- Paperback: 866 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (1 Jun 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192823655
- ISBN-13: 978-0192823656
- Product Dimensions: 18.2 x 11.8 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,990,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Anna Karenina (Wordsworth Classics)
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Product Description
Book Description
'The greatest love story I've ever read' Andrew Davies
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
In 1872 the mistress of a neighbouring landowner threw herself under a train at a station near Tolstoy's home. This gave Tolstoy the starting point he needed for composing what many believe to be the greatest novel ever written. In writing "Anna Karenina" he moved away from the vast historical sweep of "War and Peace" to tell, with extraordinary understanding, the story of an aristocratic woman who brings ruin on herself. Anna's tragedy is interwoven with not only the courtship and marriage of Kitty and Levin but also the lives of many other characters. Rich in incident, powerful in characterization, the novel also expresses Tolstoy's own moral vision. "The correct way of putting the question is the artist's duty", Chekhov once insisted, and "Anna Karenina" was the work he chose to make his point. It solves no problem, but it is deeply satisfying because all the questions are put correctly.
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First Sentence
ALL happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
ALL happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 79 people found the following review helpful
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.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
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.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I recently decided to read Anna Karenina after having started it before but never really being drawn in by it. I cannot express how glad I am that I pursued it. Admittedly some of the Russian history and politics went a little over my head, but now, 4 weeks later, I still can not stop thinking about all of those characters which Tolstoy so marvelously created. For someone who rarely cries over a book, I found the portrayal of Levin during the birth of his son particularly moving. Very much recommended!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
the most disappointing book i've read
It was extremely long, which is fine if the plot is gripping and exciting, but it's not. I found myself bored for most of the book with maybe 2 or 3 interesting chaoters thrown in... Read more
Published 20 days ago by Shanie72
Great
Really pleased, the book arrived within a few days of me ordering. I've always wanted to read the book so I was really pleased that I could get it for cheap, with free postage. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Toyosi
As if it were written in our times
Having thought that Tolstoy would be dry and heavy going, for some reason I picked a nicely bound hard back copy of this in Dorset a few months back. Read more
Published 2 months ago by tony
Some people write some real rubbish
Some people write some real rubbish. And this is a case in point. I wouldn't bother wasting your money on this.
Published 2 months ago by wendy jones
The life puzzle
The parallel stories, delusions, passions and sorrow of a variety of characters are intertwined to compose the elaborate puzzle of our own life.
Published 3 months ago by Diogenes
Review of the book Anna Karenina
The book, Anna Karenina, came as described and arrived on time as set out by provider.
Overall I was pleased with the service and condition of the book.
Overall I was pleased with the service and condition of the book.
Published 4 months ago by a
Anna Karenina: A fine novel that acknowledges the complexities of...
I had long put off reading this novel, expecting to find it heavy with moral messages. Instead I found a tale that was fresh, intensely human, and broad-minded, with a relevance... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mrs. R. A. H. Beckett
All time favourite
The characterisation is exquisite, oftentimes you feel like you're just a fly on the wall...
I have read this book now twice, and both times I found different things called my... Read more
I have read this book now twice, and both times I found different things called my... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Soraya Gonzalez
Simply Brilliant
At the risk of sounding completely full of it - I do think that Anna Karenina is the greatest novel ever written and my personal favourite. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Readers Anonymous
A true Russian Classic!
I fell in love with Levin. Anna, on the other hand, less so. The characters, lovable or not, are all brilliantly described. You get a real feel for life in Russia at the time. Read more
Published 13 months ago by DictionaryCorner
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