A review by melissahoward
Anna Karenina by Amy Mandelker, Leo Tolstoy
5.0
Wow!! I started this the Sunday before the New Year and have been engrossed by the characters. In fact, I’ve been dreaming strange dreams that are a conglomeration of AK and the movie, Howl’s Moving Castle.
This is definitely a five star book. Toltoy’s characterization and his understanding of psychology is profound. However, if you like plot, this book is not going to interest you.
In some ways the character of Anna reminds me of Madame Bovary. However, while the novel takes its name from her, the novel is really about Levin whose conversion at the end of the novel is compelling. I’ve read Crime and Punishment twice and it is interesting to consider the two entirely different perspectives on religion that are held by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. But what I find even more interesting is how I am beginning to realize that there is a mindset that inhabits people who do not live in what is traditionally known as Western Civilization, which is foreign and strange to us. It is fascinating to me how those from what is traditionally called the East can change their position so easily based entirely on their mood and opinion of the person they are talking too.
The sprawl of the novel and the tendency to go on tangents has been compared to Les Miserables. I think that it is a fair comparison. Having read some seriously long novels, I think the sprawl and attention to detail found in authors like Tolstoy and Hugo are what give the characters in their novels such compelling depth.
This is definitely a five star book. Toltoy’s characterization and his understanding of psychology is profound. However, if you like plot, this book is not going to interest you.
In some ways the character of Anna reminds me of Madame Bovary. However, while the novel takes its name from her, the novel is really about Levin whose conversion at the end of the novel is compelling. I’ve read Crime and Punishment twice and it is interesting to consider the two entirely different perspectives on religion that are held by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. But what I find even more interesting is how I am beginning to realize that there is a mindset that inhabits people who do not live in what is traditionally known as Western Civilization, which is foreign and strange to us. It is fascinating to me how those from what is traditionally called the East can change their position so easily based entirely on their mood and opinion of the person they are talking too.
The sprawl of the novel and the tendency to go on tangents has been compared to Les Miserables. I think that it is a fair comparison. Having read some seriously long novels, I think the sprawl and attention to detail found in authors like Tolstoy and Hugo are what give the characters in their novels such compelling depth.