Anna Karenina - contains spoilers

[Free Roth]

love this book. great stuff. amazing flow and tone. oh the prose they say.

[tokyo_eatsbooks]

I read Anna Karenina some years ago; Altough it seems to be a classical masterpiece, I don't think that many people have actually read it or, for those of us who did, how much of it were we able to truly understand.. It is long, tragic and it raises many existentialist questions. I believe this book to be the father of many artistic trends, like the parallelism (it ends as it begins).
It's worth the try, but it requires patience and a deep love of literature.

[ccschmidt]

Originally, I was lukewarm at the prospect of tackling Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina". I was prepared to be underwhelmed once more by a much-hyped, so-called "classic" novel that in reality lacks any form of coherent plot and contains little to attract the reader's interest.However, I was pleasantly surprised upon reading "Anna Karenina" to find that this seems to have been one of those rare times where the title "classic" has been justly deserved. This novel grabbed me from the very first page, where I immediately found that I could effortlessly comprehend Tolstoy's lively, clear prose.Unlike certain novels considered to be of the same class that I have encountered over the years, "Anna Karenina" stayed on topic and had a clearly defined plot/purpose. The philosophical digressions were minimal, interesting, and relevant enough to the story line as to add to the reader's enjoyment instead of detracting from it. In contrast,Victor Hugo's famous "Les Miserables" forces the reader to slog through at least 500 pages containing not a trace of plot content (including a sizable chapter detailing the complete history of the Paris sewer system). In "Anna Karenina", Tolstoy has managed to create a masterpiece that is at once entertaining, thought-provoking, and informative. Only a work that meets all of these criteria merits the title of "classic". This novel draws the reader in, managing to keep him/her interested in the plot and the characters' fates while at the same time engaging him/her in timeless philosophical debates about the nature of life, of love, and of human nature. As if all that weren't enough, there is also scathing social commentary and thinly veiled contempt for what was then contemporary Russian society to be found in the novel. The character Levin serves as a stand-in for Tolstoy himself, voicing what historians believe to be the author's own musings and opinions. In conclusion, I'll just say that I wholeheartedly recommend "Anna Karenina" as not only one of those "classics" that every serious reader should at some point get through, but also as a book that will have you hooked from the first page until the very end.

[Insightsintobooks]

I loved Anna Karenina. I was surprised and shocked by some of the things that happened in this book.

[Lovetoread81]

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy was a book I didn't think that I could get through with a physical book. It was not a book I would usually pick up, I just happened to read it because it was on a reading list challenge I had found. I ended up doing an audio book for this one. I got very bored with it at the beginning because I thought she was spoiled and entitled. It wasn't until around chapter 120 or so that I really felt the book became interesting. When things took a turn and she became paranoid and jealous and out of her mind I kept thinking to myself "wow, chill lady".. I had a roller coaster of emotions reading this book, boredom, I laughed, I cried, I felt a bit crazy, anger for her betrayal, sad that she was not allowed to see her son, confused, angry she betrayed her husband, confused again...I am a reader that puts herself in the main character's shoes and so I was emotionally exhausted by the end of this very long book. I thought for sure I would not like this book but by the end I ended up loving it.

[magnoparisi]

When i first read it, I was expecting Anna Karenina to be a heavy, moralistic, philosophical tome, somewhat like Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, but instead it is just like a soap opera.

I found myself constantly surprised by Tolstoy's insight into relationships, into the minds and hearts and motives of men, women and sometimes even dogs. Brilliant writer indeed.

[H-333]

This was a tough book to read, it is just so depressing. I don't mind some drama and sadness in a story, but this one just didn't have anything else to break it up.
I wanted to like it, as I'm a fan of the classics, but I just couldn't.

[Sammy822]

I think that Anna's infidelity was justifiable. She was bound in a loveless marriage with a person who is her exact opposite, does not share her ambitions, and is not supportive or appreciative of her. Worse of all, society does not allow her to get rid of the shackles marriage has imposed on her. Anna was not left with any other choice or chance at true happiness.

[Sithmi]

Anna Karenina is one of the most interesting novels. Leo Tolstoy has brought out the society of that era well out of this story.

[Rodion_Karenin]

Anna Karenina will remain as one of the most complex characters ever created in the world of literature. You will feel admiration, disgust, anger and many other feelings towards her. Tolstoy was a moral philosopher and he intends us to dissect the morality of his characters. No one in this novel escape the consequences of their actions and the rigid overarching moral code with it's razor sharp scythe. Anna justifies her adultery by the lack of love in her marriage, but when a genuine offer of forgiveness and love is offered she rejects it with contempt. She spends the whole novel escaping from the reality and avoiding a contemplation about her actions. Her love for her children comes and goes like a wave. She starts out as a sympathetic and lovable characters but becomes a dark unrecognizable figure by the end.
We are provided with an evidence of her darkened soul in the reason she chose for killing herself. Not because, of society's rejection, not because her child is taken from her, but to inflict immeasurable pain on her lover for betraying her in her imagination.
It's not a passionate woman's revolt against a dark society. It's a tragic tale of a woman afflicted with iniquity interacting with a world that is filled with even more sinister things.