Anna Karenina

by Margaret Tarner, Leo Tolstoy

Tells the story of Anna's forbidden love for the dashing soldier, Count Vronsky. This work is a study of passionate love set against the background of pre-Bolshevik Russia at the time of the development of the Russian railway.

Genres: Classics

80 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2006

Reviews

[Juli]

Juxtaposition of love that is selfish and love that is selfless.

[Saes Winchell]

811 pages later (a month and a half for me) of lugging this honking book around while receiving rude glances of strangers probably thinking I am this pretentious snob… IM DONE !!!

I read this out of curiosity for Tolstoy, and having heard this was acclaimed possibly the greatest novel of all time, I had to give it a go.

Overall, this is a novel of forgiveness and revenge, one questioning the themes of love, infidelity, and existentialism. Truly a great read from how Tolstoy paints a whole eighteenth century society in Russia and still takes time to describe how trivial objects and experiences influence these characters.

Furthermore, as I did more research on Leo Tolstoy, I found that with his books he wanted to convey that “no one is outside the circle of empathy”. And this purpose painful clear through the aristocratic Anna Karenina, and although she is frustrating and “immoral” as people and society call her, you feel pity for her.

Tolstoy also believed that reading should be a supplement to religion as a therapeutic exercise and experience. And, I couldn’t help agreeing with him after I read this novel with how much it benefited me. Much more thoughts I am sure to come from me; I will continue to muse over this book.

Although this book is indeed incredible, personally I found the themes didn’t speak to me at the time I read them, and this hurt my reading experience a bit. But this is personal of course. Some themes don’t speak to you and some will based on personal experience and the time you read about those themes. But, I will say, the characters are so lovely in this book. There are so many sweetly and tender written scenes and characters in this novel that I will be returning to and will miss.

I am very glad to have read this novel, as it was also my first read piece of Russian literature on my shelf—which is a great new celebration and experience for me!

[vmikee]

Me ha gustado mucho!!! Súper corto y el nivel de inglés esta facilísimo

[Who is who Here???]

🥰what the fuck with the ending💋❤️❤️❤️🥰

[Lodewijk Kuiper]

Dit is een eerste impressie na het lezen van de tweede keer Anna Karenina van Tolstoi.

Het boek blijft sterk in het tegenover elkaar zetten van de levens van twee stellen met totaal verschillende dynamieken.

Konstantin Ljewin en Kitty. Ongepolijst, natuurlijk, met een liefde die groeit. Maar ook waar wederzijds onbegrip speelt, en een zoektocht samen.
En Anna Arkadjevna Karenina en Graaf Wronski. Twee mooie beroemdheden in de hoogste society. Anna die leeft voor gepassioneerde liefde als hoogste principe. En Wronski die vooral een soepel leventje had tot hij viel voor de charmes van Anna. Waarna ze samen een rollercoaster meemaken, zowel in hun verhouding tot de high society als tot elkaar.

Tegelijk heeft het boek ook veel pagina's waar weinig interessants gebeurt. Maar het bevat tegelijk veel fijnzinnige observaties over mensen en hun emoties en zieleroerselen.

De rijkdom zit hem ook in de zoektocht naar de zin van het leven in de overpeinzingen van Ljewin. Die dat zoekt in conversaties met denkers en boeken - en het daar niet vindt. Die het zoekt door met zijn boeren mee te werken en leven op het land. En daar de waarden en het geloof van zijn jeugd hervindt.

Het leven van de rijkste society rond 1880 in Rusland omringd door ontstellende rijkdom, maar ook vol met inhoudsloze conversaties, levens in leegheid en zonder veel zin of betekenis blijft verbazen. Met een vanuit 21ste eeuws perspectief verbazingwekkende kloof tussen sociale schijn en werkelijke levens.

Absoluut een aanrader!

[Rose]

I've wanted to read Anna Karenina for a long time, and I really enjoyed it! Tolstoy masterfully entwined two completely different storylines while creating a cohesive story of love, faith, and humanity. I personally didn't enjoy the long passages about farming and political debate, but the raw complexity of the characters compounded with the rich settings made the story so lively and engaging. The tragic ending fit within the story, but I felt as if its impact was lost in the disconnect between Part 7 and Part 8, which was more focused on philosophizing instead of the characters. Anna Karenina is a difficult yet bittersweet story about life as it's experienced by actual people, not idealized figures as we so often see in modern works.

[rena]

"Tumbado sobre la espalda, contemplaba ahora el cielo «Yo sé bien –meditaba– que eso es la inmensidad del espacio, y no una bóveda azul que se extiende sobre mí. Pero mi retina no es capaz de reflejar más que la bóveda redondeada; mis ojos no pueden escrutar el misterio infinito que se esconde más allá»"

es el libro más trágico y devastador que he leído, pero a la vez el más hermoso y el que más me ha hecho llorar, ya sea por tristeza, amor, o felicidad.

amé leerlo con cada fibra de mi alma y corazón, cada una de las palabras de esta novela quedará incrustada en mi corazón por muchísimo tiempo, ya que nunca antes, ningún libro me hizo pasar por el espectro tan completo de emociones por el cual este fue capaz.

[apii]

lo q este libro me hizo es IMPRESIONANTE, a fucking fever dream. El libro empieza como termina (casi literalmente menos loa únicos personajes felices q son liovin y kitty) y eso me parece irónicamente perfecto, sufrí leyendo esto. Creo que nunca más voy a poder ver a un tren igual porque tipo q es eso?? q literalmente el día que se anna y vronsky se conozcan un hombre se muera bajo un tren, QUE EL AYUDE A LA FAMILIA DEL HOMBRE POR ELLA, y después colo es el final de Anna, perfecto. Polémico pero para mi ningún personaje en el libro es COMPLETAMENTE odiable, porque ese es el propósito del libro, juega mil veces con tu moral y ética, nada, lo amw.

[joey]

Schablonenhaft literarisch hochwertig und kunstvoll konstruiert, mit vereinzelten schönen Passagen, aber größtenteils ohne Gefühl. Doesn't practice what it preaches. Die Figuren fühlen sich an wie Schachfiguren, die nach kühler Logik gezeichnet und auf einem Schachbrett angeordnet sind, die einzige Person mit halber Tiefe ist (neben Anna) Lewin, der jedoch lediglich den Autor selbst zu verkörpern scheint.
Außerdem hätte der Autor mal mit einer Frau reden sollen.

[Claudia Fincias Antolin]

Me da tanta pena no poder darle 5 estrellas.

Sin duda es un clásico imprescindible que todo el mundo debería leer… Pero, ¿las últimas 100 páginas?

Siendo un libro taaaaan largo siento que a veces se va demasiado por las ramas.

Obviamente el estilo de Tolstoi es así e inevitablemente incluye muchísimas reflexiones filosóficas y religiosas, pero… ¿y el hilo conductor de la historia?

A pesar de todo, LEEDLO. Obligatorio

[Vanessa]

it was very good And the love stories in it were really well written especially the difference between count vronsky and Anna Karenina and Lewin and Kitty. One Was full of drama and passion and the other one was sweet and morally good.
I love it with every inch Of my heart and will defend it with my dying breath.

[Eg]

An easy read, very few characters, an easy storyline, probably more interesting than the full book. The book had quite a similar feel to Victorian times in England, only portrayed from the point of view of nobility.

[Nafea Mohsen]

A wonderful masterpiece of Tolstoy. A fine story to understand love and its effect.
When you start reading it you can't stop.

[Eduardo Paim]

Muito longo mas é bom

[Lolita]

"Happy families are all alike, but unhappy families are unhappy in different ways."

Leo Tolstoy

[Keaton Hoy]

Essential, divine.

[Filipa Mota Nesbitt]

Amazing ♥️

[ToanDoan]

Đọc cũng ổn, tác giả biết cách khai thác tâm lý nhân vật nhưng mà nhiều câu chuyện triết học quá tuổi trẻ đọc chả hiểu gì hết!

[Ella H]

j

[aaaanaaaaaaa]

¿para que sirven estas iglesias, estas campanas , estas mentiras? solo para ocultar cuanto nos odiamos unos a otros

[Vanessa Princessa]

I completely love this book.

It was one of the most fripping books I've ever read.

I hated the character of Alexei Karenin. I am a very emotional person, so he was very hard to understand for me. He is way too cold and looks incapable of love. How can he say that he hates his son, because of Anna??

Then comes my other least favourite character - Countess Ivanova. For me, she is the usual image of the wicked witch. An unmarried woman, that had always admired Alexei Karenin, but hated Anna. So it wasn't a surprise that later he did all she would say. She is like Cinderella's stepmother! It was devastating how she convinced the young Sasha to forget his mother!!!

The good old Levin and the little sweet Kitty were kind of funny at times. Too much philosophy from Levin,though.

I liked Vronsky and Anna's relationship in the beginning. I liked Vronsky as a whole,actually. So I did not understand what reason Anna had to be jealous. There was that quote:

"I am willing to give everything for Anna, except my independence."

I did not take that as him being untrue to Anna. I think that not depending on each other for everything is one of the most important things in a relationship. But with this comes trust. Vronsky shouldn't have hid her brother's telegram from Anna in the first place.

And Anna doesn't trust Vronsky. But after discussing the book with someone who has read the original, I fully understand that I can be wrong. I honestly thought that she persuaded herself that something was not right. And when she lied that she was happy, that was so sad to read. In my oppinion jealosy amd fear drove her mad. Also, she kept taking morphine every night. Come on, this is like taking drugs!

"Yes, thaat is how I will punish him," she thought to herself. "He will love me again when I am dead, but it will be too late. That will be his punishment."

Those aren't the words of a straight-thinking woman.

I liked the ending. It was the best way to end the story. And even though I've watched the movie and knew what was going to happen, that scene in the end was frightening!