Anna Karenina? Has anybody read it?

Question

By Leo Tolstoy.....How did you like it? And Why?

Answer 1

I read Anna Karenina several years ago & loved it!!! It was a little slow moving at times, but well worth it.

There was also a movie that was on one of the cable channels a few years ago that was good; but after reading the book, I noticed some things that were cut out (naturally).

Answer 2

I read it. I thought it would be about this Russian noblewoman's affairs (like a Russian Lady Chatterly's Lover.) It wasn't so much like that, but the relationships and lifestyles fascinated me. I thought that Tolstoy was talking about class differences...and the people who thrived in that system...but it seems that he is talking more about families within the upper class - both the good and the bad.

In the end, I actually liked the book, but not for the reasons that I thought I would when I first picked it up. That's what I get for judging its cover.

Answer 3

Have just finished reading it for the second time. I liked it because it gave a picture of a totally different era in Russia. You get a very good picture of the lifestyle of the aristocracy but also a view of more rustic living with details of how Levin lives. There is also quite a lot of historical detail.

The whole issue of Anna and the affair of vronsky is very interesting - their behaviour in public and their time in Venice which, I felt, rather than deepening their love, heralded the end of it.

Answer 4

I have read this book, years ago, for my a level english, with all Tolstoys books, including war and peace, which i am trying to read at the moment, they are very slow moving, but usually facinating reads.

Well worth the effort, just so you can stay you have tackled it more than anything, but great pieces of classical literature.
The novel is divided into eight parts. The novel begins with one of its most quoted lines, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Part 1 introduces the character Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky, known as "Stiva", a civil servant who has been unfaithful to his wife Darya Alexandrovna, known as "Dolly". Stiva's affair shows an amorous personality which he cannot seem to suppress. Stiva summons his married sister, Anna Karenina, from St. Petersburg to persuade Dolly not to leave him.
Upon arriving at Moscow, a railway worker accidentally falls in front of a train and is killed, which Anna declares to be an "evil omen". Meanwhile, Stiva's childhood friend Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin arrives in Moscow to offer his hand in marriage to Dolly's younger sister Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatsky, known as "Kitty". The passionate, restless but shy aristocratic landowner lives on an estate which he manages. Kitty turns him down, expecting a marriage offer from army officer Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky. Despite his fondness for Kitty, Vronsky has no intention of marrying her. He soon falls in love with Anna after he meets her at the Moscow train station and later dances the mazurka with her at a ball.
Anna, shaken by her response and animation to Vronsky, returns at once to St. Petersburg. Vronsky follows her on the same train. Levin returns to his estate farm, abandoning any hope of marriage, and Anna returns to her husband Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, a senior government official, and their son Sergei ("Seriozha") in Petersburg.

In part 2, Karenin scolds Anna for talking too much with Vronsky, but after a while she returns Vronsky's affections, and becomes pregnant with his child. Anna shows anguish when Vronsky falls from a racehorse, making her feelings obvious in society and prompting her to confess to her husband. This attraction appears repeatedly in the book through the form of a "What if" question. When Kitty learns that Vronsky prefers Anna over her, she turns ill. Two doctors examine her, and together they decide she should travel abroad to recover. She goes to a resort at a German spring to recover from the shock. There she briefly becomes extremely pious, but decides that she can't retain that level of piety without deceiving herself.
Part 3 examines Levin's life on his rural farming estate, a setting closely tied to Levin's spiritual thoughts and struggles. Throughout this part, Levin wrestles with the idea of falseness, wondering how he should go about ridding himself of it, and criticizing what he feels is falseness in others. Dolly also meets Levin, and attempts to revive his feelings for Kitty. Dolly seems to have failed, but a chance sighting of Kitty makes Levin realize he still loves her. Back in Petersburg, Karenin exasperates Anna by refusing to separate with her, and threatens not to let her see their son Seriozha ever again if she leaves or misbehaves, exactly what Vronsky asks her to do.
By part 4 however, Karenin finds the situation intolerable and begins seeking divorce. Anna's brother Stiva argues against it and persuades Karenin to speak with Dolly first. Again, Dolly seems to be unsuccessful, but Karenin changes his plans after hearing that Anna is dying in childbirth. At her bedside, Karenin forgives Vronsky, who in remorse attempts suicide. However, Anna recovers, having given birth to a daughter she names Anna ("Annie"). Stiva finds himself pleading on her behalf for Karenin to divorce. Vronsky at first plans to flee to Tashkent, but changes his mind after seeing Anna, and they leave for Europe without obtaining a divorce after all. Much more straightforward is Stiva's matchmaking with Levin: a meeting he arranges between Levin and Kitty results in their reconciliation and betrothal.
In part 5, Levin and Kitty marry. A few months later, Levin learns that his brother Nikolai is dying. The couple go to him, and Kitty nurses him until he dies, while also discovering she is pregnant. In Europe, Vronsky and Anna struggle to find friends who will accept them and pursue activities that will amuse them, but they eventually return to Russia. Karenin is comforted – and influenced – by the strong-willed Countess Lidia Ivanovna, an enthusiast of religious and mystic ideas fashionable with the upper classes, who counsels him to keep Seriozha away from Anna. However, Anna manages to visit Seriozha unannounced on his birthday, but is discovered by the furious Karenin, who had told their son that his mother was dead. Shortly afterward, she and Vronsky leave for the country.
In part 6, Dolly visits Anna. At Vronsky's request, she asks Anna to resume seeking a divorce from Karenin. Yet again, Dolly seems unsuccessful; but when Vronsky leaves for several days of provincial elections, a combination of boredom and suspicion convinces Anna she must marry Vronsky. So she writes to Karenin, and leaves with Vronsky for Moscow.
In part 7, the Levins are in Moscow for Kitty's benefit as she gives birth to a son. Stiva, while seeking Karenin's commendation for a new job, again asks him to grant Anna a divorce; but Karenin's decisions are now governed by a "clairvoyant" – recommended by Lidia Ivanovna – who apparently counsels him to decline. Anna and Vronsky become increasingly bitter towards each other. They plan to return to the country, but in a jealous rage Anna leaves early, and in a parallel to part 1, commits suicide by throwing herself in the path of a train. (Tolstoy reportedly was inspired to write Anna Karenina by reading a newspaper report of such a death.)
Part 8 continues the story after Anna's death. Stiva gets the job he wanted, and Karenin takes custody of Annie. Some Russian volunteers, including Vronsky, who does not plan to come back, leave to help in the Serbian revolt that has just broken out against the Turks (see also History of Serbia, 1876). And in the joys and fears of fatherhood, Levin at last develops faith in the Christian God.