Rating: 
Summary: A most artistic recreation of life
Review: After two months, I have finished the great novel ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy that was given to me by Jenny and Gerry (thank you!). I was nervous to take it on, this edition has 924 pages, but I am so, so, so glad that I did. I enjoyed almost every bit of the book, and feel I have from reading it a new understanding of writing and of literature.This edition from Modern Library Classics was translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett with a revision by Leonard Kent and Nina Berberova. The prose reads very easily, in clear, accessible English for today. (But don't worry: It's not "The Good News Bible does Tolstoy.") While the book is long, and by looking at a calendar and my new paperback's rumpled cover and scuffed binding, I could tell I'd been reading it a long time, it felt as if it were passing quickly. Tolstoy's narrative moves easily from stage to stage -- there's no feeling of contrived suspense or narrative manipulation. The lives of the characters progress naturally, and what Tolstoy tells the reader, the reader believes and doesn't question (this reader didn't.) The story focuses on just a few main characters, Anna Arkadyevna Karenina (and her husband Aleksey Alexandrovich Karenin), Count Aleksey Kirilich Vronksy, Konstantin Dmitrich Levin and Kitty Scherbatskaya. These individuals propel the story, and it is their lives and relationships that we follow most closely. Supporting characters include Prince Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky, his wife Darya Alexandrovna Oblonskaya and Levin's brothers, a small cast for a grand Russian novel. On the back cover, a quote about the novel, attributed to Matthew Arnold, says that we are "not to take ANNA KARENINA as a work of art; we are to take it as a slice of life." I think it is really both. The theme of the novel centers on relationships, and those relationships in 19th Century Russian artistocratic society of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Anna Karenina is an elite, beautiful woman married to a powerful government official, Aleksey Karenin, with whom she has a son, Seryozha. She falls in love with and has an extended affair with the rich, dapper Count Aleksey Vronksy, and has a child with him, a daughter. Their story follows her inability to ask for or later receive a divorce from her husband, and her increasing unhappiness in the relationship with Vronsky, as she is bannished by society and resents the freedom he has as a man to move in his old circles. Her jealousy and insecurity grow throughout the course of the novel, rendering her nearly mad. The other relationship, which serves as a contrast and foil for Karenina and Vronsky, is that of Levin and Kitty Scherbatskaya. Levin is a somewhat older man than the young and beautiful Kitty, daughter of one of Moscow's many princes. He is an aristocratic farmer and cares for his family's vast agrarian holdings in the country thoughtfully and meticulously. At the beginning of the novel, he has been courting Kitty, but had returned to the country for awhile. When he returns to ask her to marry him, he sees that she is infatuated with Vronksy, whom he doesn't trust. Vronsky meets Anna Karenina at a ball and stops calling on Kitty, breaking her heart. After a long separation, Kitty and Levin meet again and she agrees to marry him, happily. Their storyline follows their marriage and the birth of their son, Dimitry. It is definitely true that this novel is most definitely a slice out of life. The characters are incredibly realistic as is the pace and plot of the novel. But the artistry lies in Tolstoy's effective setting of one relationship against another. It's not as black and white as it might be in a lesser writer's hands. The "good couple" Levin and Kitty have difficulties in adjusting to each other and in their relationship. Levin, like Anna, is jealous, but unlike Vronsky and Anna, he is motivated by love and generosity to overcome his angry feelings for the benefit of a harmonious home. Other aspects of the two different relationships are set off by one another. A very compelling character is made of Aleksey Alexandrovich Karenin, whom Anna despises, but who undergoes a convincing and sad degeneration of self as Anna leaves him and he maintains custody of the son that she loves. (He gets caught up with a society woman who has converted to a fundamentalist, ecstatic Christianity and gives him advice, ultimately leading him to allow a French faux-mystic to decide the fate of his marriage to Anna.) The novel has a well-known climax, which I won't reveal if you don't know it, but it has beautifully written and rich "falling action" which allows the reader to come through the shock and pain to what Levin discovers beyond the love of the family life he craved. This is definitely a masterwork, completely readable and worth the time spent on every page.
Rating:
Summary: What a surprise!
Review: I was on a binge where I was reading only 1,000+ page books, and so I decided to hit "War and Peace". However, as fate would have it, I heard a quote from the writer Ayn Rand who called "Anna Karenina" the "most evil book in serious literature". Well, as soon as I heard something like that I knew I had to find out for myself! I read this book, and I have no idea what book Rand was skimming through when she arrived at her comment but it surely wasn't this one. This book is not "evil" in any way, shape, or form! I found it to be a tightly focused exploration of the rigidity of socially accepted relationships versus the desire of the individual to be personally fulfilled. In presenting this conflict, Tolstoy was not using Anna to illustrate the evils of adultery or non-conformity. I do think he targeted the tragic contrast in how male and female adulterers are treated. He also, through Kitty and Levin, explores the constraints faced by women as they seek true love. Tolstoy is a consumate creator of three-dimensional characters. In addition, the scope of this novel is unbelievably large, exploring all types of relationships from old married couples to swinging singles. With a story this intricate there are probably dozens of interpretations as to what it all means, and I enjoyed reading other reviews here and learning what other people thought. It added to my own understanding. Only great literature can still generate that kind of reaction over a century past the original publish date. Despite the obvious merit of this book, I almost wish I could go to 4.75 stars rather than 5. It may seem picky, but I feel that the way Tolstoy stapled his own socio-economic views onto this novel - especially and most glaringly at the end - was just awful. Those views seem out of place in this story, and should have been developed in some other book. Towards the very end, I felt these passages became especially pointless and even immature. He made the same type of error at the the end of "War and Peace," as well. In any case, other than that one slip there's nothing but brilliant writing here. "Anna Karenina" is easily one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature.
Rating:
Summary: The translation makes all the difference.
Review: I have been reading Anna Karenina for quite a long time. I read it for a time, put it down to read another book, then picked it back up again to read some more. I did this over and over because I was intrigued by the story but my reading of it was very labored. Tolstoy is complex to begin with (an understatement, to be sure) but the translation I was reading made it difficult for me to wade through. When I was about half way through the book, someone directed me to this more recent translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky (my husband highly recommends their translation of The Brothers Karamozov). I picked up in this translation where I left off in the other and I could not believe the difference! This translation is incredibly fluid - while maintaining the complexity and beauty of Tolstoy's creation. Without exaggerating in the slightest, this story came alive when I switched to this translation. Now I cannot put it down and I am almost finished with the book. Get this book! It makes Tolstoy come alive to us - the everyday common reader. Wasn't that what he was all about?
Rating:
Summary: A Timeless Work of Art
Review: I will admit that when I began reading ANNA KARENINA I was a little bored. For one thing, Anna doesn't make her appearance until Chapter Eighteen. For another, the book just seemed to be "they went here and did this, then went there and did that." Luckily for me, my boredom soon turned to fascination and I saw the book for what it is: a richly textured panorama of the 19th century Russian aristocracy. Some of the events in ANNA KARENINA are a bit melodramatic but Tolstoy weaves in so many details of everyday life that, most of the time, the melodrama is totally believable and utterly convincing. People hoping to read a novel revolving around an adulterous affair may be disappointed with this book. The affair between Anna and Count Vronsky isn't the novel's main concern. In fact, the reactions of Anna's friends and family are given far more attention and importance than are Anna and Vronsky, themselves. This is all to the book's credit, however, and not to its detriment. I think ANNA KARENINA's greatest strength, and the thing that makes it a timeless classic, is Tolstoy's masterful depiction of each character's rich emotional life. In this beautiful book, we can really see the universality of love, sadness, tragedy, temptation, vulnerability and so much more. I don't think there's an adult alive who couldn't, in some way, relate to this book and the wide range of emotions it depicts. It is almost epic in scope. I didn't fall in love with any of the characters, but there were none I really disliked, either. All are fascinating, flawed human beings with both good and bad points. Tolstoy was certainly a master at creating believable characters and characters with whom the reader could identify. I could find echoes of myself in almost every one of them. While the climax of ANNA KARENINA is melodramatic, Tolstoy wrote it in a very understated and beautiful manner. It was so sad, so moving, that it brought tears to my eyes. The denouement is quiet and the book ends on a pitch perfect note, leaving the reader satisfied and, yes, changed. Is this the best book ever written, as many people have hailed it to be? It depends on what you, as a reader, are looking for, of course, but it is certainly one of the best books ever written. It is a tapestry of extraordinary richness and depth, written in a beautifully quiet, but very involving tone. Whether you love it or don't quite think it's "your thing," it is certainly a novel that is not to be missed. It really is a work of art and it has proven itself to be timeless. Note on the translation: I read an older translation of this book when I was in high school and I found the new Pevear and Volokhonsky translation to be far, far superior. It is far more "Russian" and the prose is much more flowing. If you're going to read ANNA KARENINA and, like me, you can't read Russian, I would highly recommend this translation.
Rating:
Summary: Great Edition of a Great Story
Review: This Edition, Pevear and Volokhonsky (Viking 2001), supposedly renders Tolstoy's Russian more faithfully than earlier ones, which attempted to "soften" him a bit for Western sensibilities. I actually bought this for a class, and my teacher, who reads it in the Russian, simply couldn't praise the translation enough, so if you're determined to read Anna Karenina already, you should probably get this edition. As for the story, I found that the 800 pages just melted away. Long doesn't mean hard, after all, and I was sorry to see it end, to tell the truth. The story revolves around seven different people in 1870s Russia. Superficially, it tells how Anna Karenina left her husband for another man, destroying her family, how Stiva Oblonsky ruined his family without leaving it, and how Konstantin Levin courted Kitty Shcherbatsky and they built a new family together. Although it's enjoyable even on the superficial level, Anna Karenina rewards careful study, revealing intricate structure and interlocking symbolism throughout. Tolstoy thought it was his best work; critics have called it one of the best novels ever written; don't miss it.
Rating: 
Summary: Why call it a masterpiece?
Review: Why in the heck do I insist on reading 19th century literature? Perhaps I like torture. Ugh, I do not like this book. I've read so much, and so little of this book excites me or invokes a particular mood in me. Granted, I'll give Tolstoi credited for painting with such broad strokes of Russian culture, giving us glimpses of land-owners, men of state, the women repressed into their own petty emotions. But do I care about any of this? The book is long as well, in the vein of 19th century novels, the century where authors were really just figuring out how to use the novel form effectively. Look to Thomas Hardy for a glimpse of someone who finally started to master the form. All in all, I like Pushkin a lot more than Tolstoi, and prefer the saavy of early 20th century modernists to the trappings and baroqueshness of these thick volumes.
Rating: 
Summary: Of Love, Disaster, Adultery, Socialism and Cheap Vodka
Review: There is much dallying in the hayricks of the country, and in the regiments of the great cities! But luckily for 19th century Russia, DNA testing hasn't yet been invented, or everyone in Moscow and St. Petersburgh would discover that they are related!Even the trains are coupling--a portent of bad things to come, because Anna sees a man smashed between the two cars as they hook up. Anna realizes right off that this is not good!If Anna's Vronsky, (who is all wrongsky for her) really loved her, he would not have drawn her into this web of disaster, where she loses status and her beloved son.However, without Vronsky's dynamic pull, there would be no story.Anna Karenina is a testament to the adage that no one's life is ever so bad that they can't make it worse! A good read a la Madame Bovary!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the greats
Review: "Anna Karenin" is a big novel, not as big as "War and Peace", but nonetheless large. Its length should not deter, for this is one of the truly great works of fiction: a compelling story working equally well on many levels, but principally a careful and insightful examination of the driving forces of human nature. "Anna" is a more satisfying novel than "War and Peace". Tolstoy seems to be more in control of himself, less inclined to digress into preaching his philosophy. In this novel, he lets his characters do the talking for him. The novel is more engaging because of that. The plot centres on a group of people in Russian high society each of whom are connected to greater or lesser degrees with Anna Karenin. The extra-marital relationship between Anna and Vronsky reverberates around the personal lives of each of the characters. Individuals (ie society) react to Anna's infidelity, but Tolstoy asks whether it is those really without guilt who are casting the stones. Anna is trapped inside a miserable marriage, and due to the draconian divorce laws of the time as they applied to women, has no escape without losing her future security and her son. One could argue that her husband is trapped in a different way - by his pride and narrow-minded obsession with social decorum. Tolstoy presents a dechristianised urban Russia devoid of any supporting moral code. As it decays, the shoots of communism are appearing, feeding on the discontent both with and within the ruling classes. Tolstoy hits out in particular at the rich speculators - people who make money by mere speculation rather than work - and at the obscene rewards given to people by virtue of their rank rather than the performance of their companies (how times change?). This is to be contrasted with Levin. Here is an aristocrat who accepts that his position imposes obligations upon him, but not obligations to serve on meaningless committees. Rather, he sees his role to improve the production of his estates by motivating his peasants, thus "rediscovering" true yet latent Russian values. In contrast to other characters, Levin does not choose an easy yet desructive path to self-gratification. Whether it be in his struggle to marry Kitty, his religious reawakening or his agricultural work, all the paths of his life are difficult ones. Yet, they are the only ones of real worth. Whether or not the reader views this as a reactionary novel, is I suppose, up to each person to judge for his or herself. Yet throughout the novel, Tolstoy not only writes a compelling tale, but also presents a warning that a society consumed with mere personal gain cannot survive. The message is surely that there has to be more to life than just that. G Rodgers
Rating:
Summary: Quite Simply, The Greatest Novel Ever Written
Review: If you read one book in your life, Anna Karenina should be that book.
Rating:
Summary: A great work
Review: I read the novel in the original Russian so this review is not about any edition/translation. Anna Karenina is a masterpiece of epic proportions. However, much of the interest lies in the inaccessibility of the work and the difficulty with which we come to read it. It is set in 19th century Russia, amongst characters from the upper class. As such, we are removed from them by several levels. It is the story largely focusing on an adulterous affair between Anna Karenina and Vronsky. As such, many of the actions in the book seem to go against a normal notion of morality. This is because the book is an example of realism and as such presents an "unfettered" version of events with little ideological commentary. As such I had difficulty accepting many of the words and actions of the characters. However it is a timeless story in the way it describes the psychological and emotional makeup of the characters in such tremendous detail. Even if some characters are unsympathetic, they are portrayed masterfully. There are too many characters and subplots to describe but let's just say the book gives a great overview of the whole of the upper class Russian society of that period (both in terms of characters as well as the scope of settings and events). Many consider this to be the finest novel ever written. I disagree - while it explores the human condition very well I felt it lacked soul at times. Maybe because I like romanticism as a literary movement better than realism. So if you expect philosophical digressions and atmospheric, almost magical descriptive passages you won't find them here. Just a whole world built up one razonr-sharp scene after another. Also, again, I found some of the characters' behaviour excruciating in its falsehood and pretense. By the end of this book, one sees "high society" in all its putridness. A great read and an important work - but not "THE novel".
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