¡¡ Ha sido un gustazo volver a leer este libro con esta traducción !!. Leí Anna Karénina hace algo más de veinte años en una edición preciosa, que me regaló mi hermana, pero con una traducción tan horrible que había párrafos enteros en los que no entendía absolutamente nada. En aquel momento pensé que el problema era mío y que el libro era demasiado para mí, que me superaba; tardé meses en leerlo, entendiéndolo a medias y lo acabé por pura cabezonería.
Lo que quiero decir con todo esto es que las traducciones con los clásicos son tan importantes como la obra que pretendemos leer.
Me quedo con la satisfacción de haber leído y disfrutado de este clásico indiscutible y también con la certeza de que seguiré leyendo a Tolstoy.

Might come back to do a review later but don't feel in the right headspace right now.

Going to try to add my thoughts onto this. I really enjoy Tolstoy's way of writing and building up so many characters in his story that are all linked with each other in one way or another. It felt like a very old fashioned period drama and I think it would do great as a tv series. I didn't realize that the reason both Anna and Levin's life's was featured so heavily was that the point of the book wasn't just about Anna. But that both her and Levin was struggling with their life and place but they choose completely different paths. Got that as I read the last pages explaining to point of the book as a whole.
I loved reading about Levin and Kitty's Relationship at first but then felt like she lost her feel of a full character after some time. Didn't like the end with Anna but I guess to make his point clear it was a must and the ending part was a lot of heavily philosophy talk about Levin and I just did not enjoy that.

n  "I think... if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts."n
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

As I drew back the cover and stepped into the world of the Russian aristocracy, I found myself entranced by the excess and proper etiquette. A realm of high society so foreign, so inviting, that I couldn’t turn away. My eyes devoured Tolstoy’s delicious words like the sweetest candy. The characters called me in, seating me in the front row where I would have the best view. The book became an electric moment in time as their stories bewitched me. I urged Levin not to give up on love. I watched on in disbelief as a perfectly beautiful Anna was overcome with a passion that turned her into someone she no longer knew. I was dumbfounded at how Vronsky, a man filled with selfish desire, could so easily tear apart everyone who came near him and soldier on as if it were merely another day. These three were only a tiny portion of the troupe that would dominate my mind as I became wrapped up in their fates as if they were my own..

Love and pain, two such opposite emotions, yet intricately tied to one another. These were the driving forces behind this fantastic tale. It was a study of connections and intense passions, that ran the gamut from husband and wife to the affection that a man has for his country. In the end, the weight was almost unbearable for each that leapt. No matter which kind of love, there is always a price, and they had to be willing to pay it.

Very soon after I started this book, I knew the tracks would no longer be there for many of my favorite characters and that I would plunge into the abyss along with them if I didn’t get off at the next stop. I couldn’t leave them. I needed to be a part of their world even if it ended badly. As much affection as this story gave, it equally took back in tears and heartbreak.

The story is brilliant, and I could never do it justice here. If you haven’t read Anna Karenina I urge you to put aside the fact that it is a very lengthy novel and take it up. I am forever changed.

Powróciłam znów do "Anny Kareniny" po dziesięciu latach od pierwszej lektury - tym razem w nowym przekładzie Jana Cichockiego. Przekład jest nowy, ale klasyczny, nienapuszony i piękny. Miłość tego nagradzanego tłumacza do frazy, do słowa widać w każdym zdaniu. Czyta się z prawdziwą przyjemnością, a historia poszukiwania szczęścia Lewina i Kitty, dramatyczne dzieje Wrońskiego i Anny, rodzinne bolączki Dolly i Stiwy znów pochłonęłam z zachwytem. Arcydzieło.

n  2020 updaten
never mind. i had to reread it two more times and write three more essays on this. when will the nightmare end. i'll never read this in my free time because it keeps getting shoved down my throat annually.

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anna karenina is daunting as much as it is spellbinding.

spanning 800 pages, tolstoy tells a cinematic tale that has remained beloved for centuries. at its core of the novel is the theme of love and its variants: all happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

despite its many political and existential themes and vast amount of characters, at the heart of the book are two vastly different characters: anna and levin. anna begins a torrid love affair with vronsky, a charismatic and handsome officer, bound to crash and burn. levin timidly chases after kitty, his friend’s sister in law, who he is in love with. both arcs explore the dichotomy between love and lust, idealism in relationships, and the superficiality of infatuation and lust.

i have read this book five times (four times for class)(but technically three and a half because i skipped over levin’s farming scenes three times). and still, i feel inadequate to review this book. but more importantly, each time, i find something new to love and appreciate about this book. this book is dramatic and tragic and heartwarming and devastating all at once.

this is timeless classic for good reason and there are no words to describe how much i adore this book. a must read for winter!

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n  2018 reviewn
Honestly, I thought this was going to be a boring classic (since I was required to read this for school and you know, schools make you read boring books). But I was wrong. Anna Karenina is alive. Unlike other 'classics', Anna is filled with complex remarks about society and class and relationships, in a world that only Tolstoy can write. I was expecting it to have a dull drone, but this book definitely ran on a different frequency.
One thing I loved and admired about Tolstoy was that he never just stopped at a catastrophic event like other writers. He always made sure to show the aftermath, maybe as a cautionary tale to show that actions have consequences. He explores the consequences of being in love versus being in love with the ideal of someone. It was a wild ride and I wouldn't have had it be any other way.

I loved this book with all my heart and one day, I'll reread it without having to write 2000 word essays and analyze every element.

Tolstoy should've been a psychologist. I can't think of another novelist, past or present, who so ably describes human emotions, motivations and thought processes, especially with regards to human relationships. That facet of his writing, is spellbinding.
And while Tolstoy will, throughout 'Anna Karenina', widen the lens, and explore larger themes, such as the betterment of society through governmental and agricultural reform (mostly through the character of Levin- a stand-in for Tolstoy himself) at its core, the novel I think, is a study of more intimate themes: family, love and marriage, infedility, morality and faith.
The novel is basically a time- share between the two main characters (who only actually meet once in the novel) Konstantin Dmitrich Levin and Anna Karenina.
Anna is the breathtakingly beautiful aristocratic wife of Alexei Karenin, a rather boring, rational government official. When Anna meets the handsome, rich young military officer, Count Vronsky, she falls madly in love with him. What follows is the fascinating transformation of Anna's character in response to her own internal struggle with decisions she makes in her pursuit of emotional honesty and how Society disdainfully casts her aside.
The novel's co- protagonist, Konstantin Dmitrich Levin (Tolstoy) is an independent thinking landowner/farmer who extolls the virtues of country life and farming as the backbone of traditional national values while struggling to find compromise as Russia finds its way in the modern world. After he settled into married life and especially when he is away from the farm and has free time on his hands, Levin is a deep thinker. Like...'what is the meaning of life?' type thinker. This is made more interesting by the fact that it parallels the authors own struggle with the big questions: Life, Death, Good vs Evil, God, Faith.
Anna Karenina is a large novel with large ideas and at the same time, touchingly human. It has been described as the greatest novel of all time. It very well could be. It is definitely a masterpiece.

Third time's the charm!

goodness me, russians are dramatic. and i wouldnt have it any other way.

tolstoy is a master character creator. and although he is very skilled at conveying pre-revolution life and society, i have found much more enjoyment in his characters (shoutout to my boy, levin) than the plot. that being said, there is a certain complexity in tolstoys method of storytelling. there isnt a clear resolution in sight for most of the novel, so it left me eager to see what the characters would do and how the story would play out.

also, on a side note, i am of the strong opinion that leo was on one when he chose the title for this.

↠ 4.5 stars

Not since I read The Brothers Karamazov have I felt as directly involved in characters' worlds and minds. Fascinating.
I was hooked on Anna Karenina from the opening section when I realized that Tolstoy was brilliantly portraying characters' thoughts and motivations in all of their contradictory, complex truth. However, Tolstoy's skill is not just in characterization--though he is the master of that art. His prose invokes such passion. There were parts of the book that took my breath because I realized that what I was reading was pure feeling: when we realize that Anna is no longer pushing Vronsky away, when Levin proposes to Kitty, and later when Levin thinks about death. The book effectively threw a shroud over me and sucked me in--I almost missed my train stop a couple of times.
That being said, there were some parts that were difficult to get through. I felt myself slowing down in Part VI. I was back in through the remainder of the book once I hit Part VII, but I understand how the deep dive into politics and farming can be off-putting. Still, in those chapters Tolstoy's characters are interacting, and it's incredible to see them speak and respond to one another. It's not only worth the trouble, but deep down, it's no trouble at all. It's to be savored, and sometimes we must be forced to slow down and think about the characters' daily life as they navigate around in their relationships.
A word about this translation. When I was in college I attempted to read the Constance Garnett translation. I didn't stop because it was awful (I think finals came up, then the holidays, then more classes, etc.). However, I never really felt like the words were as powerful as they should have been. Years later, the only image that stuck in my mind was of Levin meeting Kitty at the ice skating rink. I just never really entered the world of Anna Karenina, perhaps my fault more than anything. However, the diction and sentence construction in Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation is poetic and justifies the title "masterpiece." Through this translation I grew to appreciate Tolstoy not just because he told good, philosophical stories, but because he could do so with utmost subtletly and compactness--yes, I think Tolstoy is concise. Each word has its place.
Understandably, many are unwilling to give themselves to this book. Many expect it to do all of the work. But it's an even better read because if the reader works, the experience of reading this book is incredible.

No book has produced as strong an emotional reaction from me as this one. I can’t recall any other book in which every character, and I mean every one, is so beautifully and realistically drawn. Like real life, there are no distinguishable villains, only human beings. It illustrates some of the most accurate depictions of humans in literature, all of which are scored on my heart forever. I can't think of anything but all the lives I've just lived—after a while, they no longer seem like printed words on a page, but like dear, dear friends.

I genuinely love every single character, even the ones that most readers dislike—Anna, who abandons her child and embroils everyone around her into a maelstrom of bitterness and jealousy: Karenin, who attempts to deny his unhappy wife her livelihood: Vronsky, who is at times both selfish and careless: even Oblonsky, the serial cheater and womanizer.

Anna and Vronsky’s sensual, destructive passion for one another is no more meaningful than the gentle, unwavering love of Levin and Kitty. It's the simple, the rough the non-grand things in life that are capable of bringing humans the most beauty. Anna is Moscow's diamond; she's magnetic, she's elusive, she's larger than life. Her love is the irrational, utterly enraptured kind that seems inescapable; yet it only leads to tragedy, never satisfaction. Anna's wandering, expressive soul and of course, deeply lonely heart makes for one of the most memorable, complex characters I've ever come across.

However, it's Konstantin Levin that captures the title of my favourite fictional character of all time; his spiritual awakening and romance with Kitty are written so beautifully and with so much heart that you wonder why we need any more love stories after this one. This is the book I hope every other book I pick up turns out to be.

Edit: I'm not even joking when I say that Anna Karenina changed my life. Prior to reading this, I had no idea that books could impact someone in this sense; the human expression in here is just so genuine, so sincere. Aside from Jane Eyre, this was the first "proper" classic I read; it made me fall head over heels in love with literature and I've never looked back. I genuinely don't think I would've read 95% of the books listed on my Goodreads if it wasn't for me buying Anna Karenina on a whim 3 years ago.

This book made me want to also throw myself in front of a train.

I've read my fair share of classics and sometimes they just don't work for me. I could deal with the horses, the farming and the hunting but I draw the line I not caring one bit about anyone.

After learning more about his wife, I wonder how much of this book was inspired by their lives. I'm more interested in reading more about her.

I društvo je tako uređeno: što više radnici budu radili, sve će se više bogatiti trgovci i spahije, a oni će ostajati tegleća marva.

Ana Karenjina je mučenje i zlo. Osjećaj dosade i razdražljivosti koji kolaju tokom romana su bili skoro nepodnošljivi. U toku pisanja ovog romana Tolstoj se posvetio pedagoškom radu, a pored toga i pisanjem nekih sižea. U jednom pismu kada se obraća Strahovu 1875. godine, Tolstoj piše sljedeće: ,,Sad se laćam dosadne i trivijalne Ane Karenjine i samo molim boga da mi da snage da je se što prije riješim, kako bih upraznio mjesto - slobodno vrijeme mi je vrlo potrebno - ne za pedagoške, već za druge poslove, koji me više okupiraju. Ja volim i pedagoški rad, ali hoću da prisilim sebe da se više njime ne bavim.” Od samog početka znao sam da ovaj roman neće ići u tom pravcu da mi se svidi. Jednostavno svaka stranica je bila isprazna, i ako bih mogao da opišem roman u jednoj riječi onda bi to bila ispraznost. Ni u jednom od likova nisam vidio ništa što bi me potaklo da se udubim u razmišljanje (osim kasnije Ljevina koji je inače piščev alter ego). Svaki od njih je bio gord, besmisleno odsutan, a kada Tolstoj počne kroz njih da filozofira, jednostavno sam morao da sklapam oči, smirim se, a onda nastavim čitanje. Njihova prenemaganja, dijalozi na ivici histerije, apsurdni poduhvati koje čine, sve mi je to samo otežavalo čitanje. Tačno je da Tolstoj piše rečenice koje se prosto brzo čitaju, ali one samo u nekoj mjeri olakšavaju stvar.

Mislio sam da će se roman završiti sa smrću dotične, i da bi onda to bilo to. Međutim, malo sam se prevario. I to mučenje je trajalo do smrti Ane Karenjine. A onda potpuno nešto novo. Ne znam da li je tu vladala ona narodna: ,,Dok jednom ne smrkne, drugom ne svane,” ali zaista je sve od tada krenulo uzlaznom putanjom. Iskreno ne zato što sam ja priželjkivao njenu smrt, ali eto ona se desila, i sve kreće u drugačijem smjeru. Kao da je ona bila čvor tog zla koji je jurcao na sve strane i kada se on otpustio i zlo je sa njim nestalo. Tolstoj izdiže Ljevinovog brata, Sergija Aleksandroviča i kroz njegov pogled strukturalno jasno sagledava društveno-politička zbivanja. Ljevina polako utapa u neku čamotinju i s njim vodi borbu. Sve postaje elegantno, polemički i polako pisac pušta smislene tonove. Odjednom mi svi likovi postaju dragi, čak ih u jednu ruku i žalim. Đavo je prisutan svuda i neki jednostavno nisu mogli da se istrgnu iz njegovih kandži. Tolstoj filozof odjednom dobija nekog elana, počinje da bude odmjeren, tako fino sažet da sam uživao u svakoj rečenici, pa za divno čudo nakon završetka knjige sam poželio da još malo nešto kaže. A, ono što je posebno okupiralo moju pažnju jeste njegov osvrt na rat i oslobođenje jednovjeraca prije svega Crnogoraca i Srba od Turaka. Evo šta Tolstoj ima da kaže o ratu: ,,Rat je, s jedne strane, tako životinjska, surova i užasna stvar, da nijedan čovjek, već da i ne kažem hrišćanin, ne može lično primiti na svoju odgovornost početak rata, to može samo vlada, koja ima za to potrebu, i koja dolazi u položaj da vodi rat. S druge strane, i na osnovu nauke i na osnovu zdravog razuma, u državnim poslovima, osobito u poslovima rata, građani se odriču svoje lične volje.” Eto, da sam knjigu ostavio prije njenog konačnog svršetka, zaista bih propustio divne posljednje stranice ove knjige.