Anna Karenina is a novel of unparalleled richness and complexity, set against the backdrop of Russian high society. Tolstoy charts the course of the doomed love affair between Anna, a beautiful married woman, and Count Vronsky, a wealthy army officer who pursues Anna after becoming infatuated with her at a ball. Although she initially resists his charms Anna eventually succumbs, falling passionately in love and setting in motion a chain of events that lead to her downfall. In this extraordinary novel Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together the lives of dozens of characters, while evoking a love so strong that those who experience it are prepared to die for it.
Anna Karenina
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"One of the greatest love stories in world literature" (Vladimir Nabokov )
"Tolstoy's historical and human sweep is breathtaking. His vision, humanity and his knowledge that love and pain are at the heart of life is the most important of all the profound truths revealed in this great novel" (Jonathan Dimbleby )
"In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy got totally inside the mind of a woman who is prepared to lose everything for the sake of man and who is so much in love that she commits suicide. I don't like her as a woman, but I think it is a brilliant portrait, unequalled in literature" (Amanda Craig Independent )
"I've read and re-read this novel and every time I find another layer in the story" (Philippa Gregory )
"I first read Anna Karenina 20 years ago when travelling across the Peruvian desert on a long bus journey, and it has stayed with me ever since" (Hugh Thomson Independent )
"Tolstoy's historical and human sweep is breathtaking. His vision, humanity and his knowledge that love and pain are at the heart of life is the most important of all the profound truths revealed in this great novel" (Jonathan Dimbleby )
"In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy got totally inside the mind of a woman who is prepared to lose everything for the sake of man and who is so much in love that she commits suicide. I don't like her as a woman, but I think it is a brilliant portrait, unequalled in literature" (Amanda Craig Independent )
"I've read and re-read this novel and every time I find another layer in the story" (Philippa Gregory )
"I first read Anna Karenina 20 years ago when travelling across the Peruvian desert on a long bus journey, and it has stayed with me ever since" (Hugh Thomson Independent )
Book Description
'The greatest love story I've ever read' Andrew Davies
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
97 of 102 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I read Anna Karenina for the hype - so many people talk of it being one of the best books ever written. And I was interested in Tolstoy, who is a fascinating character.
At time of reading, I found the novel okay. The characters came alive on the page, and many of the scenes in the novel were beautifully delineated. But I found the pace too slow, and was bored by all Levin's socio-political musings on Russia at that time.
Months later, and I find that the book still resonantes in my mind. I find myself still thinking about Anna and her fate; about that excruciating moment where Karenin approaches total forgiveness and then veers away; about Dolly, Kitty and Oblonsky. About how different the world of Anna Karenina is from my own, in some ways, but still so relevant. And the differences are illuminating.
In this novel, Tolstoy manages to weave together a whole world of stories and people and events. I can't really describe it other than saying that it is a very very human story. Greater than the sum of its parts.
Don't read this book if you think you might become impatient 'getting through' it. It deserves better that that. But if you're reading these reviews wondering whether it's worth taking all that time to read one of the world's reputed classics, then my anonymous 25-year-old word, for what it's worth, is that yes, it definitely is.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By HORAK
Format:Paperback
"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". With this opening the reader is brought at the heart of the novel: family life and the lives led by the separate members of families. The idea of a novel about the grand monde had long haunted Tolstoy as well as writing about a married lady of that world who would ruin herself. The two lovers, Anna and Vronsky think that in their relationship they can escape society, but find they cannot. Without the freedom of the society they live in their passion becomes a kind of prison. Their entourage is too much part of them: they need it too much and the attempt to do without it destroys them both.
All the characters in Anna Karenina are intensely real: the peasants in the fields, the people in Moscow, Stiva, Levin, Kitty, the Shcherbatskys. They all know each other, they live in the same world with the rest of the Russian upper class. The inner mental life and struggle of Levin reflects Tolstoy's own state of mind at the time he was writing. He had conservative views on marriage and childrearing which he thought were a woman's duty.
Is the novel out of date? Would Anna today get a divorce, marry Vronsky and live happily ever after? Tolstoy didn't think so Tragedies like that of Anna Karenina do not depend on social change and enlightened social arrangements.
All the characters in Anna Karenina are intensely real: the peasants in the fields, the people in Moscow, Stiva, Levin, Kitty, the Shcherbatskys. They all know each other, they live in the same world with the rest of the Russian upper class. The inner mental life and struggle of Levin reflects Tolstoy's own state of mind at the time he was writing. He had conservative views on marriage and childrearing which he thought were a woman's duty.
Is the novel out of date? Would Anna today get a divorce, marry Vronsky and live happily ever after? Tolstoy didn't think so Tragedies like that of Anna Karenina do not depend on social change and enlightened social arrangements.
61 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I comment not on the book, but this edition. I assume few people will be convinced of the classic's merits (or lack thereof) based on an online review. However, I would like to alert the potential customer that this edition is positively riddled with typos. The notes, table of contents, and the actual pagination do not at all line up; the letter "l" is replaced by a "]" at times, dozens of words are clearly misspelled, a time is given as 8.2 pm; the list goes on. I have no idea whether or not the translation is faithful to the Russian; I do know it is far from faithful to the conventions of standard written English.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Timeless tale
A beautiful story of a the life and times of Anna love, riches, privilege. heart break and loss.
The tale captures the reader and makes complusive reading.
The tale captures the reader and makes complusive reading.
Published 4 days ago by JOANNE ELEY
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
Its on the whole a pretty good translation of an excellent book. I love the different story lines of the lives of so many characters. Read more
Published 19 days ago by theo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb Novel
The writing of Tolstoy is the most touching and well observed I have ever read. As well as being deep and thoughtful, it is hugely readable - a page turner!
Published 24 days ago by Rod
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone. However, I've only given it 4 stars because I found it a little bit hard to follow all the Russian names... Read more
Published 1 month ago by GrannyAnnie
3.0 out of 5 stars
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina This book is very hard to follow as all the names are Russian and difficult to follow I saw the film and enjoyed it very much
Published 1 month ago by Jean Webb
3.0 out of 5 stars
Was an interesting story, but i could have told the same one in half...
I really enjoyed the characters in this, and the way that Tolstoy shows you how they think and how this impacts the decisions that they make - you really want to see what happens... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Lorna Evans
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina is my desert island novel.
Tolstoy's exploration and understanding of human strengths and weaknesses, his huge canvas of characters
make a novel that can be... Read more
Tolstoy's exploration and understanding of human strengths and weaknesses, his huge canvas of characters
make a novel that can be... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mrs Elisabeth Le Brocq
4.0 out of 5 stars
Stick with it
I purchased this book as it is on a list of the top books to read in your life. At first I really struggled with getting to grips with the names and who was who, their nicknames... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Leona Taylor
3.0 out of 5 stars
unfinished
Was slow going so I didnt get into it so I didnt finish it.Dissapointed because I was looking forward to it.
Published 2 months ago by monica anderson
2.0 out of 5 stars
anna
I prefer a more descriptive classic, I found this hard to get into, weak introduction to the characters and story i thought
Published 2 months ago by C E MURNIN
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