Anna Karenina - contains spoilers

[Fran]

I don't really think the issue of "spoilers" applies in the case of a Classic written in the 1870s and for which many film and TV versions have been released. But just to keep everyone happy I've added the spoilers warning to the topic title.

[KateNox]

Oh, the book is simply divine! I remember when I read it for the first time, in my teens, and I was blown away. The art of writing, character development, the thoughts Tolstoy implement and continue to evolve - just breathtaking. I saw the last movie, with Keira K, and I didn't like it when I watched it for the first time. But when I watched it again, I adored it. One must see it not only as a adaptation of a book, but as a piece of art of its own. I think the director implemented really refreshing (and daring!) techniques.

[Maria Luisa]

Ah, yes Fran, you are right. I was taking it for granted that before seeing the movie, anybody has already read the book. That's because after having seen a movie I do not wish to read the book, as I already know what happen, the end. But I did it actually, with "Seven years in Tibet" and "The horse whisperer".

[Redfootblue]

The book was amazing, and the movie adaption was just beautiful. The people they chose for the movie just fit in my mind perfectly. I enjoyed watching the madness from the book play out onto the screen.

[DATo]

I am reading it right now and thoroughly enjoying it.

[Fran]

I am reading it right now and thoroughly enjoying it.

Not for the first time I bet

[pallavi garg]

A very strong character of anna potrayed by leo tolstoy...that too in a time when there were high societal norms....a gripping, intersting yet heart breaking book

[DATo]

I am reading it right now and thoroughly enjoying it.

Not for the first time I bet

Yes, @Fran I must confess that it is for the first time. I have read just about all of Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Turgenev, Krylov, and some Pushkin but I have never read Tolstoy. I suppose I viewed his primary works as huge tomes which would be better saved for a time when I had more leisure to address them seriously and in depth. Well, that time has finally come.

I find that, at least in my opinion, Tolstoy is definitely the best of the Russian novelists and his work offers a lot of exercise for what you have previously referred to as DATo's Scalpel *LOL* I am reading this novel slowly and thoughtfully and have already found a lot to carve up and digest which is beautifully woven between the lines. For instance, Kitty and Levin are obviously cast as foils to each other, and almost every character elicits to some greater or lesser extent both our admiration as well as our censure. I think Tolstoy is saying that all people are vulnerable to committing mistakes of judgement but also have characteristics which make them admirable. Tolstoy also comments upon his own views with regard to agriculture, religion and the social and political hierarchy of his times.

It is an amazing work of literary talent and though I have not yet finished it I can already understand why many consider it the greatest novel ever written.

I am looking forward to reading War And Peace, Tolstoy's other great work which I have also never read before.

[alicia_fountain]

I really liked this book. I spent a good amount of time trying to read this book once in high school, but had to stop because I was under too many time constraints to finish it for a class and began reading a different book. I came back to it a few years ago after the birth of my oldest daughter. I even read a few passages to her to entertain her or to get her to sleep! I don't remember much of the book since it has been a few years, but I remember feeling like it was a great book. I'm glad to have gone back and read it in it's entirety since it is such a long book!

-- 02 Mar 2016, 16:24 --

The book was amazing, and the movie adaption was just beautiful. The people they chose for the movie just fit in my mind perfectly. I enjoyed watching the madness from the book play out onto the screen.

I came back to the book shortly before the release of the movie. I have not yet seen the movie, although it is still on my to-do list because one of my favorite actresses is Keira Knightley. I imagine she would be an exquisite Anna, as she is very good in all of the roles I have seen her play in period pieces.

[Van_]

Just finished the book. Its most remarkable impression on me derives from the way Tolstoi builds and presents the characters, each one of them astoundingly human. You almost forget they are fictitious, so deeply Tolstoi immerses us into their heads. I could symphatize particularly with Lievin, with his shyness, honesty, stubbornness, and, above all, his unremitting seek for truth and meaning - even though there were moments in which he annoyed me for these very same features, a feeling produced by every character in some point, which only reasserted their humanity for me.
I think that, with this book, Tolstoi was very successful in putting us into other people's minds and understanding their motivations and their longings, and how these may drag them to act in ways more or less questionable, so that, in the end, we realize it's not up to us to emit moral judgements about them. The chapters in which Aleksei Aleksandrovitch is taken by the moral disturbing that suffering of others provokes on him and forgives Anna, her reenconter with her son, her shadowy reflections preceding her death and the final epiphany lived by Lievin were the most meaningful parts for me.

[Bookshelf_lifE]

I love how he writes about suttle female soul. How he goes into the society of that time. Explaining it's not just shine and money. Just like today. Really, the first sentence of the novel explains it all...

[VFitz]

This book was my introduction to Russian literature. It took awhile to get through it, but I enjoyed the undertaking. I agree with other posters that Levin was my favorite character too. His thoughts and insights are well worth contemplating. Overall, this book was so rich in plot and detail. All the characters are connected which adds to the appeal.

[BrittanyShannon]

I have been wanting to read/watch this movie. It looks so interesting!

[lily_kh87]

I read a short version of the novel and I liked it a lot. it made me cry though. I watched a movie for keira knightley but I did not enjoy it. The novel is much better.

[kissnmatt]

I have been struggling for over 9 months to read this! I just can't get through it. This is a hard one for me, and I do find that I like it. I saw the posts that there was a movie made; I was not aware. Maybe if I watch it that will help me finish the book.