soph_mills's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
geonox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicide and Medical trauma
Minor: Emotional abuse
aristarcodisamo's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Grief, Death, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Addiction, War, and Alcoholism
ehuggins22's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
freschne's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Classism
seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
Graphic: Suicide, Infidelity, Classism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Grief, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual content and Pregnancy
ploy_keener's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Moderate: Suicide
joanabacana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicide, Death, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: War
adelekittey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Suicide, Infidelity, and Death
sebastianoblass's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
the story seems to divide between two main plot lines that keep intertwining with each other. Anna’s love affair with count Vronsky and Levin’s search for a purpose in life. Levin’s side of the story would often drag into lengthy monologues about diverse topics that, while insightful into russian society of the time, and the diverse social and economic dynamics of the country, i couldn’t help but feel like they dragged out a little too much, but then again, that’s russian literature for you. he was just such a tedious character and i couldn’t help but disagree with a lot of his thoughts and ways of regarding his life and the people on it. His cynicism at the start of the book was really insufferable. On the other hand, Anna’s affair with count Vronsky was to me the central focus of the book, and it kept me engaged and wanting to know what would be of them. Anna’s quick decay in society and descent into madness
Spoiler
as well as her development of a drug addictionSpoiler
was documented in a kind way, which i appreciated. The author didn’t join in on the bashing of this fallen woman. the hypocrisy of russian society made me particularly mad in this respect.Towards the end of the book we see something interesting happen, which is the revival of Religion by the end of the 19th Century, by which we see our weaker minded characters first influenced, such as
Spoiler
Karenin, when fallen under the spell of Lydia Ivanovna < spoiler>. It was insufferable to me how he excused his own selfish desires ( revenge) behind the front of being a good religious man, specially when he had seemed to have found real authentic goodness right before influenced by Ivanovna. It annoyed me particularly how he saw Seryozha as a weapon rather than his own son. Later on, we’ll see characters like Levin and even Anna on her very end find God and start asking questions about him and the universe, which i thought was an interesting factor of the timesOther Thoughts:
We were robbed of a Kitty lesbian arch. Like, that girl kept falling in love with women… specially Vasenka.
I hope Dolly leaves her asshole husband and lives a lavish life ( though i can say that Oblonski grew on me quite a bit )
I thought the ending for Vronsky was quite appropriate, i was sick of him not experiencing any consequence to the whole situation, other than being driven mad by Anna’s jealousy.
There is so much to say about this book but these are my initial thoughts.
Best Scenes
- initial Moscow Ball when Anna dances with Vronsky.
- Dolly visits the Vronsky in the country
- Anna’s final monologue
- Levin rescues Kitty and gives that powerful final line to the book.
- Horse Race when Anna tells Karenin
- Anna Visits Seryozha
- the opera.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide