Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
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Book Reviews of Anna Karenina
Book Review: Love, Hate and Beauty-
Summary: 5 Stars
Anna Karenina, the story of a twisted love triangle in high Russian society, is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. The way it was written reminds me of a ballet dancer: graceful, poetic and vivid. The characters are unlike anything I've ever experienced, and the story was painted so well, I often felt like I was Anna, Kitty, Levin or Stiva.
I went into reading Anna Karenina hearing only positive things about it. One of my close friends had recently finished it, and could do nothing but rave about how amazing she thought it was. Only slightly intimidated by the length, I soon found that the book itself was quite an easy read. Unlike other books, where I sometimes have a hard time getting into them at the beginning, I jumped right into Anna Karenina and kept swimming from there.
One of my favorite things about the book is the way it rotates between different characters points of view. This keeps the reader from getting bored, and the excitement and tension levels up. For example, after reading for a while about what Levin is doing in the country, the next section of the book might start off with what's happening with Alexei Alexandrovich in St. Petersburg.
I absolutely loved this book. Reading this novel really made me appreciate good literature, and the writing style of Leo Tolstoy. After reading Anna Karenina, I'm now excited to read his other novels, which I've heard, are equally impressive. I recommend to anyone who likes to delve into the inner workings of life, and the relationships of others. Reading Anna Karenina will make you feel like a newly awakened person.
Book Review: Big and beautiful...
Summary: 5 Stars
Anna Karenina is probably the most detailed work on relationships, families, society, and spirituality ever written... It is detailed to the point of being its own universe - and one that moves with the consistency of a fine tuned machine. One can only approach such a work by abandoning to it completely - allowing it to take you in whatever direction it wills - with the full acceptance that the path you are taking is leading to a full and definitive fruition...
But to speak of the great technical aspects of the novel is not enough.. Somehow it is in the images that Tolstoy creates that allows the novel to really sink in - often promting people to return to it again and again..
The images of the elite societies of Petersburg and Moscow, Levin's estate in the countryside, the dreams of Vronsky and Anna... All the significant moments of the book are presented in a way that enchants the reader.. And while so many literary techinques are used, it is all so natural that it is hardly noticeable - simply great storytelling...
I have read two translations of the novel... the Maudes' translation and now Pevear and Volokhonsky... Both translations were very readable and well written... I cannot say which is better since I do not know Russian and I am no expert on translation... I can say that this translation by p/v is now very highly regarded - and I enjoyed reading it... While the Maude translation seemed more literary, the p/v translation seemed more direct and real to me... So either way you can't lose.. I can only recommend that you pick up one of these versions and enjoy being swept away.
Book Review: Best book I've ever read
Summary: 5 Stars
After owning this book for almost a year and being intimidated by it's 800 pages, I finally dug in about a month ago. All I can say is this: On June 1st, I ran out to purchase David Sedaris' new book, which I have been waiting for these last 4 years with breathless anticipation....but instead of devouring it immediately, I finished the last 100 pages of Anna first. That says alot for my commitment to this amazing book! I was so enthralled...the rich inner lives of these characters, the beautiful writing. I found myself reading sentences over and over, basking in their beauty. I am surprised by the reviewers comments that the decisions and scenarios in this book are black and white, that the characters are stereotypes. I think the opposite is true---Tolstoy gives you a window into the thought life of every character and a glimpse at just how "grey" their struggles really are, the duality of their lives. Like Vronksy's desparate love for Anna, coupled with the nagging notion that he just might have left behind a life that he misses. Who cares (as many readers apparently do) that Anna doesn't show up until 80 pages in???? This book is more than one woman, it is a masterpeice filled with many memorable characters, male and female alike. It's the richness of the supporting characters that take this book to the next level. Simply amazing!
I tend to loathe Oprah for her book club "magic wand", but I am happy that she will bring a new crop of readers to this wonderful piece of literature. Not only will you appreciate the plot and the characters, you will appreciate the craft of writing itself.
Book Review: Anna Karenina, A Critical View of a Monumental Work.
Summary: 5 Stars
I am ecstatic that Ms. Winfrey chose to re-start her Book Club with "The Classics." She continues from One Hundred Years of Solitude with Anna Karenina, a book that I love about an affluent woman who's driven to adultery with a soldier and the tragic consequences of her inability to deal with loneliness. It was an especially scandulous topic considering the morees of the 19th century and the religious background of Count Tolstoy. I especially recommend this edition, because of the translators, the husband and wife team of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. They're extremely well known and have received numerous award for their translations of Russian literature, especially the unparalleled translations of Dostoevsky's novels, Notes From Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov and in particular, Demons.
Their translation of Demons and the introduction ("The Foreward") is the most intriguing essay ever written about an author and the background to the work.
There is much to say about Anna Karenina and Tolstoy. Both were (strangely enough) favored by Mark Twain as opposed to his great dislike of Tolstoy's contemporary, Dostoevsky. To paraphrase Twain, from his essay "Fennimore Cooper's Literary Offenses," Tolstoy captures a realistic portrait of the human condition, and not drawn away by romantic fantasies. I didn't agree with Twain negative description of Dostoevsky and Victor Hugo, but 19th Century observation was what it was.
*If I may recommend, the foremost series of classic literature is found in The Norton Critical Edition series.
Book Review: Absolutely Beautiful---
Summary: 5 Stars
Anna Karenina will fill the reader's ears with music, a rich vocabualary, and a story to absorb throughout the generations--
Tolstoy tells this tragic gem with such mastery that at times I wanted to break down and cry, scream, and stop the beautiful, sophisticated Anna from crossing the uncrossable line...
But she does cross it, plunges in it, drowns in it. The married Anna falls deeply in love with Vronsky--and at first, it's exciting,exhilarating, intoxicating--
Anna is whom every man wants to be with and whom every women wants to be like--
Until she begins an affair with Vronsky.
Now Anna is an abomination, a scarlett woman, a horror, and a women society will reject with great force--
Anna's heart rules her world--this is the problem, this is the rub--
Once she chooses Vronsky, her world turns into darkness, falling at her feet in disarray, confusion, and endless sin--she loses everything, her child, her position in society, her character, and her self.
One wonders...Is it worth the pain, the disgrace, the absolute isolation Anna must endure?
No. The sin does not taste good forever. It begins to sour, curdle, and rot. It kills in the end. Anna cannot live two lives, and cannot bear the one she's in.
Towards the end, Anna cannot carry one more day of her decision-cannot stand the taste of decay inside her mouth--but even then- she has second thoughts-- but it's too late, too late.
***Stunning book*** A must read before one takes their last breathe!