Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

26 reviews

ohennui's review against another edition

reflective medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Pregnancy

jacss's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

• 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? Yes

2.0

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.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: War

o_cox25's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective relaxing medium-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: Animal death

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

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

annasorr's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• 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? Yes

4.75

There are so many passages of this novel that I will remember for a long time—

Anna’s death, Levin’s philosophy, Karenin’s love of the baby.

The novel took more time to finish than I had thought, but the pace really forced me to get to know these characters in a slow, methodical way, which caused the ending to strike me far more than if I had burned through it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, and Classism

charleyyyyy's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

I can't believe I've finally finished this book. It was worth it though, I think this is a very rewarding read, and I enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, War, 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

tiny_reader_bri's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I vowed that before 2024, I would finish Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. And after an arduous journey (817 pages 😭), I finally did.

I went into the book thinking it’d be about a passionate love affair that would withstand the test of time, but it was so much darker than that. Anna Karenina is such a fascinating character. I pitied, admired, and disliked her for some of the things she said and decisions she made. She gets ostracized from society after being unfaithful to her husband and engaging in an illicit affair with the proud Count Vronsky. Like Anna, I found him hard to like, but I pitied him nonetheless. Anna was incredibly troubled, often described an archetype of the “fallen woman,” in the sense that she lost God’s grace. There was some underlying misogyny towards Anna and the other female characters. I’m sure it was intentional. At least, I hope it was.

Anna’s fate still haunts me a little bit, but I felt it looming before it happened.

The second protagonist, Levin, is slightly more likable. He certainly has his share of flaws and spends most of the book questioning the purpose of life and tends to seek this out by use of logic. Levin loves to think and that often keeps him from embracing spirituality and faith. That description sounds eerily familiar…

Levin and Anna have many similarities, but how they conduct themselves is different.

Where Levin is able to have a healthy, loving relationship with his wife (Kitty), Anna and Vronsky are the equivalent of a dumpster fire. Maybe Tolstoy wanted to convey the difference between love and lust or truly loving someone vs loving the idea of them.

When I finished it, I didn’t know what to think. The ending felt anticlimactic to me, and I was disappointed because I invested so much time into it. But after spending some time away from it, I’ve decided I like it. It’s undeniable that Tolstoy is an incredible storyteller. He got a bit long-winded from time to time, but I learned that in his time, writers were paid according to their book’s word count. He wanted every penny. Can’t blame him, though.

I wouldn’t say Anna Karenina is a new favorite of mine, but I don’t regret reading it. I feel indifferent to the story, like after I read Wuthering Heights the first time.

I suppose the heart of the novel points back to the epigraph: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” thus, the main characters get the ending they “deserve.”

It’ll probably be 10 years before I read it again and I’m sure I’ll read it with different eyes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content and Pregnancy

aristarcodisamo's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Emotional abuse and Classism