Ell Rojer > Recent Status Updates

me when Levin is constantly side-eyeing Dolly and Stepan Arkadyich while he's still having an affair!!! :o THE DRAMA

"'Who was he kissing yesterday with those lips?'...He looked at Dolly and was also displeased with her. 'She doesn't believe in his love at all. So what is she so happy about? Disgusting!' thought Levin." (571)

Then not him then getting jealous and insecure around his own wife....LEVIN BRO BREATHE!!

Some favorite quotes. "'...The day I fell in love with you, everything changed for me. The one single thing I have is your love...I am proud of...' She could not manage to say what she was proud of. Tears of shame and despair choked her voice." (320)

"When she saw those calm gestures again, and heard that piercing, childish, and sarcastic voice, her aversion for him obliterated the pity she had felt..." (323)

Wow! So many new twists and turns in Part 5. Tolstoy continues to beautifully unravel the inner life of 18th-century Russian society, with all the messiness of friends and family navigating life together. He perfectly encapsulates the maddening exhilaration of romance. We see Anna's inner turmoil alongside Levin's battle against his loneliness. Excited to keep reading!!

The world mirrors the characters' inner psyches. I was struck by how Vronsky's fall from his horse (203) is exactly parallel to his affair with Anna. In his race, he started out hubristic. He had no thought of any consequences. But soon, his actions catch up to him and result in a catastrophic fall. Quite literally: a fall from grace. My analysis is inspired by George Saunders' "A Swim in a Pond in the Rain".

"The presence of this child always and without exception aroused in Vronsky that strange feeling of inexplicable loathing which he had been experiencing lately...a feeling akin to that experienced by a seafarer, who sees from the compass that the direction he is swiftly heading in is far from the proper one, but is incapable of stopping the momentum." (189)

We see the subconscious mind and the struggle of guilt.

Oh, Anna... girl. There can only be so much infidelity in one book...

Alas, Tolstoy has again swept me away with his gorgeous writing.

Favorite quote: "They were talking about mutual acquaintances, and conducting the most trivial of conversations, but it seemed to Kitty that every word they spoke was deciding their destiny, and hers." (83)

Tolstoy perfectly captures the feelings of unwarranted jealousy that come bubbling up when watching your crush fall in love with someone else...Heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and inevitable all at once.

Tolstoy's prose is outstanding. I loved "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" in 2025- excited to jump into Tolstoy's writing again.

Enjoying the setup of the characters and how he establishes their inner psyches right from the get-go. I especially love the conversation between Oblonsky and Levin on page 39, where they discuss Levin's crush on Kitty without ever mentioning Kitty...masterfully written!

This book poses questions about music and memory, the power of a single moment between 2 people. Looking forward to reading more.

Enjoying this quiet story of Stephen navigating self-discovery and self-growth. Nelson's writing feels like a memory or dream being retold. His writing is beautiful, sensitive, and poetic.