Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Anna Karénine by Leo Tolstoy

13 reviews

karenclare's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death and War

tatjanasbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abandonment and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Alcohol, and War

barefootsierra's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Racial slurs, and Antisemitism

skelleybean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I will not say that I’m not smart enough to understand this book, merely not educated enough. I’m uneducated in politics, Russian history, and general philosophy so that this book is a bit hard to read. However, the moments that I was able to grasp and truly understand were wonderful. It is well written and the characters feel so real— they think and talk and love and fight like real people do. If you are up for the challenge and the length, it is worth the read (or listen).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

celery's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

aude's review

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Racial slurs, War, and Classism

knenigans's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I did not love the story or the overarching message but I did very much enjoy the writing and it is clear why this remains so popular.

I wish I had read this novel when I was 15, I think that would've been the perfect age for me to fully appreciate it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Sexism, Antisemitism, Grief, Pregnancy, and Classism

mariasrv's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

(Note: I read this in Russian)

In an attempt to examine my own Russian-ness and form an opinion on Tolstoy as an adult (I studied his books in high school), I recently finished reading War and Peace and decided to tackle Anna Karenina next. 

On a personal level, I enjoyed Anna Karenina a lot more than I did War and Peace. Anna Karenina is a lot more contained, the plot is more linear, the structure of the book was great, and the characters cohesive. I loved Tolstoy's language, factual but poetic, and I found his psychologism mesmerizing. 

I think Tolstoy's insight into the human nature, together with his tenderness towards life and mastery as a writer, worked amazingly in this book. Of course, Tolstoy was examining the question of what makes a happy family through his own lense, which at this point is deeply outdated, both on a personal level (sometimes he comes off as a ranting grandpa) and on a societal level. But if you try to squint a bit, so to say, at some of the details, the bigger picture is beautiful and still relevant. 

Anna's plot line is a disturbing and poignant examination of a life being ruined because of feeling unloved, getting caught in passion, misunderstandings, and societal limitations.

The scene where she throws herself under the train is scary because of how much the text managed to put me in the same hopeless mindset.

Contrary to many other reviewers, I deeply sympathized with Levin. He is, of course, a bit of a self-insert, with accordingly Tolstovian views and values, but, unlikely basically everyone else in the novel, his primary driving force is sincerity, and Tolstoy doesn't shy away from acknowledging that sincerity is not without its faults. As Levin says in the end,

he will still fight with his wife, be inappropriate in conversations, and argue with the maids, but his life will, despite that, be full of meaning, because he strives to do good and follow his heart.

I don't agree with Levin (and Tolstoy) about many things, from religion to his stance on women's rights, but I think he's right that being led by a sincere and sometimes awkward earnestness is perhaps the best choice to deal with this life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Suicide

Minor: Child death and War

mondovertigo's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death and Classism

Minor: Child death

obfuscatress's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Child death and Suicide