Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club)

Amazon.com

Some people say Anna Karenina is the single greatest novel ever written, which makes about as much sense to me as trying to determine the world's greatest color. But there is no doubt that Anna Karenina, generally considered Tolstoy's best book, is definitely one ripping great read. Anna, miserable in her loveless marriage, does the barely thinkable and succumbs to her desires for the dashing Vronsky. I don't want to give away the ending, but I will say that 19th-century Russia doesn't take well to that sort of thing.

Book Description

Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and must endure the hypocrisies of society. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth-century Russia, the novel's seven major characters create a dynamic imbalance, playing out the contrasts of city and country life and all the variations on love and family happiness. While previous versions have softened the robust, and sometimes shocking, quality of Tolstoy's writing, Pevear and Volokhonsky have produced a translation true to his powerful voice. This award-winning team's authoritative edition also includes an illuminating introduction and explanatory notes. Beautiful, vigorous, and eminently readable, this Anna Karenina will be the definitive text for generations to come.

Customer Reviews:

Stench puke pages with Oprah's insignia.......2007-09-30

Don't assume for a moment that Anna Karenina hasn't been dazzled with a more complete set of stars because I am another audacious reader who thinks that Anna is a glorified soap opera, far from the truth. Anna Karenina is lovelier than English itself (which is precisely why it was written in Russian), and this translation does an excellent job reminding me that I am reading a translation, and a very bad one at that. This translation takes away all of the texture of the text with small schoolboy words the Count would have taken offense to, rotten rubbish. I recall someone else making mention of the superiority of the Constance Garnett translation to this, a translation I own and have read, and I would agree that even the seven dollar Barnes and Noble edition translated by Constance Garnett has a far better translation then this.

The best translations you can get into filthy English are ones based on the Louise and Aylmer Maude translation, which preserves the texture of the text. The Norton critical edition is my favorite, all of the annotations, notes, and other fidget-friendly details, but the current Oxford world classics edition is just as good. George Gibian does the revised Norton translation, and I don't remember the name of the editor of the Oxford classics, but both translations are based on the Maude translation. Avoid this blasphemous rendering.

My all time favorite book!.......2007-09-29

Although I first read this book many years ago, I have gone back and read it 2 more times since then. I love this book because it has so many different facets to it. I enjoyed learning about Russian society in that time period and found Levin's commentaries about farming to be another way of examining Russian life. I thought it was suspenseful and had no trouble at all following the plot line or the characters. I especially enjoyed the dialogue between Vronsky and Anna that was written with first letters only. It was so clever of Tolstoy to write the scene that way and I found that I could understand all of their conversation. I still find this book fascinating!

a beautiful story, sometimes polluted by minutiae.......2007-09-23

I debated whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars, but finally decided on the latter. Here's why: While it true that this book is long -- an understatement, really -- it does have some passages that are just breathtakingly beautiful. There were many times during the book that I found myself rather bored, especially when long sections dealt with hunting, farming, or political mumbo-jumbo. At the time this novel was written, it may have been meaningful. For me, however, it was tedious. I found myself really disengaging from the story at these moments, but was quickly drawn back in by the romance and fascinating characters. I really do not know why Tolstoy called this "Anna Karenina," when in reality she is only one of several "main" characters. I found each to be real, sympathetic, and intriguing. Tolstoy really captured the complexities of human relationships so well. I definitely would recommend this novel to others, but not the typical Oprah Book Clubbers or any casual readers. This is serious literature for those who can handle it! Lit majors, proceed...

The Hobo Philosopher.......2007-09-17

Well, it was a long, long time ago and I wanted to get a great Russian Novel under my belt. War and Peace was too darn long, so I thought I'd try this one.
It took me about a month to get Count Veronski separate from Prince Rodonkski. And then there was Colonel Radzinokovek and Captain Chaknoskonovick. Hey who can spell Checkoslovakia?
By the time I got all the names straight I forgot what the story was all about. Basically it is about this rich broad who cheats on her husband, becomes a big disgrace at the Palace and then gets run over by a horse and carriage.
I finished it. I know I should read War and Peace. It is a classic you know. But I think that I would rather read the Encyclopedia Bertanica. Right now I'm reading Crime and Punishment. I think that I have been reading this one for three years now. I am on page 73. Raskolnikov is in this book also. This book has 564 pages. Don't wait for my review. It will probably be a while. But I am determined. After all I finished Anna Karenina didn't I!

Great Russian Novel.......2007-09-13

Anna Karenina is a mighty undertaking, but well worth it.

I was especially pleased by how intricately the main characters were created and molded into deep thoughtful beings. I thought Levin was the most interesting character.

How he and Anna both reason their paths shapes the novel.

Like many reviewers, I too found Anna Karenina to be a pompous princess, bent on selfish happiness, with a husband deliriously lost and looking to grasp onto anything he could to steady himself to; each needy and extreme in their own way. The strange morphing of each of these characters showed how thoughts, feelings and actions can be swayed when poor decisions are made. While I disagreed with Anna, I enjoyed understanding why she thought what she did was justified. It helped me to understand human nature.

This time period also marked a transition into faith for many in Russia and I think readers will like (or may not like) how Levin tackled and came to understand his beliefs.

Average customer rating:

Please enter a title for your review
Best book I ever read
Passionate pastoral
Sense of Self
All literate people should read this fine book

Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy , Richard Pevear , and Larissa Volokhonsky
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670894788
Release Date: 2001-01-25

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Book Description

Translated by Constance Garnett, Introduction by Leonard J. Kent and Nina Berberova

Customer Reviews:

Please enter a title for your review.......2007-09-23

Half the content is elaborate banal detail used to establish context, but in it's more consequential moments this novel is the final word on the disingenuous nature of institutionalized aspects of social behaviour. It's a theme I've pondered and seen touched on in a few other books, but I was blown away by how comprehensively Tolstoy articulates and extrapolates my own thoughts.
This novel is primarily a work of philosophy, using the characters to illustrate social observations at the expense of a fully cohesive narrative.
It's difficult to understand how fans of classic fiction, who generally consider "reading" a neccessity for respectable people, don't take offense to this book as it seems to be constantly critcizing that kind of cultural pretense.
Another interesting thing I got from the book is how culture 100+ years ago doesn't seem as formal and conservative as I had previously been led to believe. Parents were already complaining about tradition falling out of favor among the younger generation and governmental red-tape was already something criticized as getting in the way of practical goals. On the other hand the doctors of the era are presented as having no medical knowledge whatsoever.
my fave quote:
"The word talent, which they understood to mean an innate and almost physical capacity, independent of mind and heart, and which was their term for everything an artist lives through, occurred very often in their conversation, since they required it as a name for something which they did not at all understand, but about which they wanted to talk."

Best book I ever read.......2007-08-14

My favorite book from Russian author Count Leo Tolstoy. The passion, the datails, everything about this book is powerful. I read it in College and I just re-read it last summer. I will read it again.

Passionate pastoral.......2007-08-02

It was interesting to read this--arguably the greatest of all novels--just after CRIME AND PUNISHMENT and several years after WAR AND PEACE. By comparison, this novel is gentle and lucid, written with the eye of comedy despite the tragic ending of its heroine, and intimate in scale despite its immense themes. Among these are the first stirrings of communism, the differences between social norms and true morality, and the search for religious belief, echoing the course of Tolstoy's own conversion. Although it is heresy to say so, I found Levin, the author's alter ego, the pastoral world he inhabits, and his love for Kitty to be ultimately more moving (to the point of bringing tears to the eyes) than the passion of Anna and Vronsky. I think this is because their subplot really begins to develop at precisely the point where the adulterous affair of the title character begins to lose its forward drive. But in both sides of the story, Tolstoy's eye for detail is unmatched; his set-pieces like the ball, the horse race, the bird hunt, and the election are uniformly superb; and with his vivid characters for company, his book flies by.

I read this in the Modern Library hardback edition, whose translation by Constance Garnett, reworked by Leonard Kent and Nina Berberova, flows a lot more smoothly than the unretouched Garnett of the Barnes and Noble CRIME AND PUNIHSMENT.

Sense of Self.......2007-07-25

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"

- Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina"

Anna Karenina is a beautifully written novel about three families: the Oblonskys, the Levins, and the Karenins. The first line (one of the most famous in literature) hints at Tolstoy's own views about happy and unhappy marriages having these same three families also represent three very different societal and physical locations in Russia in addition to distinctly different views on love, loyalty, fidelity, happiness and marital bliss.

Tolstoy seems to stress that `trusting companionships" are more durable and filled with happiness versus "romantic passion" that bursts with flames and then slowly; leaves ashes rather than a firm, solid foundation to build upon.

It is like reading a soap opera with all of its twists and turns where the observer is allowed to enter into the homes, the minds and the spirits of its main characters. The moral compass in the book belongs to Levin whose life and courtship of Kitty mirrors much of Leo Tolstoy's own courtship of his wife Sophia. Levin's personality and spiritual quest is Tolstoy's veiled attempt at bringing to life his own spiritual peaks and valleys and the self doubts that plagued him his entire life despite his happy family life and the fact that he too found love in his life and a committed durable marriage. At the other end of the spectrum is Anna, who also because of her individual choices and circumstances, falls into despair.

It is clear that Tolstoy wants the reader to come away with many messages about the sanctity of marriage, love and family life. He also wants us to be mindful of the choices that we make in life and the affect that these choices have upon ourselves, our station and path in life as well as the affect upon those that we profess to love. Tolstoy also wants us to examine what makes our lives happy or not; and what is at the root of either end result. Levin and Kitty are the happiest married couple; yet Levin faces his own double bind when struggling against domestic bliss and his need for independence on the other hand and how to achieve both (if that is possible) without relinquishing that which made him who he was born to be.

Anna Karenina and Konstantin Levin are the primary protagonists in the novel and both are rich and fine characters in their own right. Both of them focus on self; one however finds the self to be a nurturer which puts value into life very much as a farmer; while the other views self with despair and as a punisher or destroyer. Both views, diametrically opposed, force the characters on very different paths and lives for themselves. Then there is the dilemma of forgiveness versus vengeance. The very epigram for the novel from Romans states: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Yet vengeance upon oneself or others is not up to individuals but God; and yet the characters are haunted about what forgiveness is or isn't and by the hollowness of words versus heartfelt and soulfully reflective actions. The themes of social change in Russia, family life's blessings and virtues and farming (even if it is simply the goodness one puts into life and how one cultivates it and others) dominate the novel's landscape. Trains also play a symbolic importance in the novel and it is odd that Tolstoy himself years after writing Anna Karenina dies himself in a train station after setting off from his home in an emotional cloud.

Sometimes the names of the characters themselves can be confusing: so a hint to the reader might be to think of each Russian character's name as having three parts: the first name (examples here are for Levin and Kitty) like Konstantin or Ekaterina, a patronymic which is the father's first name accompanied by a suffix which means son of or daughter of like Dmitrich (son of Dmitri) or Alexandrovna (daughter of Alexander) and then the surname like Levin or Shcherbatskaya. Thus the explanations for the Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya (nicknamed Kitty) and Konstantin Dmitrich Levin (Levin).

I loved the book and its details and the richness of the characterizations as well as the storytelling technique of the great Tolstoy and I have to agree with Tolstoy when he stated, "I am very proud of its architecture-its vaults are joined so that one cannot even notice where the keystone is. " The vaults: "Anna and Levin" are joined with the very first line of the novel and with their focus on themselves.

Rating: A

Bentley/2007

All literate people should read this fine book.......2007-05-10

This is world literature and a story, albeit an older one, that teaches us much about life. I would HIGHLY recommend this book as a gift to any young adult. Yes, it is lengthy but, here, Tolstoy has yielded us one of the finest tales ever written.
Anna Karenina is pure female Homo sapiens. She is both good and bad, but, most of all, human. When I began this fine story, I thought I would be disappointed by having anticipated what was about to happen -- I BELIEVED that this was going to tell me about a good girl who was about to have bad things happen to her and that Tolstoy was going to barter for my sympathies for her. Well, no such thing! Instead, Anna Karenina could well be living in the 21st Century, given her proclivities and lifestyle, (well... at least if you use your imagination just a bit). And sometimes I admired her and sometimes I wanted to strangle her, but I could never see where Tolstoy was really headed with her until the very end.
Anna is by no means the only interesting character in the work. Maybe some folks get to like Levin, for example, but by the end of the book, I really despised him. And there is one of the principals (I won't name him) which will surpise the reader with both his perseverence as well as with his positive morality. Religion, or perhaps hipocracy, is a large feature of the work as well, and it is rendered in a fashion which often has present-day applications.
But, most of all, beyond the moral lessons, ANNA KARENINA is just a great and readable story. It's a lot like reading "Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal" (Lloyd C. Douglas) -- the moral lessons are present but do not interfere with the saga.
It's difficult to say enough good about this book. Buy it, read it -- you will enjoy it. Classic literature at its best.

Average customer rating:

Sense of Self
Anna, sweet Anna

Anna Karenina (Barnes & Noble Classics)
Leo Tolstoy
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1593081774

Book Description

Vladimir Nabokov called Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina “one of the greatest love stories in world literature.” Matthew Arnold claimed it was not so much a work of art as “a piece of life.” Set in imperial Russia, Anna Karenina is a rich and complex meditation on passionate love and disastrous infidelity.

Married to a powerful government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful woman who falls deeply in love with a wealthy army officer, the elegant Count Vronsky. Desperate to find truth and meaning in her life, she rashly defies the conventions of Russian society and leaves her husband and son to live with her lover. Condemned and ostracized by her peers and prone to fits of jealousy that alienate Vronsky, Anna finds herself unable to escape an increasingly hopeless situation.

Set against this tragic affair is the story of Konstantin Levin, a melancholy landowner whom Tolstoy based largely on himself. While Anna looks for happiness through love, Levin embarks on his own search for spiritual fulfillment through marriage, family, and hard work. Surrounding these two central plot threads are dozens of characters whom Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together, creating a breathtaking tapestry of nineteenth-century Russian society.

From its famous opening sentence—“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”—to its stunningly tragic conclusion, this enduring tale of marriage and adultery plumbs the very depths of the human soul.

Customer Reviews:

Sense of Self.......2007-07-25

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"

- Leo Tolstoy from Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina is a beautifully written novel about three families: the Oblonskys, the Levins, and the Karenins. The first line hints at Tolstoy's own views about happy and unhappy marriages having these same three families also represent three very different societal and physical locations in Russia in addition to distinctly different views on love, loyalty, fidelity, happiness and marital bliss.

Tolstoy seems to stress that `trusting companionships" are more durable and filled with happiness versus "romantic passion" that bursts with flames and then slowly; leaves ashes rather than a firm, solid foundation to build upon.

It is like reading a soap opera with all of its twists and turns where the observer is allowed to enter into the homes, the minds and the spirits of its main characters. The moral compass in the book belongs to Levin whose life and courtship of Kitty mirrors much of Leo Tolstoy's own courtship of his wife Sophia. Levin's personality and spiritual quest is Tolstoy's veiled attempt at bringing to life his own spiritual peaks and valleys and the self doubts that plagued him his entire life despite his happy family life and the fact that he too found love in his life and a committed durable marriage. At the other end of the spectrum is Anna, who also because of her individual choices and circumstances, falls into despair.

It is clear that Tolstoy wants the reader to come away with many messages about the sanctity of marriage, love and family life. He also wants us to be mindful of the choices that we make in life and the affect that these choices have upon ourselves, our station and path in life as well as the affect upon those that we profess to love. Tolstoy also wants us to examine what makes our lives happy or not; and what is at the root of either end result. Levin and Kitty are the happiest married couple; yet Levin faces his own double bind when struggling against domestic bliss and his need for independence on the other hand and how to achieve both (if that is possible) without relinquishing that which made him who he was born to be.

Anna Karenina and Konstantin Levin are the primary protagonists in the novel and both are rich and fine characters in their own right. Both of them focus on self; one however finds the self to be a nurturer which puts value into life very much as a farmer; while the other views self with despair and as a punisher or destroyer. Both views, diametrically opposed, force the characters on very different paths and lives for themselves. Then there is the dilemma of forgiveness versus vengeance. The very epigram for the novel from Romans states: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Yet vengeance upon oneself or others is not up to individuals but God; and yet the characters are haunted about what forgiveness is or isn't and by the hollowness of words versus heartfelt and soulfully reflective actions. The themes of social change in Russia, family life's blessings and virtues and farming (even if it is simply the goodness one puts into life and how one cultivates it and others) dominate the novel's landscape. Trains also play a symbolic importance in the novel and it is odd that Tolstoy himself years after writing Anna Karenina dies himself in a train station after setting off from his home in an emotional cloud.

Sometimes the names of the characters themselves can be confusing: so a hint to the reader might be to think of each Russian character's name as having three parts: the first name (examples here are for Levin and Kitty) like Konstantin or Ekaterina, a patronymic which is the father's first name accompanied by a suffix which means son of or daughter of like Dmitrich (son of Dmitri) or Alexandrovna (daughter of Alexander) and then the surname like Levin or Shcherbatskaya. Thus the explanations for the Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya (nicknamed Kitty) and Konstantin Dmitrich Levin (Levin).

I loved the book and its details and the richness of the characterizations as well as the storytelling technique of the great Tolstoy and I have to agree with Tolstoy when he stated, "I am very proud of its architecture-its vaults are joined so that one cannot even notice where the keystone is. " The vaults: "Anna and Levin" are joined with the very first line of the novel and with their focus on themselves.

Rating: A

Bentley/2007

Anna Karenina (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Anna, sweet Anna.......2005-04-10

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." That line opens and sets the tone of "Anna Karenina," a tangled and tragic tale of nineteenth century Russia. Tolstoy's story of lovers and family is interlaced with razor-sharp social commentary and odd moments that are almost transcendent. In other words, this is a masterpiece.

When Stepan Oblonsky has an affair with the governess, his wife says that she's leaving him, and now the family is about to disintegrate. Stepan's sister Anna arrives to smooth over their marital problems, and consoles his wife Dolly until she agrees to stay. But on the train there, she met the outspoken Countess Vronsky, and the countess's dashing son, who is semi-engaged to Dolly's sister Kitty.

Anna and Vronsky start to fall in love -- despite the fact that Anna has been married for ten years, to a wealthy husband she doesn't care about, and has a young son. Even so, Anna rejects her loveless marriage and becomes the center of scandal and public hypocrisy, and even becomes pregnany by Vronsky. As she prepares to jump ship and get a divorce, Anna becomes a victim of her own passions...

That isn't the entire story, actually -- Tolstoy weaves in other plots, about disintegrating families, new marriages, and the melancholy Levin's constant search for God, truth, and goodness. Despite the grim storyline about adultery, and the social commentary, there's an almost transcendent quality to some of Tolstoy's writing. It's the most optimistic tragic book I've ever read.

For some reason, Tolstoy called this his "first novel," even though he had already written some before that. Perhaps it's because "Anna Karenina" tackles so many questions and themes, and does so without ever dropping the ball. No wonder it's so long and imposing -- Tolstoy covered a lot of ground in here.

And while "Anna Karenina" was not the first book he wrote, it is probably the deepest and most moving. Tolstoy steeps the book in social commentary, and his personal philosophies. It's also one of those books that takes a very long time to move itself forward -- Tolstoy's writing is slow and ponderous, with a lot of serious discussion about religion and relationships. But his intense, slightly rough writing is worth it.

In some tragic books, you get the feeling that the author really despises his characters, and doesn't really care what happens to them. Tolstoy never gives you that feeling -- no matter how annoying his characters are, they always have something interesting or endearing. No caricatures at all -- even Anna's irritating, arrogant brother is given some quirks to make him seem real.

Oddly enough, the most moving character here is not Anna, but Konstantin Levin -- the tortured, passionate landowner is so earnest that it's difficult not to care about him. Apparently he was Tolstoy's alter ego, which explains his depth. But Anna and Vronsky are strong leads, a passionate pair who are both selfish and seductive, but never boring.

A beautiful look at living right vs. living wrong, "Anna Karenina" is a truly magnificent book. This book is undoubtedly Tolstoy's opus, and a stunning look at human nature.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful
Great audio version!

Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1419305948

Book Description

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Thus begins Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece. Tolstoy's own spiritual crisis and his search for the meaning of life are deeply felt throughout this powerful tale about the growth and death of love.

The touching picture of Anna Aarkadyevna Karenina's slow disintegration has fascinated readers for well over a century. Beautiful and charming, Anna lives in a splendid world of her own making. She smokes, rides horseback, plays tennis, takes opium, practices birth control, and-although she is already married-falls in love with a handsome army officer. Anna's life is played out against a backdrop of dazzling balls and the vastness of the Russian landscape. A magnificent story that shimmers with intelligence and passion, Anna Karenina is one of the most extraordinary novels ever written.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful.......2007-03-09

Reading a masterpiece like Anna Karenina is daunting -- requiring as it does a large investment of time and mental energy. But the audio format and Davina Porter's wonderful narration make it work. The narrator is critical in such a format. A good narrator seems like a companion for a long journey, and an expert one can provide some interpretation of a great work akin to the role of a conductor or an actress. Porter is able to do justice to the characters. Her interpretation of Anna's husband makes the man as unattractive as, I think, Tolstoy wanted him to be.

Classics, like youth, are wasted on the young. I read Anna Karenina at 19 and couldn't appreciate its richness until I've lived a life. What comes through on the second reading is the vanity of romantic love. Vronsky and Anna are the picture of perfect lovers. But love is also a social construct, and the relationship does not work without the supporting fabric of family, children, and friends -- however hypocritical that social milieu can be. Of course what's missing most from Anna and Vronsky's life is spirituality. Love needs a spiritual as well as a social context to survive and thrive.

I fell in love with Anna on the first reading and did not remember much about Levin's character. While Anna is still a wonderfully attractive and rich character on the second reading, Tolsoty's ultimate disapproval of her and his identification with Levin are far clearer on the second read.

Great audio version!.......2005-05-02

This is a great audio version of Anna Karenina. Although the narrator's Russian pronunciation of the names leaves something to be desired, everything else is superb. She is able to effectively create the characters in your mind, and does it so well that you don't even notice the narration--you simply see the images in your mind.

Very, very enjoyable.

Average customer rating:

Anna Karenina
Sense of Self
The Greatest Novel of all Time
Fate and love, ultimately lead to Anna's undoing
A pleasure to read

Anna Karenina (Penguin Classics)
Leo Tolstoy
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140449175

Customer Reviews:

Anna Karenina.......2007-08-14

Anna Karenina is a brilliantly conceived and poignantly written novel. Using many dynamic and well developed characters, Tolstoy unravels a marvelous tale of love and adultery set against the backdrop of late nineteenth century fashionable russian society. Tolstoy fairly represents each character presenting even those who have done wrong merely as fallible human beings who are doing their best. As a Christian Anarchist, Tolstoy believed that morality and social customs of the day were not necessary to follow, and this belief comes through clearly in this novel. Characters are ruled by chance, and they neither get rewarded for doing the right thing or reap the consequences of their mistakes; they are simply fated to be destroyed. This perspective in which it is written contributes to the somewhat dark and impersonal tone of the novel. There is no real good in this novel, apart from Konstantin Levin and his love for Kitty, and at the same time, there is no real evil. Characters like Stiva Oblonsky alternate between genuine compassion and kindness to lust and self absorption.
The structure of the book is one of its most masterful aspects. The story flows seamlessly between the lives of three different families, and, though these people are not always interacting, Tolstoy draws distinct comparisons between them to the reader. Overall, this is an engaging and worthwhile novel

Sense of Self.......2007-07-25

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"

- Leo Tolstoy from Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina is a beautifully written novel about three families: the Oblonskys, the Levins, and the Karenins. The first line (one of the most famous in literature) hints at Tolstoy's own views about happy and unhappy marriages having these same three families also represent three very different societal and physical locations in Russia in addition to distinctly different views on love, loyalty, fidelity, happiness and marital bliss.

Tolstoy seems to stress that `trusting companionships" are more durable and filled with happiness versus "romantic passion" that bursts with flames and then slowly; leaves ashes rather than a firm, solid foundation to build upon.

It is like reading a soap opera with all of its twists and turns where the observer is allowed to enter into the homes, the minds and the spirits of its main characters. The moral compass in the book belongs to Levin whose life and courtship of Kitty mirrors much of Leo Tolstoy's own courtship of his wife Sophia. Levin's personality and spiritual quest is Tolstoy's veiled attempt at bringing to life his own spiritual peaks and valleys and the self doubts that plagued him his entire life despite his happy family life and the fact that he too found love in his life and a committed durable marriage. At the other end of the spectrum is Anna, who also because of her individual choices and circumstances, falls into despair.

It is clear that Tolstoy wants the reader to come away with many messages about the sanctity of marriage, love and family life. He also wants us to be mindful of the choices that we make in life and the affect that these choices have upon ourselves, our station and path in life as well as the affect upon those that we profess to love. Tolstoy also wants us to examine what makes our lives happy or not; and what is at the root of either end result. Levin and Kitty are the happiest married couple; yet Levin faces his own double bind when struggling against domestic bliss and his need for independence on the other hand and how to achieve both (if that is possible) without relinquishing that which made him who he was born to be.

Anna Karenina and Konstantin Levin are the primary protagonists in the novel and both are rich and fine characters in their own right. Both of them focus on self; one however finds the self to be a nurturer which puts value into life very much as a farmer; while the other views self with despair and as a punisher or destroyer. Both views, diametrically opposed, force the characters on very different paths and lives for themselves. Then there is the dilemma of forgiveness versus vengeance. The very epigram for the novel from Romans states: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Yet vengeance upon oneself or others is not up to individuals but God; and yet the characters are haunted about what forgiveness is or isn't and by the hollowness of words versus heartfelt and soulfully reflective actions. The themes of social change in Russia, family life's blessings and virtues and farming (even if it is simply the goodness one puts into life and how one cultivates it and others) dominate the novel's landscape. Trains also play a symbolic importance in the novel and it is odd that Tolstoy himself years after writing Anna Karenina dies himself in a train station after setting off from his home in an emotional cloud.

Sometimes the names of the characters themselves can be confusing: so a hint to the reader might be to think of each Russian character's name as having three parts: the first name (examples here are for Levin and Kitty) like Konstantin or Ekaterina, a patronymic which is the father's first name accompanied by a suffix which means son of or daughter of like Dmitrich (son of Dmitri) or Alexandrovna (daughter of Alexander) and then the surname like Levin or Shcherbatskaya. Thus the explanations for the Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya (nicknamed Kitty) and Konstantin Dmitrich Levin (Levin).

I loved the book and its details and the richness of the characterizations as well as the storytelling technique of the great Tolstoy and I have to agree with Tolstoy when he stated, "I am very proud of its architecture-its vaults are joined so that one cannot even notice where the keystone is. " The vaults: "Anna and Levin" are joined with the very first line of the novel and with their focus on themselves.

Rating: A

Bentley/2007

Anna Karenina (Penguin Classics)

The Greatest Novel of all Time.......2007-04-24

I can't improve upon E. A Solinas' (MD USA) comments, but I can concur with them. The novel is epic and makes manifest Tolstoy's genius, depth, and internal struggles. He comprehensively covers a wide range of human struggles from the inane to the sublime. Also, I don't speak Russian, and therefore can not comment on the translation accuracy, but I can say Penguin does a very good job of editing and review that makes the novel just so enjoyable to read. There is no doubt; this is the greatest novel ever written and peerless in its category.

Fate and love, ultimately lead to Anna's undoing.......2005-11-12

Classic Tolstoy for a reason and his best book, far surpassing War and Peace. Tolstoy writes with passion about unattainable love and also the realities when love becomes realized. Anna could be any person who seeks out life and personal happiness, but without the hollywood ending.

The book is slow at times, and it took me over a year to read, but keep with it as it will impassion you by the close.

A pleasure to read.......2005-06-05

Single greatest novel ever written? Not really. However a very enjoyable read. Tolstoy weaves his magic with beautifully written paragraphs that transport you back to 18th century good old, antedeluvian Russia. His expressive and uncomplicated descriptions of the luminous country side were so poignant it was as if I were standing in Levin's shoes seeing everything through my favorite character's eyes.

The only perplex I had with this book was the numerous names for just one character. You are emphatically required to be on the ball reading through Tolstoy's world, else you may become a wee bit confused as to who he's refering to at that moment in the story lol.

It was insightful, enlightening, inviting and an all round pleasure to read. =)

Anna Karenina (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Average customer rating:

Sense of Self
"I will punish him and escape from everyone and from myself.."
An account of the "experience"
Pieces of Lives Crafted for the Ages
Woof....

Anna Karenina (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)
Leo Tolstoy
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1593080271

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Sense of Self.......2007-07-25

Sense of Self

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"

- Leo Tolstoy from Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina is a beautifully written novel about three families: the Oblonskys, the Levins, and the Karenins. The first line hints at Tolstoy's own views about happy and unhappy marriages having these same three families also represent three very different societal and physical locations in Russia in addition to distinctly different views on love, loyalty, fidelity, happiness and marital bliss.

Tolstoy seems to stress that `trusting companionships" are more durable and filled with happiness versus "romantic passion" that bursts with flames and then slowly; leaves ashes rather than a firm, solid foundation to build upon.

It is like reading a soap opera with all of its twists and turns where the observer is allowed to enter into the homes, the minds and the spirits of its main characters. The moral compass in the book belongs to Levin whose life and courtship of Kitty mirrors much of Leo Tolstoy's own courtship of his wife Sophia. Levin's personality and spiritual quest is Tolstoy's veiled attempt at bringing to life his own spiritual peaks and valleys and the self doubts that plagued him his entire life despite his happy family life and the fact that he too found love in his life and a committed durable marriage. At the other end of the spectrum is Anna, who also because of her individual choices and circumstances, falls into despair.

It is clear that Tolstoy wants the reader to come away with many messages about the sanctity of marriage, love and family life. He also wants us to be mindful of the choices that we make in life and the affect that these choices have upon ourselves, our station and path in life as well as the affect upon those that we profess to love. Tolstoy also wants us to examine what makes our lives happy or not; and what is at the root of either end result. Levin and Kitty are the happiest married couple; yet Levin faces his own double bind when struggling against domestic bliss and his need for independence on the other hand and how to achieve both (if that is possible) without relinquishing that which made him who he was born to be.

Anna Karenina and Konstantin Levin are the primary protagonists in the novel and both are rich and fine characters in their own right. Both of them focus on self; one however finds the self to be a nurturer which puts value into life very much as a farmer; while the other views self with despair and as a punisher or destroyer. Both views, diametrically opposed, force the characters on very different paths and lives for themselves. Then there is the dilemma of forgiveness versus vengeance. The very epigram for the novel from Romans states: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Yet vengeance upon oneself or others is not up to individuals but God; and yet the characters are haunted about what forgiveness is or isn't and by the hollowness of words versus heartfelt and soulfully reflective actions. The themes of social change in Russia, family life's blessings and virtues and farming (even if it is simply the goodness one puts into life and how one cultivates it and others) dominate the novel's landscape. Trains also play a symbolic importance in the novel and it is odd that Tolstoy himself years after writing Anna Karenina dies himself in a train station after setting off from his home in an emotional cloud.

Sometimes the names of the characters themselves can be confusing: so a hint to the reader might be to think of each Russian character's name as having three parts: the first name (examples here are for Levin and Kitty) like Konstantin or Ekaterina, a patronymic which is the father's first name accompanied by a suffix which means son of or daughter of like Dmitrich (son of Dmitri) or Alexandrovna (daughter of Alexander) and then the surname like Levin or Shcherbatskaya. Thus the explanations for the Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya (nicknamed Kitty) and Konstantin Dmitrich Levin (Levin).

I loved the book and its details and the richness of the characterizations as well as the storytelling technique of the great Tolstoy and I have to agree with Tolstoy when he stated, "I am very proud of its architecture-its vaults are joined so that one cannot even notice where the keystone is. " The vaults: "Anna and Levin" are joined with the very first line of the novel and with their focus on themselves.

Rating: A

Bentley/2007

Anna Karenina (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)

"I will punish him and escape from everyone and from myself..".......2007-06-28

The classic of all classics.

I really like this translation - it was easy to understand, and the 40 pages of endnotes gave helpful and relevant historical information. I was most interested in Anna and Vronsky's relationship, although I didn't mind Levin's intense philosophical ideas too much. I felt sorry for Dolly and Karenin. I tried to hate Stiva but he's a likeable character in spite of his faults.

I used to regard Anna as more of a heroic individualist, a feminist. Daring to break society's strict rules so she could go after what she wanted. But she becomes more pathetic towards the end, and the reader probably feels sorry for her (as I did). Her insecurity irritated me sometimes, and she played immature games with Vronsky that he knew nothing about. For example, when she told a servant to tell him that she was in bed with a headache, she thought to herself, "If he comes in spite of what the maid says, it means that he loves me still. If not, it means that all is over..." I used to think in that way when I was younger, but it was such a waste.

Still, I regard Anna as one of my favorite literary characters. She is a miserably unhappy woman. She does not have her son, she doesn't love her daughter, she can't go out (while Vronsky can, of course), she has an overactive imagination about what Vronsky's doing. Vronsky says he cannot live without her, yet he is busy wandering about Moscow or Petersburg much of the time.

She feels humiliated that she can't live without him. She "lowered herself" to be with him. I know women do this today, and it only ends up hurting, even killing, them. I wish some of Anna's so-called friends in society would have accepted her, comforted her. Instead, she retreats inside her mind far too much, becoming very irrational and unstable. To depend on one person for your happiness is unwise and unfortunate. Her inevitable breakdown has been forever immortalized by the last scenes and her last thoughts:

"Where am I? What am I doing? What for?"

P.S. This massive story of unhappy families is adapted very well by Masterpiece Theater - Anna Karenina (2000).

An account of the "experience".......2005-11-28

I was always a kid who liked to read classics. Something about their hefty size and worldwide acclaim made me feel secure that I was going to have the time of my life sitting in my room devouring them. So...when I was in the 7th grade, I decided to tackle "Anna Karenina", namely because I had little experience with Russian novels and the title was so much fun to say. However, in my copy (translated by David Magarshack, the Signet Classic edition) the very plain language put me off right from the start. For example: "Everything was in confusion in the Oblonsky household. The wife had found out that the husband had had an affair with their French governess and had told him that she could not go on living in the same house with him." (second paragraph, chapter 1) The novel, (my copy was 940 pages), soon became an ardous chore to read. I had weathered other lengthy volumes, but this one proved too much for me. It took me months to finish, and when I did, I decided that I would be a failure in life, because I could never boast having read "War and Peace" if I couldn't stand Tolstoy's style.

I am convinced that my reaction to "Anna Karenina" was not at all normal (after all, the back of my copy does label it "the greatest novel of the nineteenth century"), but I would like to provide my personal opinion nonetheless: this Tolstoy tome is not what I would term a "pleasure novel", and I would suggest that perservering through the entire thing if you find it rather boring in the beginning is unecessary.

Pieces of Lives Crafted for the Ages.......2005-11-02

Matthew Arnold wrote in 1887, "We are not to take ANNA KARENINA as a work of art; we are to take it as a piece of life."

You'll find Arnold's thoughts, along with brief comments from Lenin and D.H. Lawrence and an excellent Introduction by Amy Mandelker, in the Barnes & Noble Classics editon of ANNA KARENINA.
It's the second Barnes & Noble Classic I've read and I've begun investing in many others. I love the introductions, the few footnotes, and definitely the price. I would recommend these volumes of any classic. When I first saw them in Barnes & Noble, I thought they were just cheap knock-offs--but I was WRONG!

As far as this particular story, I'm glad I finally read it (I've been intimidated by its size for years). ANNA definitely feels real enough. The sweep of the novel takes you from the farm fields of rural Russia to the high societies of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The characters take on lives of their own. From what little is given about Tolstoy's life in the introduction and endnotes, it appears that much of the novel came directly from Tolstoy's life--from his religious conversion to his harrowing viewing of a woman (named Anna Pirogova) who committed suicide by throwing herself under a train.

I took one star off only because, since I'm recommending it to any reader, I felt the passages about Russian farming, hunting, and politics were a little long. But that's me.

But I did appreciate how Tolstoy committed this world that's long gone to the page. We see a love story, a society, a century meticulously preserved for the ages. And we also see how people then are really no different from now.

Woof...........2005-09-16

Welcome to a masterpiece. This book is the definition of what a great novel is supposed to be. If you consider yourself a reader of novels, you owe it to your brain to read this one. If you open Webster's Dictionary, and look up "Great Novel", it will be a url to this webpage, where you can buy this book.

This book is like being granted this amazing window into the lives and souls of very interesting, and very normal turn-of-the-century people, and watching their lives fall apart or fall together over human passion. That which makes life worth living also makes life un-livable sometimes...

This book should be read. Passionately.

It's beautiful.

When you get to the end of this book, you will look up at the world and feel like a different person. You will feel wiser, and serene, and you will want to carry this feeling with you as long as you can.

Average customer rating:

Sense of Self
Anna, sweet Anna

Anna Karenina (Thrift Edition)
Leo Tolstoy
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486437965

Book Description

Tolstoy's tumultuous tale of passion and self-discovery marks a turning point in the author's career. His compelling, emotional saga recounts the effects of nonconformist behavior — a society woman's adulterous affair and a landowner's unconventional quest for a meaningful existence — against a backdrop of

late 19th-century Russia.

Customer Reviews:

Sense of Self.......2007-07-25

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"

- Leo Tolstoy from Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina is a beautifully written novel about three families: the Oblonskys, the Levins, and the Karenins. The first line (one of the most famous in literature) hints at Tolstoy's own views about happy and unhappy marriages having these same three families also represent three very different societal and physical locations in Russia in addition to distinctly different views on love, loyalty, fidelity, happiness and marital bliss.

Tolstoy seems to stress that `trusting companionships" are more durable and filled with happiness versus "romantic passion" that bursts with flames and then slowly; leaves ashes rather than a firm, solid foundation to build upon.

It is like reading a soap opera with all of its twists and turns where the observer is allowed to enter into the homes, the minds and the spirits of its main characters. The moral compass in the book belongs to Levin whose life and courtship of Kitty mirrors much of Leo Tolstoy's own courtship of his wife Sophia. Levin's personality and spiritual quest is Tolstoy's veiled attempt at bringing to life his own spiritual peaks and valleys and the self doubts that plagued him his entire life despite his happy family life and the fact that he too found love in his life and a committed durable marriage. At the other end of the spectrum is Anna, who also because of her individual choices and circumstances, falls into despair.

It is clear that Tolstoy wants the reader to come away with many messages about the sanctity of marriage, love and family life. He also wants us to be mindful of the choices that we make in life and the affect that these choices have upon ourselves, our station and path in life as well as the affect upon those that we profess to love. Tolstoy also wants us to examine what makes our lives happy or not; and what is at the root of either end result. Levin and Kitty are the happiest married couple; yet Levin faces his own double bind when struggling against domestic bliss and his need for independence on the other hand and how to achieve both (if that is possible) without relinquishing that which made him who he was born to be.

Anna Karenina and Konstantin Levin are the primary protagonists in the novel and both are rich and fine characters in their own right. Both of them focus on self; one however finds the self to be a nurturer which puts value into life very much as a farmer; while the other views self with despair and as a punisher or destroyer. Both views, diametrically opposed, force the characters on very different paths and lives for themselves. Then there is the dilemma of forgiveness versus vengeance. The very epigram for the novel from Romans states: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." Yet vengeance upon oneself or others is not up to individuals but God; and yet the characters are haunted about what forgiveness is or isn't and by the hollowness of words versus heartfelt and soulfully reflective actions. The themes of social change in Russia, family life's blessings and virtues and farming (even if it is simply the goodness one puts into life and how one cultivates it and others) dominate the novel's landscape. Trains also play a symbolic importance in the novel and it is odd that Tolstoy himself years after writing Anna Karenina dies himself in a train station after setting off from his home in an emotional cloud.

Sometimes the names of the characters themselves can be confusing: so a hint to the reader might be to think of each Russian character's name as having three parts: the first name (examples here are for Levin and Kitty) like Konstantin or Ekaterina, a patronymic which is the father's first name accompanied by a suffix which means son of or daughter of like Dmitrich (son of Dmitri) or Alexandrovna (daughter of Alexander) and then the surname like Levin or Shcherbatskaya. Thus the explanations for the Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya (nicknamed Kitty) and Konstantin Dmitrich Levin (Levin).

I loved the book and its details and the richness of the characterizations as well as the storytelling technique of the great Tolstoy and I have to agree with Tolstoy when he stated, "I am very proud of its architecture-its vaults are joined so that one cannot even notice where the keystone is. " The vaults: "Anna and Levin" are joined with the very first line of the novel and with their focus on themselves.

Rating: A

Bentley/2007

Anna Karenina (Thrift Edition)

Anna, sweet Anna.......2005-04-16

Average customer rating:

overrated
fluff
Worst Book I've Ever Read
Surprisingly nice
Beyond the Cliche

Dinner With Anna Karenina
Gloria Goldreich
Manufacturer: Mira
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0778322270

Book Description

"And the worst of it is, you understand, that I can't leave him: there are children, and I am bound. Yet I can't live with him . . ."

Immediately the words from Anna Karenina take on a significance for the women who have gathered over good food and good wine for their first book club meeting of the year. These six very different women are not quite friends, not quite strangers but, bonded by their love of literature, they share a deep understanding of one another -- or so they think.

On this night they are stunned when the most envied and privileged member of the group announces that she is divorcing her perfect husband for reasons she cannot, will not share. That such an idyllic marriage could be so vulnerable mystifies them, leaving them to speculate about what happened -- and what, in their own imperfect relationships, would constitute the ultimate betrayal.

Over the course of a year, through cathartic discussions about their favorite novels, they reveal the burdens, bitterness and painful truths they have long been hiding, and in doing so, try to find the courage to open a new chapter in their own lives.

Written with a refreshing insight, Dinner with Anna Karenina takes an absorbing look at the complex lives and friendships of modern women. From their concealed rivalries with each other to their ongoing trials with husbands and lovers, award-winning author Gloria Goldreich's lyrical narrative captures their individual voices and struggles, with poignancy, humor and truth.

Customer Reviews:

overrated.......2007-08-09

i picked this book out of the library because they had 8 copies of it so i figured it was a real hit. i should have taken the hint, considering all 8 copies were still on the shelf! i was disappointed with the book's predictability. while reading it i got bored, and skipped 300 pages only to discover that nothing had changed and i had no trouble following through to the end of the book. there is no reading between the lines, i found. all the characters' personalities, conflicts, and strengths are spelled out as if in a pattern. i enjoy more in depth reading, and this book did not make me think. i have to say, occasionally there were some great adjectives and Goldreich has the gift of description.

fluff.......2007-01-05

I was disappointed. Had read some good reviews, picked it for a book club. It was unanimously disregarded as shallow writing. I admit, I was taken in by the title much like I was with that garbage "Jane Austen Book Club". That book was a disgrace to Austen's name!

Worst Book I've Ever Read.......2007-01-05

I am a voracious reader and this has to be the all-time worst book ever written. If this author used one more adverb I was going to hurl. If you enjoy super mushy descriptions and extremely predictable cliche'd writing this is the book for you. If you are even a "semi" well-read person you will toss this book in the nearest trashcan. The irony of this whole disaster is it's about a woman's bookclub! If any of the women in this novel's bookclub had picked out this book for their reading I'm certain none of them would even have the stomach to finish it. Leo Tolstoy and the other author's novels mentioned in this book must be turning over in their graves...

Surprisingly nice.......2006-10-23

"Dinner with Anna Karenina" starts a little slow and appears somewhat cheesy at the beginning, but it grows into something more. Its characters are not perfect, and Gloria Goldreich manages to present them with their human faults and imperfect choices. While the collection of characters might not be the most believable (a poor graduate student and a rich, elegant manager as part of the same book club?), it is still a gripping read.

Beyond the Cliche.......2006-08-30

There have been many books written over the last decade about women in book clubs. When I first saw that this was yet another, my reaction was "oh, bleah."

But I found myself strongly drawn in to this story of six New York women with six very different lives, linked together by their great love of reading. I could identify with that love and with their powerful emotions about books. But what was really fun about this particular story was that each time the group discussed a book, the reader was privy to the discussion!

I found it absolutely fascinating. They discussed books I had read, books I had not read. They discussed Sylvia Plath in detail, pro and con, ditto for Louisa Mae Alcott. The points of view were so interesting and so diverting that I felt I was part of the group, the seventh woman, sitting silently, partaking of their wonderful meals (lovingly described) and nodding my head in agreement.

Yes, there is a plot: The "perfect, has-it-all" group member, Cynthia, startles the rest of the women almost on page 1 with the announcement that she has separated from her husband. This story acts as a catalyst in introducing the other women, and the thread runs throughout the book. It didn't always work, hence the four stars instead of five, but I cried at the end, not a regular thing for me at all.

If you are a book lover, I think you might really like this gentle book that is, in the end, simply a discussion of much-loved literature.

Average customer rating:

I Like Anna Karenina..But..
This book is my favorite

Anna Karenina (Cliffs Notes)
Marianne Sturman
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0822001837

Book Description

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background.

CliffsNotes on Anna Karenina delves into the complex web of relationships in Tolstoy’s epic novel. As the characters unfold, this novel draws you into the lives of Karenin, Anna, and others as they struggle through the seemingly hopeless marriage patterns of urban society. Do romantic relationships make us stronger or weaker as individuals?

With insights into the characters of Anna Karenina, as well as information about Tolstoy’s own life and background, this study guide will help you get the most out of this classic novel. Other features that help you study include

A character list that reveals names, traits, and key relationships
Summaries and commentaries on each chapter
Critical essays
In-depth character analyses
Analysis of major themes
Review questions and suggested writing topics

Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Download Description

At once a tragic love story pitting a fragile heart against the forces of society, this novel truly succeeds as a conversation of ideas.

The long book is very readable, and this study guide should help readers galvanize their thoughts on the philosophical issues in the book that truly concern all humans.

Customer Reviews:

I Like Anna Karenina..But.........2006-09-05

These Cliffsnotes are terrible!! I do not know if they are the old version or what, but there are no distinctions with themes, symbolism, character insight, etc., the only thing there is for each group of chapters is: summary and commentary with no detail in the commentary!! I am an avid cliffsnotes buyer, but this particular book was very disappointing, down to the simple character descriptions.

This book is my favorite.......1999-03-03

This book is great. When I first saw this book I thought that it is boring because it's quite thick. Yet after reading this book I realized that one cannot judge a book based on its size. It's really a good book. It's about the Russian society. After reading this book I learned a great deal about the author. Leo Tolstoy is one of my favorite character. I think that "Anna Karenina" is one of his best works. The liked all the characters especially Levin. A strong relationship grows up between Levin and his peasants. After reading this book I have fallen in love with the countryside. The note helped a lot to understand the story. In the book some parts became hard for me to understand, so I used the note to understand. My point is that when I don't really get into some parts of a story at that time it becomes really hard for me to follow the story. It also become boring to me. The note really helps me out at that time. It makes a boring story very interesting.

Anna Karenina (Everyman's Library Classics)

Average customer rating:

Beautiful and Broad

Anna Karenina (Everyman's Library Classics)
L.N. Tolstoy
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful and Broad.......2007-03-31

This book is about relationships, adultery, marriage, love, hate, communication, religion, politics, agriculture, suicide and God.

It's beautiful in that Tolstoy's a craftsman. One is tempted to learn Russian merely to read him in the original. He crafts not just words, but ideas and concepts, preceptions and feelings. Tolstoy captures so much of what it is to be human and to experience what humans experience everyday, that to read him is to see both the beautiful and the vile, the exiting and the mundane, the attractive and the repulsive with great clarity and insight. To read Tolstoy is to experience life brilliantly and vicariously. Such is always the case with good authors.

It's broad in that _Anna Karenina_ touches on so many issues. Tolstoy is a important, if recent, voice in the Great Conversation. After having read this twice, I wonder if there is anything of consequence that this book doesn't touch on. There's also breadth in the cast of characters. Tolstoy weaves many different personalities together in his narrative. Once again, they're all quite human, each exhibiting a broad range of qualities. The great hero of the book, Levin, is quite pitiable sometimes. The great villainess (if she can be called that), Anna, is oftentimes beautiful, attractive and sensitive.

This older translation reads well. I've not read the new translation by Pevear & Volokhonsky, but I've heard good things about it. This Maude translation will suit you just fine, however. The Everyman's Library Classics edition is sturdy and will last for years.

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