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Summary: Quite simply, The Novel
Review: "Anna Karenina" is why the novel was invented. It is a colossal achievement that fully exploits the possibilities inherent in the literary form. The purpose of the 19th-century novel was to explore character and to critique society, and Tolstoy here has achieved the quintessence of both aims. The thing about Tolstoy is that you can trust him -- he is utterly honest. He doesn't revise, or simplify, or sugar-coat. He presents the human mind, in its various guises, precisely as it is. Levin, to my mind, rivals Hamlet as the most vivid, fully living character in literature, and he is probably much more self-consistent than the Melancholy Dane. Anna's story, which is more melodramatic and plot-heavy, might strike some as a flaw in comparison to Levin's. And maybe it is a flaw. But one must talk about flaws in "Anna Karenina" as one talks about flaws in Beethoven's 9th Symphony -- blemishes on a masterpiece which, if it errs, errs only in striving further than the art form is supposed to go.Tolstoy's genius at depicting character and psychology is matched by his ability to construct vivid, memorable setpieces. No one who has read "Anna Karenina" can ever forget the hay-mowing, or Vronksy's horse race, or the heartbreaking scenes of Levin's sickly brother. Even Dickens, with all his glorious phantasmagoria, never achieved what Tolstoy has done here. Tolstoy caught lightning in a bottle: homo sapiens, captured in 800-odd pages. There are only a handful of comparable achievements in all of Western art.
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Summary: This is a great edition.
Review: This is absolutely one of the most perfect novels in existence. And if you're going to read it, I would strongly recommend getting this version (the Norton critical edition). When characters speak to each other in French (to show their aristocratic rank), this edition provides a translation. It also includes MANY MANY helpful footnotes on culture traditions of the time, which are essential for anyone not familiar with Russian culture if they want to have a full understanding of the book. This version also points out places where Tolstoy used Russian words to create a pun--and this is helpful, because obviously all the puns were lost in translation. So read this book! And unless you're going to get a translation in Russian, get this one. It will be the most helpful to getting a good grip on this brilliant novel.
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Summary: One of the great classics by Russian authors
Review: Anna Karenina is a long novel, but one must realize that it was originally written in installments and published as a serialized story. It might have been better as a TV mini-series rather than a full length motion picture. Like most novels from Russia, I found it somewhat difficult to read, and it should not be picked up on the assumption that it will be light reading. Leo Tolstoy was from the nobility, and tended to write about the upper classes of society, and a character in this book (as in other of his books) will be found to have characteristics of the author, i.e., a desire to make things better for the peasants on his estates, but having his efforts undone by the bull-headed peasants who want to continue as they have always done. The book deals with the society of the upper classes in czarist Russia of the late 19th century, in particular a woman who seeks love outside her marriage. It follows the woman's actions to her downfall and death. While the book is a tragedy for the main character, like other Tolstoy novels it deals with a larger number of people over a period of time.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Classic with Insightful Commentary
Review: The Norton edition of Anna Karenina is the perfect choice for a student looking for sources for a paper, or for anyone who wants to understand this wonderful novel better. Sources are discussed, the plot is thoroughly analized, criticism is given, and more...all from a variety of perspectives. However, the translation can be awkward at times (hence 4 stars rather than 5), and a reader who has not read Anna Karenina before might feel that this interrupts the plot a good deal. For a student or an Anna buff, this is the perfect thing. But a first-time reader who is taking the book up for entertainment, a translation which is less disjointed may be preferable.
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Summary: One of the top ten of all time
Review: Tolstoy was a "giant, striding through the world with his eyes wide open and his nostrils flaring." He didn't miss much. After reading this and his other great work, War and Peace, I was pretty much dumbfounded by his accomplishment. To me, one halmark of true art, whether it be the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven's ninth, King Lear, Paradise Lost, Faust, etc. is how they are even conceived, much less carried off. I am in awe of very few authors, but Tolstoy has to rank as one of the true big leaguers, and this novel captures him at the height of his powers, when he was throwing about a hundred miles an hour, plus. No one could hit him, not even Dostoevsky, and certainly not Turgenev. I think he does an even better job than Flaubert (another of my heroes) at portraying a woman as his central character. I can't speak from experience, obviously, but both Emma and Anna come across as realistically fleshed-out, multi-dimensional figures. I probably lean towards Anna because she is a much more sympathetic character than Emma Bovary. She is an aristocrat in the true sense of the word, not just born into a noble family, but possessing a nobility of spirit as well. Unlike Emma, she loves her child. Her husband, Karenin, is dry and humorlessly ascerbic, with the soul of a civil servant. He uses the child as a pawn to get back at Anna. Vronsky, in contrast, is dashing and clever and looks great in his uniform. In short,Anna is doomed as soon as she meets him. Fate (of the ancient Greek variety) wends its way through the novel, dragging her inexorably to her doom. There are so many vivid scenes throughout, but the most memorable to me is the scene in which Vronsky's racehorse breaks down, foreshadowing the conclusion at the train station. The subplot involving Levin and Kitty does not detract from the main plot, as it might in the hands of a lesser novelist. It is undeniably less dramatic, but serves as a counterpoint precisely because it is more prosaic. Levin is saved by love, Anna destroyed by it. I really don't believe in re-reading books. I'm usually disappointed when I return to them after a prolonged interval. For instance, I just can't bring myself to read War and Peace again. It would be like returning to an earlier affair. I'd be afraid my response wouldn't be as rich as it was at first encounter. But Anna is different. I've read it three times and haven't tired of it in the least. I really couldn't praise a work of art more highly.
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Summary: Very poor translation
Review: I had to purchase another translation just to get through it! We chose this book in our book club & when we met last week we discovered that we each had different translations. We all agreed that the Penguin translation was one of the best.
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Summary: A Long and Wonderful Journey
Review: I'm ashamed and yet proud to admit that I've been reading this book in bits for the past three years, at this rate I'll have it finished in 2003. And yet the book seems perfectly suited to this type of reading as it follows the lives of so many. Tolstoy is a master of character development, you come to care about even the minor characters. I highly recommend this book!
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Summary: Russian novel novel timeless classic
Review: When I first picked up Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" I was somewhat intimidated by the lenght of it. Being as it was my first Russian novel (many have followed since) I did not know what to expect. Tolstoy utterly amazed me with his ability to bring his characters to life and sketch their subtlest reactions. He is not only a magnificent author, but an insightful social historian describing tenderly the very passionate Russia. "Anna Karenina" tells the story of a woman (Anna Karenina) engaged in an unhappy marriage, gasping for air. When Anna meets Vronky, a young and passionate soldier, her lust for life rekinddles as she awakes from the dead. Such behavior is inexcusable in her reserved high society environment and is something that will haunt her. The other main character, Konstantine Levin, struggles also with life. When he eventually achieves his long term goal and wins the heart of a young beauty named Kitty, he finds that he is still not content with life. "Anna Karenina" is an amazing novel that entrapps the reader in the mystic high society of Russia and expresses to him the conseuqences that being human can often lead to. His stunning characters although from a different era carry within themselves a little bit of Leo and -in truth- a little bit of everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: SPOTTY
Review: it takes extreme arrogance to declare this "classic" spotty, but there it is. after a magnificent opening 100 pages or so, AK devolves. it simply loses steam and i'm too lazy to say exactly why, but it does. the one redeeming feature? levin. the book belongs to him and him alone. his spiritual development reminds me of dostoevsky's "the brothers karamazov," the lesser "crime and punishment" and (perhaps) tolstoy's "the death of ivan ilyich." hmmmm, maybe i'll try "war and peace."
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Summary: More than a story
Review: Someone reading this book, as I did the first couple hundred pages, will look at only the external dilemmas of each character. But as you move through the book remember to look past just the infidelity and the obvious story line, but look more into the spiritual drives of each character, mainly those of Levin, Anna, Vronsky and karenin, and even Katarina. what is each one looking for? It all becomes clear at the end. Next time I read it Ill definitely read it differently, even though this time I still obtained the true meaning of the story. Some parts may seem obsessively long though, like about the political and agricultural stand points in Russian society, but read them still in order to understand those bits about the book.
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