Anna Karenina. A Novel in Eight Parts

Can you divide the world between those who prefer War and Peace and Anna Karenina? I enjoyed W&P a bit more - but I am a history fan, and certainly highly recommend this one too (not that my recommendation matters). Tolstoy 's work is a massive undertaking with dozens of characters, and plots and subplots, and it all hangs together brilliantly.

Leo Tolstoy’s book, Anna Karenina, is not focused solely on the character, Anna. The book weaves the lives of several people together in a most masterful way. Above all else, it is about relationships, and the intricate and fascinating ways each person responds in them. And throughout the book, the theme of God and man’s relationship to Him, runs deeply. A most satisfying read. As a side note, this particular edition has many excellent, detailed drawings which adds to the storyline.

Having just read War and Peace for the first time, I decided to read another Tolstoy book, and chose Anna Karenina. I had no preconceptions, having read no reviews or seen a film version of the story.What I like about Tolstoy is how he captures the thoughts, feelings and beingness of his characters. Young or old, male or female, the spectrum of irresponsible to responsible, he captures it all. The human condition is depicted in young men and women, and the novel reveals that although it was set in the 1800's, human beings have not really changed in all of this time. The characters experience life, doing their best to make things work in often very trying circumstances.And although this is a tragic novel, it nonetheless was a very interesting and thought-provoking story, getting deeply into the minds of the various characters.And amidst the tragedy there is hope and joy, and the quest of one of the main characters to find purpose and meaning in life. I'm glad that I read this book, and will soon be starting another Tolstoy novel.

I loved this book. Great characters and portrayal of Russian history. So very well written.I plan to read War and Peace soon.

Totally engaging for me as it was years ago when I first read it.

Characteristically Russian novel - detailed (long) and nuanced (perplexing) with the sinuous threads of a complex plot. Relationships, familial and casual, are everything to this story. Souls tormented or tortured - another characteristic of the Russian novel (?) - are found in every chapter.The novel is long - Russian Style - with multiple threads of interaction - Dickens Like - and the characters are brought forth over time. Initially the interactions can be trivial, sometimes affected and melodramatic, but as Tolstoy develops the story a ‘tenseness’ sets in that you can’t take your eyes of. Tolstoy - like Dostoyevsky - is masterful at allowing the reader to listen to the thoughts of his characters. And even more masterful at describing the ebb and flood of thoughts and emotions that run through the minds of the characters, thoughts from grandiose to destructive:“The most incongruous ideas were in confusion in his head. "Marie Sanina is glad her child’s dead.... How good a smoke would be now! ... To be saved, one need only believe, and the monks don’t know how the thing’s to be done, but Countess Lidia Ivanovna does know.... And why is my head so heavy? Is it the cognac, or all this being so queer?” (Location: 18,305)Anna, Levin, and Vronsky get featured treatment, but there are at least a couple dozen other characters that come and go, each nudging the reader’s perception of the three featured characters. And in the end there is both happiness and sadness and some profound understanding, especially for Levin:"Isn’t it distinctly to be seen in the development of each philosopher’s theory, that he knows what is the chief significance of life beforehand, just as positively as the peasant Fyodor, and not a bit more clearly than he, and is simply trying by a dubious intellectual path to come back to what everyone knows?" (Location: 19,766)

The book wasn't expensive but that comes with a price. This edition is glue-bound which gave out a crack once spread... I think that even my neighbors heard it. Leaves of average quality, packed with many great illustrations from the original publishing, not low on ink, text arranged in columns which may prove troublesome for a good reading.