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Summary: Leo is the God of Literature
Review: What can I say? The first book I read from Mr. Tolstoy was War and Peace. It is a wonderful book, and I often re-read it. When I sat down to start Anna Karenina, I was expecting a similar epic novel. It was an epic, but so far from War and Peace. Anna Karenina digs so deeply into the diversity of human feelings, which is something I thought War and Peace lacked. I was definitely able to become more involved in the story, especially Levin's plight. Wonderfully written, (as all of Leo Tolstoy's works are) I really do recommend Anna Karenina to readers unfamilar with Tolstoy's writing style.
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Summary: Fitfully great
Review: Tolstoy is the greatest writer ever, which he proves in WAR AND PEACE, and I found parts of ANNA KARENINA to be brilliant, but, funnily enough, not the Anna Karenina parts. She impressed me as a whiner who would get jealous of her lover over nothing. The parts of the book I liked were the Levin parts (Tolstoy based Levin on himself). Dostoeyevsky said of ANNA KARENINA, "I found it to be tedious," and I would bet he found the parts about Anna herself reason for such a comment. If you want brilliant Russian writing, read Turgenev's A SPORTSMAN'S [or HUNTER'S] SKETCHES. It is a collection of stories, the best of which is probably "The Singers." Hemingway himself thought the story, "A Clatter of Wheels" the greatest thing he ever read EVER!
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Summary: The Best Book Ever Written.
Review: Tolstoy is the best Russian writer ever, and this is the best book ever written by anyone. Russian or American or British.. anyone!
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Summary: I cannot summarize a book of 1000 pages with one line.
Review: Anna Karenina Alex Latushkin Leo Tolstoy Entry #4, March 21,1998 Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is a definite masterpiece. I had always thought of the book as a tragic love story in which Anna Karenina falls under a train at the end. After reading the novel I came to conclusion that this aspect is just the basic foundation for the book. Leo Tolstoy conveys philosophy in to life's broadest issues such as love, hate, determination, religion, sin, and most importantly related to the novel, revenge. The novel includes many characters but its nine leading ones are Anna Karenina, Prince Stephan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky, Dolly, Konstantin Levin, Sergey Ivanovitch, Alexey Alexandrovitch, Kitty and of course Count Vronsky. These nine characters lead the novel to its height and Leo Tolstoy tells the story through their beliefs in an overall limited 3rd person point of view based upon each of these characters. The novel includes many stories in it; one is of Anna Karenina's determined passion for Vronsky and her sin of betraying her husband, Alexey Alexandrovitch. The tale slowly grows to a final tragic conclusion with the help of the other six characters. Levin's tale possesses just as such significance towards the overall view of the story as Anna's though. The story involves Levin, a decent man who is madly in love with Kitty and almost loses her to Count Vronsky, who decides to go after Anna instead. Through Levin's worries he finally proposes to Kitty but one problem still aces him; Levin is unsure of God's existence and at the end he comprehends that he is a true believer even though he is unsure of somethings (He is sure that God exists though). Prince Oblonsky and his wife Dolly first introduce Anna to the reader when Anna makes a visit to their home to set things right between her brother and sister-in-law. Their problem is based upon the fact that the Prince had an affair with a French dame and Dolly threatens divorce. After some important advice from Anna, the couple reunites! and continues their relationship with less zest however. I am very glad that Leo Tolstoy (also known as " Count Leo Tolstoy ") kept the reader up with the feelings of all of the main characters, otherwise, the story would have not possessed such a strong value as it did with the limited 3rd person point of view. At first when the reader was introduced to the fact that Anna proposed to run off with Vronsky and demand a divorce from her husband Alexey, I was much disappointed by her unethical actions. However, later in the story Tolstoy explains that Anna first married him from an early-arranged marriage because of Alexey's strong position in the world. Later in the book Anna conveys herself to be a well-sophisticated woman who is deeply in love with Vronsky and is very ill inside from her partings with her son, Seroizha. At that moment I began to see her a more decent person. In the early introduction and biographical profile of Leo Tolstoy the following quote sets the mood and summarizes the main theme of Anna Karenina: " Vengeance is mine and I will repay" (Tolstoy, 1968, p.ii). I think that this quote summarizes the theme because it deals directly with Anna's sins and how she paid with her life for the peccadilloes that she committed. Her sins involve not staying faithful to her husband, desiring a divorce, and when not receiving one begetting another man's child as her own. Anna believes that Vronsky will stay true to her forever but after a few years Anna begins to question his faithfulness. Her jealousy looses Vronsky and the end of part seven Anna purposely jumps under a train believing that this will escape her tragedies. I knew that this was destined to happen because I had quite good background knowledge of the plot before actually reading the book but I found one part of her death to be the saddest; I had not known of this part. After Anna jumps under the train she realizes that she is once again committing another sin and that she more than anything else desire! s to live. In the seconds that she spends before she death under the train, Anna changes her mind. When she decides to live though, her vengeance is repaid. Upon leaping from the train tracks " something huge and merciless struck her..." (Tolstoy, 1968, p.1248). I found this to be a very sad and scary moment; Anna had the chance to live but her decisions of living came too late. In conclusion, I would like to say that there is really original no way to characterize the book, or to make a great analysis of it; Leo Tolstoy already did so. Overall, I really enjoyed the book even though it was well over 1,000 pages and took me all quarter to read. Anna Karenina is well worth the pages that it takes up because every page conveys a new thought and idea while also staying to its main theme. The complexity of the book is not just of the main theme however. It is of the themes and lessons that each of the nine main aristocratic characters learn throughout the book.
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Summary: This is a classic, must read novel...but not for the beach.
Review: Anna Karenina was assigned to me in my Russian Literature class. I found it a pleasure to read for the most part...but sometimes I had to force myself to read about the philosophies and government issues. The one thing I did not like, was towards the end. I was anticipating the ending and I was still getting introduced to new, minor characters. I didn't want to get to know anyone else after reading 700 pages! All in all....Tolstoy is magnificent. His discription of the death scene was so well done. And the mushroom picking chapter was wonderfully done....Do read this, but don't take it to the beach.
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Summary: Great literature but boring
Review: This book is great literature - no question, but there a parts in it which are so boring, I swept them. The young "Kitty" was the only person I liked (and her father of course). All the other figures seemed to me so much artificial. There's no life in them.
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Summary: My thoughts on Anna
Review: I am a 19-year-old female student, and I was assigned Anna Karenina by my English teacher for my Independent Study, for she believed that I was capable to the task of its analysis. I enjoyed the book, yet throughout I could not help the notion that Tolstoy trivialized women's feelings. I was proud of Anna for having the courage to follow her heart...but then she became this jealous, paranoid, insecure, pathetic creature, latching onto Vronsky with failing talons, a creature which I had absolutely no sympathy for. However, I do recognize that I must take her reactions and behaviour in the context of that time period. The 3 women of the novel seemed to suffer, no matter how virtuous they may have been -- Dolly (burdened housewife), Kitty (naive and obssessive) and Anna (punished by society for "doing the right thing"). The story is beautifully written, yes. There are some very dull passages about politics and agriculture, yes. But does the story stand up today, and can it still illicit a strong reaction from the reader? Of course! But are these reactions the same as when the novel was first introduced, or are they those that Tolstoy intended? No, I don't think so. I wanted to strangle Anna myself by the end of it (or at least slap some sense into her!) This book is definitely not for everyone. I don't think there is even another student in my class who would have been able to handle it. Will I read another Tolstoy? Probably not. But I really enjoyed Anna Karenina, as it was my first foray into the heart of Russian literature.
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Summary: A long novel that pays good dividends for reading
Review: I enjoyed reading the other reviews on this web page. I, too, found this book a pleasureable reading experience, though it took some patience to stick with a fairly long reading project. Anna's husband, Karenin, is often overlooked in discussions of this book, except for an occasional comment about the "loveless" marriage he and Anna had. Yet when Anna walked out to elope with Vronsky, she hurt not only her son but her husband as well; and while this book does deal with contemporary Russian social mores, its focus is really on morality, on choices of the soul, that people like Anna, Vronsky, or Levin make. Tolstoy shows in this novel that moral choices DO matter, and that these decisions have meaningful consequences. For Anna, it ended in the tragedy of her suicide. For Levin, his realization that he truly did love his family, even if he didn't understand all of the metaphysical issues he frequently contemplated. This is one of those novels that encourages repeated readings, as there is too much food for thought to be adequately digested in one go around. If you are considering whether or not to purchase this novel, then by all means buy it. It will give you plenty to think about now and in repeated readings in the years to come.
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Summary: This book is a well written soap opera
Review: Anna Karenina is a well written book. Tolstoy is a master writer, and knows his content. It is a little difficult to get though the Russian philosophies, so all you Kindergarten readers out there, don't try it. The book deals mainly with a married women who is unfaithful, and the reprocussions of her choice upon her and the people around her. It also deals with the Russian aristocrat turned farmboy, the only decent character in the entire novel, and his changing views of life. The book is written as one big soap opera with a killer ending, read it if you like that kind of stuff.
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Summary: A great novel, but not for everyone.
Review: Don't think twice about the reviews displayed here that praise the novel's merits - they are right on. The cult of Anna is large and strong for good reason: this novel is a great work of art. It's an interesting story with great characterization that has the eerie effect of transporting you back to czarist Russia. Yet the characters seem fresh, not as though they belong in some Kremlin storage locker. But I gotta tell ya, Anna is not for everyone. As much as I loved this book, I found the narration distracting and the prose long-winded. And it is very, very long, so if you are prone to putting books down after a while and then finishing them later on, Anna might not be for you. But as much as I didn't like this book, it's great points are great, it just wasn't a good fit for me. One more thing, I was encouraged early on by one of the best opening paragraphs I have ever read.
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