Rating: 
Summary: A good book
Review: This book is truly an epic - a tale that goes on and on. It is a tale of social change in a soap opera format made interesting by Tolstoy's observation, detail and sense of political history.This book is for those who like some historical and political insight with their "lives of the rich and famous." Readers at our informal book group compared various translations and found the Modern Library Classics edition (published 2000) one of the more engaging and vivid. However, just one reader spotted some 20 typos (listed below.) All in all, a good book. Typos by page and line:
42, line 6
48, line 1
52, line 16
192, line 20
240, line 11
286, line 21
352, line 20
440, page set
473, line 13
573, line 21
604, line 14
694, last line
699, line 24
727, line 4
729, line 8
782, line 28
792, line 21
765, last line
786, line 7
807, line 14
Rating: 
Summary: The Classic
Review: Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina", Tolstoy's classic dissection of married life and Russian society, follows the relationship of two couples and their friends and family. As the drama behind these relationships unfolds Tolstoy explores quite possibly every idea that was meaningful to him. At nearly 900 pages Tolstoy's explorations run quite long and intricate, but readers who are not daunted by the novel's heft will be rewarded with a rich narrative and insightful thoughts that remain valuable till this day. The story opens in the Oblonsky household where Oblonsky's wife has just discovered her husband's affair. As "Anna Karenina" continues several other characters are introduced, each of whom will find in love and marriage something of these first few glimpses into the Oblonsky household. To start, there is the landed aristocrat Levin, something of a novice at love and an idealist at heart. No sooner has he glimpsed Kitty, a young woman he has desired since boyhood, than he has fallen back in love with her, determined after so long to finally ask her hand in marriage. Soon we meet a quite different pair. There is the seductive and maverick soldier, Vronsky, and his lover to be, the unhappily married lady of high society, Anna Karenina. Through the competing experiences of these two opposing couples Tolstoy composes his novel. Each of these four characters discovers how their particular approach to married life plays out in the real world. The consequences (both intended and unintended) inherent in their decisions are the substance of both a gripping drama and Tolstoy's life philosophy. As the plot winds its way through these four intertwining lives the reader becomes lost in an immersive universe that brings Imperial Russia to life. Yet for all its size and magnitude there is something very familiar in "Anna Karenina." Several plot elements of "Anna Karenina" could easily be found in a week's worth of daytime television and it is Tolstoy's genius that imbues these familiar stories with a unique spirit worthy of the philosophical discussion he embarks on. Noteworthy in this book is the way in which so much information is almost perfectly enmeshed. The vast scope of "Anna Karenina" stretches from the wealthy elite of Russia's aristocracy to the penniless, forgotten indigent, but although Tolstoy includes an astounding amount of information in "Anna Karenina" the plot never halts, never so much as loses its rhythm. No matter which corner of society Tolstoy discusses, one of the principal characters is never far away, and all the disparate elements in this massive book are unified along a few main themes. Reading "Anna Karenina" invokes the same feeling one might have while looking at an enormous painting in which each part, no matter how small, is foreseen and provided for by the artist. Much the master storyteller, Tolstoy takes us along a vast journey, one in which we never lose sight of our trail or a few central landmarks. A thorough dissection of all the ideas Tolstoy brings to the table could run for hundreds of pages, but a few of the grandest themes in "Anna Karenina" should be mentioned in this review. Much like Dostoevsky's "The Brother's Karamazov", "Anna Karenina" may justly be said to be Tolstoy's definitive statement on life. Here Tolstoy dissects the soulless nature of Russian society in which he lived, bemoaning how politicians and businessmen alike can look no further than material happiness. Is the meaning in life to be found in the scramble to be atop the social ladder, in great accomplishments that leave one's name echoing for generations, in a rewarding life of love and family? Tolstoy provides his own answer to this question, a surprising one coming from so towering a figure. And what of a greater meaning to it all, something above, yet uniting all humanity? This too is a matter Tolstoy looks in to. Also included in Anna Karenina are thoughts on the nature of love, especially how one innocently discovers it and then forever finds one's thoughts tainted. There are many reasons that people become married, and not all of them are pure, or even rational. Further, as a person comes of age her thoughts on love change quite substantially. But what if a person's thoughts on love reverse after the marriage has occurred? All this and more is examined by Tolstoy's astute mind. At times "Anna Karenina" seems like it might go on forever, and the reader might well wish it would. It is that rare book that despite its length never grows tiresome, despite the details never grows repetitious, despite its size never wears us out with its mighty weight. To simply call it a classic is not enough, for it towers above its contemporaries and remains vital, relevant, even refreshing, to this very day.
Rating: 
Summary: not one of the better literary classics
Review: I wasn't very impressed with this novel. My biggest complaint was that the story moved way too slow and that it was constantly being interrupted by Tolstoy's philosophical preaching and political discourse. Barely half the story is even devoted to the character whose name is the title of the novel. There were long and unneccessary pasages that had nothing to do with the rest of the story, like the hunting chapters. Anna's irrational and crazy jealousy was irritating. One minute she loves him, the next she hates him, then she loves him again. Anyway, this may be considered a great literary classics, but I've read better.
Rating:
Summary: Profound Novel; Brilliant Translation
Review: I believe I write reviews here at amazon to help me get a grasp on stories I have read. It seems almost absurd that I'd write a "review" of Anna Karenina. But I will. On the surface, Anna Karenina is a domestic story of three very different couples' relationships. Dolly and Stiva represent the classic functioning dysfunctional upper-middle-class family. Levin and Kitty are the "new" generation of upper-middle class, and Levin's story is close to Tolstoy's own. Anna and Alexei (and later Vronsky) represent a kind of superstar family, with Anna rebelling against contemporary morality in search of her own fulfillment. I suppose a good question to ask -- to realize -- is how can a domestic novel interest so many readers for so long. That's what is underneath the surface of this 817 page novel. Anna Karenina is a profound spiritual quest, and in the three years that Tolstoy wrote it he time-and-time again tried to perfect his own way of thinking, living, existing. The novel represents one human being's attempt to free himself from all that is negative. Vanity, pride, deceit, infidelity, etc. He struggled to perfect himself -- in the purest sense of the word. And that, is one major reason why this novel is so powerful. It represents one human being's attempts to free himself from all that is negative about being human. Add to this a vivid imagination -- the ability to see a scene, characters, to know them and their surroundings -- and you have a profound and entertaining read. Some of the most interesting passages to me occur when Levin tries to reconcile his spiritual understanding with the practical social issues and arguments of his day, and the last 150 pages are truly one soul's struggling with itself in a contemporary society, where class difference and voting and serfdom are very real issues. Finally, the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation is the best. About three hundred pages in, I checked out another translation (I did this a third time about 700 pages along with yet another translation) to compare the translations, and I realized that Pevear and Volokhonsky have given this novel a brilliance and life like no previous translator. I found their footnotes informative and yet unobtrusive, and I read and reread Richard Pevear's introduction a number of times. This is a classic novel, and it has now been born anew via a brilliant translation. I highly recommend this novel! Stacey
Rating:
Summary: "I cannot paint a christ that is not in my heart" (540)
Review: "My chief sin is doubt. I have doubts about everything, and am most of the time in doubt" (501). "Russians often view themselves as separate from the rest of the world" (551). "I am happy, but dissatisfied with myself" (635).
--Modern Library Editions The Russian novel illuminates the human soul and spirit as if calling attention to the rest of the world to listen to its lamentations. The depth and struggle of each character in "Anna Karenina" is evident as they cogitate on matters of religion, domesticity, nobility, and the complex web of love. This is a classic Russian novel that everyone should read at some point. There is moment in the novel when Aleksey Aleksandrovich, Anna's husband, contemplates the unfathomable nature and question of divorce as it is presented to him. In this quandary, he invokes religion as a "tool" to ultimately find an answer. There are many aspects of the novel that dwell on the moral and ethical questions we as humans are confronted with in our daily lives, and we likewise employ "tools" that are available to us to find answers. Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: 'Anna Karenina', by Leo Tolstoy, revolves around two main characters: Levin and of course Madam Anna Karenin. Anna is a young woman trapped in a marriage with a rich man - Alexey Karenin. She falls in love with Alexey Vronsky, a young officer, and they run away together after Anna gives birth to Vronsky's baby. Meanwhile, Levin is a young country man, in love with Kitty Alexandrovitch. He proposes to her and is rejected because Kitty is in love with Vronsky (although of course she realises what a mistake she made, as she is in love with Levin and Vronsky ran away with Anna). This novel is extremely well written and draws you into the complicated plot. It is a truly tragic novel that will leave you thinking about it for a long time after you've read it.
Rating: 
Summary: The worst book i read
Review: i was assigned this book over the summer as part of my English AP assignment. At first the book wasnt that bad. i think part 1 and 7 are the most interesting parts of the book. it was dragged out to much. it took me 3 months to read it, because i dreaded opening the book.
Rating:
Summary: Perfection
Review: The story of Anna Karenina and her ill-fated passion is a cautionary study of female perfection, romantic destiny and the inevitable betrayal inherent in passionate love. Symbolic of love and life as a journey, Anna's fate is sealed in a glance as she debarks a train and meets the eyes of the dashing Count Vronsky. As she descends, another woman leaps and the most famous symmetry in literature is launched. Sensationally beautiful and virtuous, this story from the golden age of Russian letters is undiminished by its driving, perfection of form and grace. And as such, it has become a classic of film as well as literature. We remember details, we are now told by science, that have a unique 'hook' for our inattentive and fickle minds. The literary device that packages Anna, is perhaps the most famous in literature. Innumerable stars have traversed from Anna's rapture and addictive love, through the haunted choice that is a mother's nightmare. BR> The balance, the beauty and the fall- they lift what could have been a sentimental smoldering affair into the classic displeasure of the Gods who enact their vengeance through an offended social majority, an unforgiving and undeserving moral mob rule. Women, throughout history, have been denied forgiveness over acts of passion that suggested rebellion and contempt for patriarchal domination and social organization. Anna, like Iseult, was so subordinated to her passion, and perhaps so unprepared for a life of uncontrolled emotions, that she was under a spell. But spells fade and though a man can return and resume his honor- not so for a female, Tolstoy tells us. There is no excuse for not reading Karenina- it is, unlike War and Peace, the literary Faberge egg- survived in all its pre-revolutionary glory, and bittersweet appeal.
Rating: 
Summary: Translation somewhat dated
Review: I would not deign to review Leo Tolstoy, only the translation. Reading Anna Karenina felt like barging through an 800 page Russian novel. Garnett's translation is in irritatingly Victorian prose, and it really gets in the way of the book. The translator pair Pevear/Volokhonsky released their own new version, and it is said that every generation needs its own translators. P/V's translations are in much cleaner prose, and after half a century's translator's fetish with accuracy and literalism, is probably more genuine to te text, although I can't say that without having read the original Russian, which I can't. Well, if you do have to read it in translation, you can get a better one than this.
Rating:
Summary: Read his short stories instead
Review: Anna Karenina meanders through the class-concious Russian society of the 1800s, at times dreary with detail and others amazingly clear and ingeniously perceptive of human behavior. I'd only recomend it if you love Russian literature. If not, read some Dostoyevski first.
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