Anna Karenina, Vol 5 of 8

Anna Karenina (8 volumes) #5

by Leo Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoy

A magnificent story, that amalgamates the classical sensuality and rebelliousness against the prevailing customs, is presented here. This novel is a unique example of social realism that portrays the inevitable tragedy of a wilful woman, Anna Karenina, who transgresses the conventions of society and follows her own lead.

Genres: Romance, Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1877

About the author

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reviews

[Zuzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wracam do tej książki po ponad roku, bo można o mnie powiedzieć wiele rzeczy ale Im not a quitter!!!

Bardzo ujął mnie rozdział o śmierci Mikołaja, chciałam dać z niego jakiś cytat ale uznałam, ze chyba trzeba go po prostu przeczytać w całości…

[Misha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part 5 of Anna Karenina just tore me up. How desperately sad and angsty! Tolstoy doesn't give his readers a break, does he? He also plays with our feelings. One moment you hate the characters, the next moment you sympathize with them, feel their pain. I have said this before. It does matter that this was written over 200 years ago. These people still exist around us and in us. These notions of patriarchy, society, masculinity and femininity, unfortunately, still exist.

There is a death scene that I think will haunt me. It's portrayed so realistically. The waiting, the hoping, and the end of hope. The helplessness in the presence of suffering. Tolstoy depicts this wait and the passing of time with so much humanity.

It was Anna, however, whose situation really moved me. She is truly isolated from the society and her son. She is at the mercy of her former friends and husband. A true victim of society. She has made her choice, but one can't help feeling sorry for her. We are seeing her unravelling part by part.

In a typical Tolstoyan way, part 5 involves growth, a chance at redemption... and on the way to this redemption, there is much heartache.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

guess what
I was right
they're still not happy

[Neha Rajan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was lovely reading the chapters in her son's point of view, and his reunion with Anna was absolutely heartbreaking. Everything seems to be going downhill for Anna and Vronksy, and her husband as well. Anna has really changed over the course of the novel, which I'll hopefully finish soon. It's quite a good read so far, a bit slow at some points, though. But I like it, the characters are great.

[Jedenobel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know I've been hooting and hollering over every book, but this one actually made me cry! Part of being a dad, I suppose, but the bit where Anna secretly visits her son absolutely broke me. Sorry, Anna; no love, no sex, no nothing is good enough for me to leave behind my baby!