soon enough. And that will be the wrong way to see the book as well.
Tolstoy handles the deepest question in his own way. But he also handles the nitty-gritty of the lives of aristocrats. He doesn't portray them and parade them and glorify them. Neither does he take the radical view of hatred towards them. He is, in his unique way- an observer. You can draw your own conclusions. He handles the regular lives in detail, he leaves, through his characters- remarks and comments on deep things. Tolstoy is grest in all three layers.
The book also gives you the good feeling of reading a thick novel in which you are transported to another world, and you feel like you know the characters personally. So, this book is fun and edifying at the same time.
This is the first time I loved the narration of a woman narratoe. Maggie Gyllenhaal really exceeded my expectations, and performed extremely well. Literally loved it. I would rate Gyllenhaal's performance as a 10.
The translation used is the Constance Garnett translation. It is okay. Bur extremely anglicized in a Victorian way. That was the cause of some annoyance. But it's fine.
It is a l-o-o-o-n-g book and it took me months to finish.
It was completely worth it. Some people call Tolstoy's creations "airport novels" but they are way off the mark. Tolstoy is a genius.
It is a philosophical treatise. Tolstoy goes very deep in the questions of existence, morality, god, and the goal of human lives. And he is the deepest in the last fifty pages.
But if you see the rest of the book as a mere preparation to the last fifty pages of philosophical treatment, then you will be out of breath soon enough. And that will be the wrong way to see the book as well.
Tolstoy handles the deepest question in his own way. But he also handles the nitty-gritty of the lives of aristocrats. He doesn't portray them and parade them and glorify them. Neither does he take the radical view of hatred towards them. He is, in his unique way- an observer. You can draw your own conclusions. He handles the regular lives in detail, he leaves, through his characters- remarks and comments on deep things. Tolstoy is grest in all three layers.
The book also gives you the good feeling of reading a thick novel in which you are transported to another world, and you feel like you know the characters personally. So, this book is fun and edifying at the same time.
This is the first time I loved the narration of a woman narratoe. Maggie Gyllenhaal really exceeded my expectations, and performed extremely well. Literally loved it. I would rate Gyllenhaal's performance as a 10.
The translation used is the Constance Garnett translation. It is okay. Bur extremely anglicized in a Victorian way. That was the cause of some annoyance. But it's fine.