Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Anna Karenina

Vexation! Bad communication! Beautiful toilets! Misogyny! Racism! Classicism! God vs Science ponderings! Carriages! Maids! High-School level emotional intelligence! *slaps book* This bad boy has it all, in just shy of 1000 pages!

... when it could've achieved the same in 300 pages likely - it was clear he got paid by the word. I was supposed to read this for a January book club (it is now September), but was unable to get even half way. At some point I started listening to the audiobook on Nextory just to be able to finish it.

The repetition of similar situations, but with different people made it feel like I was reading fillers, but not the main story and it was unclear as to what the main story actually was - despite the title. I think that this in part has to do with the Levin chapters that, for 90% at least, could've been skipped, or set in a different story, but Leo had to worm his likeness into the story somehow, and in what better way than the melancholic philosopher with a soft spot for a young girl... anyway, some of his chapters were welcome respite from the Emma-esque juvenile approach to communication and yearning, so I'm sortof happy that the chapters were there.

Not to go into too much detail, but I hated how Anna did what she did (although, cyclical with the start of the book, so fitting) and how society looked upon the act, and looked upon her. Sure, she made some choices in her life that were, dubious, but to say she deserved what happened? Nah, she needed therapy and to tell her boyfriend's maman to butt out with her more eligible suitors. Was that possible then. Probably not. But deserving? Also no.

Content Warnings

estefizaga's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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rowenalovegood's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Liked a lot of it, but it was just way too goddamn long.

Content Warnings

dylan_loves_classics's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

I'm really at a loss for words after finishing this one, what a monumental work this is.

As a general preface: I read Rosamund Bartlett's translation available exclusively through Oxford World's Classics. I plan to revisit this book with other translations so I can't compare yet, but I will say Bartlett's translation felt like a readable and thoughtful introduction. The numerous notes also elucidate many of the more arcane aspects of the Russian aristocracy.

Anna Karenina follows two major plotlines with a cast of interconnected characters who all weave in and out of different narrative and psychological threads.

Anna Arkadyevna Karenina is a woman as beautiful as she is brilliant (both in her intelligence and in her sparkling personality), until a chance meeting leads to an affair that sends her life spiraling out of control. Amidst the melodrama of her story, I was touched by Tolstoy's reserve in never judging Anna or telling the reader what they should think of her. It is ultimately up to the reader to draw their own conclusions as Anna's mind is laid bare in the masterful, climactic stream-of-consciousness section that leads up to Anna's fate.

Parallel to Anna is Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin, a young man with a lot of thoughts and no idea what to do with them. Through Levin, Tolstoy gives us a panoramic view of his contemporary society, philosophy, art, ice skating, and much more. Levin's own tortured love for Kitty Scherbatskaya, and the question of what to do with his life, haunts him as much as Anna is haunted by her own immorality.

A veritable sea of supporting players come and go throughout the book: Anna's brother Stiva is a delightful comic character, yet he is also repulsively glib and shallow; Anna's husband Karenin at first seems to be a bitter and jealous antagonist but displays great tenderness at other times; even Levin's dog Laska has a few moments of characterization.

I suppose, by page count at least, Levin's story is the actual central narrative, and it is a wonderful story. But I feel it is Anna's story, and the sheer verbal and psychological intensity Tolstoy uses to render it, that has instantly made this one of my favorite novels.

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