Ethan Hawke recommended this book in Entertainment Weekly. When the man who helped create "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" says something, I listen.

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

So begins "Anna Karenina." This is a Russian novel, by Leo Tolstoy no less, so any brief summary is impossible. Instead, I will summarize the summary.

There is the Oblonsky family: Stiva, the cheating husband and Dolly the long-suffering wife (apparently Russians were really keen on American nicknames back in the day). Dolly's sister, Kitty, has two suitors: Levin, a farmer, and Vronsky, a dashing cavalryman. Kitty chooses Vronsky over Levin, breaking Levin's heart, but Vronsky soon falls for Anna, who is married to a bureaucrat named Alexei.

Vronsky and Anna's first meeting is described:

"In that brief glance Vronsky had time to notice the restrained animation that played over her face and fluttered between her shining eyes and the barely noticeable smile that curved her red lips. It was as if a surplus of something so overflowed her being that it expressed itself beyond her will, now in the brightness of her glance, now in her smile."

Eventually, Levin wins Kitty and they get married. The book then follows their relationship as it parallels that of Vronsky and Anna. Four million pages later, the story ends. The mirror-twinning is simplistic, as is the moralizing (no Dostoyevsky-like depths of psychological insight here). Clearly, Levin and Kitty represent the right way to do things, while Vronsky and Anna represent the shortest route to the eternal fires of hell. Still, you don't go to Tolstoy for his insight. You go to him for his scope and breadth of imagination. There are dozens of characters, locations, and plots, all going at once. You have to love the guy, and his books, for ambition alone. Someone once said, "If the world could write, it would write like Tolstoy." And it's true. He creates and populates a world on the page. His characters are all a bit one note (Levin = noble peasant; Kitty = purity and goodness; Alexei = boring civil servant; Anna = whore; Vronsky = pimp); however, despite additional dimensions, they are fully realized. In other words, the most complex one-note characters I've come across.

I cannot recommend the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation highly enough. I'd always been afraid of Tolstoy on the basis of density alone. But this translation in the bee's knees. It's clean and literate and - I've been told - really captures the essence of Tolstoy's work. The prose can be quite beautiful. Sometimes you forget you're reading a Russian novel (then Tolstoy reminds you by having Levin engage in a 4,000 page discussion of community property and peasant rights with his brother Sergei; apparently this meant something to 19th Century Russians). There are vivid descriptions of life on Levin's farm, train rides across the steppes, and lavish balls. I especially liked a passage in which a smitten Levin divides all the women in the world into two types: the first type constituted all those women with imperfections and shortcomings; the second type was Kitty. Really - isn't that how each of us falls in love?

The first part of the book sets up the relationships. The next three million pages are devoted to following each couple. Kitty/Levin take the high road; Stiva and Dotty attempt to reach that lofty plain; Anna and Vronsky descend into the pits of despair and guilt and utter ruin. I will not spoil their fate, but it is truly Russian. We all have to pay for our sins.

My gripes. First, there is a lot of foreign languages bandied about. Tolstoy liked to show off. The Russian has been translated to English; however, the French, German, and Klingon phrases are not translated, so you have to keep looking down at the footnotes. This isn't as big a deal as it is in "War and Peace," but it can be distracting. Also, we come to the controversial end of the book. Now, the title is "Anna Karenina," so you might expect the book to end with her storyline. WRONG. You simple fool. It does not end there. No, you have to slog through approximately 12 billion pages of Tolstoy's characters ruminating on the war with Turkey. Then there's Levin's religious rebirth, as he discovers the meaning of life (yes, his meaning is as banal as you'd expect). Some people might think this section of the book is a good reminder of all the wonderful ideas that Tolstoy had; indeed, that he was more concerned with those ideas than his story, and that the tragic love of Anna the Whore and Vronsky the Pimp was but the tree upon which to hang his ideas.

I don't agree. I think the end is a didactic, pedagogic, vaguely misogynistic load of crap. It's like a 19th C. version of "The Purpose Driven Life" has been appended, rather haphazardly, to the end of an otherwise great novel. If I wanted a lecture from a long-dead Russian author, I would've built a time machine, gone back in time, and asked for one.

This is by far one of my absolute favorites of all time and secured the fact that I was head over heels in love with Tolstoy. I went on to read War and Peace which I also enjoyed, but this book is my first love. I am certainly one of those people that falls into the camp that this is one of the greatest novels of fiction ever written. Yet, it isn't because of the title character. Nope, I really didn't like Anna Karenina when I first encountered her. Oh yeah, I was judgy. I was similar to the society that ends rejecting and turning its back on her. " Girl, are you really going to separate yourself from your son and everyone around you for this young fella?" Vronsky was a cad and as Anna succumbed to him, I was relieved that darling Kitty was saved from him.

Tolstoy was able to understand men and women and show them to be more than just " good" or "bad" From the worn-out Dolly to the idealistic Levin, this book just completely captured my heart.

One of the best novels I've ever read and expect to read. Levin's farming dilemmas were as interesting – if not more so – than the central romantic tragedy. I hope to return to it again and again. The grand variety of life – from the sublime to the ridiculous – is in these pages. I bow down to Tolstoy, the master, who sees and knows all.

Team Levin

Anna Karenina is spectacularly well written, with short paragraphs and chapters, that it doesn’t remind me of stuffy writing from 1878.

This tome is my second foray into Leo Tolstoy’s work, my first being a short novel, The Death of Ivan Ilych.

“Honesty is only a negative qualification,” he said. – Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

At the center of this story is Anna Karenina who is a charming, married woman who falls in love with Count Vronsky (definitely not her husband). It also focuses on Dolly and Stepan Oblonsky as well as Kitty and Levin.

This book is written in such a style where you can “hear” the characters’ thoughts, and it highlighted the difference in how men and women are treated in society. And if it was just the romance and societal tension, I would have rated this book 5 stars.

However, there was a lot of commentary about peasants and religion. As I am not an expert in Russian history/politics of 1878, this part was a bit over my head. I felt like I needed a wise sage to guide me through these parts.

This book is interesting enough and worthy of a reread, but I would have to rope in a person a bit wiser than myself to help me along. Any volunteers?

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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Uzunluğuna rağmen tek bir cümlesinin bile fazla hissedilmediği Leo Tolstoy’un ölümsüz eseri "Anna Karenina", efsanevi yazarın toplumsal olayları ve birey duygularını olağanüstü tasvir yeteneğiyle anlatarak adeta şov yaptığı bir başyapıt niteliğinde. Ataerkil toplumların kadınları nasıl mağdur ettiğini tüm acımasızlığıyla okuyucuya sunan Tolstoy aslında bizlere tam anlamıyla bir trajedi sunuyor. Kadınlara eğitim bile verilmemesini savunan zamanının Rus aristokratlarının kadınları adeta bir figür olarak gördüğü kitapta Tolstoy, zamanının ötesinde bir karakterle tüm genellemeleri yıkarak sadece toplumu eleştirmekle kalmıyor aynı zamanda yenilikçi düşünceleriyle bir reforma imza atıyor. Toplumun empoze etmesiyle gerçekleştirilen aşksız evliliklerin zamanla nasıl çatırdağını gözler önüne seren kitapta erkeklerin itibarlarını zedelememek uğruna dine karşı gelmemek adı altında etik olmayan neredeyse her şeyi kabul ederek hem kendilerini hem de eşlerini nasıl mağdur ettiklerini okuma şansı buluyoruz. Hayatlarını yaşamayan karakterlerin nasıl yıkıcı tercihler yapabildiğini bizlere gösteren Tolstoy, okuyucuya sunduğu bir diğer aşk hikayesiyle evliliklerin aşkla olduğu takdirde bireylerin birbirlerine nasıl değer kattıklarının altını çiziyor. Levin ve Anna’nın madalyonun iki farklı yüzünü oluşturduğu kitabı okurken açıkçası Tolstoy’un karakter geçişlerine hayran kaldığımı belirtmeliyim. Filmlerde olduğu gibi aynı plan sekansı andıran geçişlerle hikayeyi bütün halinde götüren efsanevi yazarın neden gelmiş geçmiş en iyi yazara olarak kabul edildiğini bir kez daha gördüm. İlk defa bir romanda bilinç akışı anlatım yöntemini kullanarak karakterin kafasında neler geçtiğini tüm ayrıntılarıyla bize anlatan Tolstoy’un edebiyatı nasıl değiştirdiğine yedinci bölümde tanıklık ediyorsunuz. Tüm yanlışlarına rağmen aslında Anna Karenina’nın yaşadığı dram bir yandan içinizi acıtırken diğer yandan karakterin yaptığı yanlış tercihleriyle mağdur olmakta ısrar etmesine sinir oluyorsunuz. Öte yandan, Levin toplumun onun hakkında ne düşündüğünü umursamadan ideallerine bağlı kalması ve mağdur olmamayı tercih etmesi iki karakter arasındaki en önemli farkı oluşturuyor.

Aile, birey, kıskançlık, sadakat, sevgi, tutku, ölüm ve yaşam gibi kavramları derinlemesine anlatan kitabın kuşkusuz odak noktasına aldığı inanç teması ise yeni bir paragrafı hak ediyor. Din kavramının toplumların tüm kesimini nasıl avucunun içine aldığını tüm gerçekliğiyle anlatan "Anna Karenina"da Levin’in dinin amacını sorgulamaya başladığı son bölüm gerçekten takdire şayan. İyi birey olmanın dinle alakası olmadığını, tüm dinlerin bunun üzerine kurulu olduğu halde toplumlar tarafından nasıl dezenformasyona uğradığını anlatan Tolstoy’un finali iyi bir insan olmayı hayatın temeline yerleştirdiği finali oldukça etkileyici. Buna ek olarak Tolstoy’un iyilik barındırdığı söylenen kutsal kitapların içinde bulunan şiddet temalarını ortaya çıkarması da zamanının çok ötesinde.

"Anna Karenina" gerçekten bambaşka bir deneyim. Keşke hiç bitmeseydi dediğim kitaplardan biri ve bende artık bambaşka yere sahip. Uzunluğuna rağmen kaldığım yerden sayfayı açtığımda okuduklarımın hepsini hatırladığımı tek kitap. Edebiyatın zirve noktası varsa sanırım işte burası.

18.09.2017
İstanbul, Türkiye

Alp Turgut

http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...

Dacă am socotit bine, avem cel puțin 4 traduceri diferite ale capodoperei lui Tolstoi. Litera (prin Anca Irina Ionescu), Humanitas (prin Adriana Liciu) și Polirom (prin Emil Iordache) au propus versiuni noi. Am citit prima dată romanul în traducerea lui M. Sevastos, Ștefana Velisar-Teodoreanu și R. Donici.

Înainte de a cumpăra și această versiune, m-a bîntuit multă vreme un citat dintr-un articol de G. Ibrăileanu. Mi-l semnalase un prieten. Cred că lIbrăileanu a fost unul dintre marii admiratori ai literaturii ruse. Se spune că pentru a citi Război și pace sau Anna Karenina, își lua două săptămîni de concediu de la Universitate și nu mai ieșea din casă. Am căutat articolul din care știam doar un pasaj, îl reproduc imediat, și l-am găsit într-un volum din colecția „Biblioteca școlarului” a Editurii Tineretului, intitulat sec Studii literare (1962, pp.153-161). Să citim, deci, pasajul în cauză:

„La douăzeci de ani, gata de toate jertfele pentru aceea pe care o așteptam, ne indignăm împotriva lui Vronski că nu se jertfește pentru Anna lui pînă la anihilarea propriei personalități. La patruzeci, pricepem că Vronski a făcut pentru ea tot ce poate face omenește cel mai ideal bărbat din lumea reală” (p.154).

Cam toți cititorii trec prin aceste stări antinomice, cam toți îl urîm la sfîrșitul cărții pe Vronski și îl acoperim cu ocări, pentru ca, mai tîrziu, să-i privim cu oarece înțelegere nu numai pe contele Alexei Kirilovici Vronski, dar și pe soțul cel prozaic al Annei, stimabilul și mărginitul Alexei Alexandrovici Karenin. Despre urechile cu geometrie variabilă ale celui din urmă am scris deja în altă parte. Aș observa, în treacăt, că prenumele celor doi bărbați din viața Annei sînt identice.

Mă întorc la articolul lui G. Ibrăileanu. Criticul începe cu o discuție a folosului re-citirii: cu fiecare lectură înțelegem mai mult și mai bine o carte, citim diferit la vîrste diferite (cazul lui Vronski: vinovat - nevinovat), cartea însăși se modifică, așa cum și noi ne schimbăm. Decît o carte recentă și proastă, mai bine un roman verificat de timp...

G. Ibrăileanu spune că, în iubirea ei pătimașă, devoratoare, Anna Karenina devine prea posesivă, prea suspicioasă. Anna găsește că Vronski nu se ridică la înălțimea patimei ei totale. Mai mult, femeia începe să fie torturată de gîndul că Vronski n-o mai iubește (ceea ce nu e deloc adevărat). Există un „egoism al iubirii”, constată pe bună dreptate criticul ieșean (pp.156-157). Madame de Staël a spus bine: iubirea este „un égoïsme à deux”.

Dar asupra următorului fragment îmi propun să mă mai gîndesc: „În ce constă marea nefericire a Annei? Nu o mai iubește Vronski? Așa crede ea, dar fără să aibă dreptate. Fără îndoială, Vronski s-a schimbat, e cam enervat, fiindcă ea îl hărțuiește, îl spionează, îl persecută și, fără să vrea și fără să-și dea seama, face [aproape orice] ca să-i devină o povară” (p.156).

G. Ibrăileanu afirmă că sinuciderea Annei Karenina e un hazard, dar acest hazard trebuia să se întîmple...

4.75⭐️ I suffer from 'the more I like a book, the more difficult is it for me to write an articulate review' syndrome

n  "Leo Tolstoy would meet hatred expressed in violence by love expressed in self-suffering."n
—Mahatma Gandhi


Through reading this praiseworthy classic, I have been forced to recalibrate my previously unreliable view of this celebrated author.
You see, I was force-fed Tolstoy at college (his writing, not his flesh, silly! Mine wasn't a college for cannibals!) and at the time only carried War and Peace under one arm so I might appear cleverer than I actually was.
So, how amazed was I that Anna K has shown me the fun side to Leo T? He is slyly hilarious. How did I not know this?

Please note that I haven't read this novel in Russian Cyrillic. I acknowledge that my perception owes a great deal to the amazing interpretive work of the translators, but let's imagine that we in the West have enjoyed his work as the great man intended.

The title is something of a misnomer and doesn't do justice to an endearing love story that also captures the disparity between city and country life in 19th-century Russia.
For a start, Anna K isn't the star of the show. That billing falls to our anti-hero, Konstantin Dmitrich Levin, a socially awkward, highly intelligent loner who considers himself to be an ugly fellow with no redeemable qualities.
Despite being weighed down by all this existential angst, he worships Kitty Shcherbatskaya, an attractive young princess whom he believes to be out of his league.
Kitty is described as being "as easy to find in a crowd as a rose among nettles."
Tolstoy goes to great lengths to make us understand the inner workings of Levin's mind (For Tolstoy, read Levin: they are one and the same).

Levin's love rival, raffishly handsome Count Vronsky, couldn't be more dissimilar. He is socially adept and careful not to offend, whereas Levin could probably start an argument with a goldfish.

What a fabulous read this is.
Tolstoy's levity and perspicacity shine from every page and the badinage between the main characters is exquisitely observed.
He does though have an idiosyncratic way of writing: adjectives are thickly laid on with a trowel and he loves to use repetition to emphasise a point.

Anna herself is fascinating, and to affirm just how fascinating she is, Tolstoy employs the word fascinating seven times in one paragraph! Look! I've even started doing it myself! How fascinating!

When not beating you about the head with repetition, the Russian master can do majestic descriptive imagery as well as anyone. One simple scene, where Kitty collapses into a low chair, her ball gown rising about her like a cloud, was just perfectly captured.

This is a wonderful story of fated love and aristocratic hypocrisy.
Tolstoy uses Levin as his political mouthpiece to rail against the ills of late 19th-century Russia, and the author's philosophy of non-violent pacifism also directly influenced none other than Mahatma Gandhi.

Anna Karenina is often cited as 'one of the best books ever written'.
So who am I to disagree?

Absolutely absolutely loved the second read.
The brilliant character work, the existential questions and beautiful writing. Great reading experience!

Η Άννα Καρένινα είναι το βιβλίο με τη μεγαλύτερη αναγνωστική βιωματική διαδρομή που έχω διανύσει μέχρι στιγμής. Αισθάνομαι την ικανοποίηση της ολοκλήρωσης ενός πνευματικού μαραθωνίου! Διαβάζοντάς το, αποταμίευσα ώρες απόλαυσης, ώρες με ενδόμυχα τετ-α-τετ με τον εαυτό μου, στιγμές που κάποιος άνοιξε ένα πορτάκι στο μέσα μου και σκάλιζε και σκάλιζε..

Το σύμπαν του Τολστόι είναι μεγαλοπρεπές, είναι επικό και ταυτόχρονα πολύ ανθρώπινο, γήινο αλλά και βαθιά τραγικό· η γραφή του απλή, οι στοχασμοί του εμβριθείς. Ο έρωτας στο βιβλίο είναι σφοδρός, θανατηφόρος, περίπλοκος, ένας έρωτας περήφανος που καταλήγει αλυσιτελής, μιασμένος από την ίδια του την περηφάνια και δεν μπορεί να έχει λόγο ύπαρξης όταν εκποιείται και στέκεται κατώτερος των αρχικών περιστάσεων κάτω από τις οποίες ευδοκίμησε.

Ο Τολστόι παίρνει τον διάλογο μεταξύ ενός άνδρα και μιας γυναίκας «Τι έχεις;» «Τίποτα.» και τον κάνει χίλια κομματάκια. Τον ερμηνεύει με μια διείσδυση στη γυναικεία ιδιοσυγκρασία άνευ προηγουμένου, τον ξετυλίγει και τον αποδομεί σε τέτοιο βαθμό που το αιώνιο μυστηριώδες αίνιγμα βρίσκει τη λύση του εκεί όπου πάλλεται η ερωτευμένη γυναικεία καρδιά.

Όμως δεν είναι μόνο η Άννα Καρένινα στην Άννα Καρένινα. Είναι και ο μέσα κόσμος του Κόστια Λιέβιν, του ανθρώπου που διαβάζει τη σκέψη του ανήσυχου και περίεργου αναγνώστη, του ανθρώπου που θέτει τα πιο εσωτερικά και για πολλούς δια βίου ερωτήματα που τον βασανίζουν, που ψάχνει να βρει το νόημα της ζωής του, το νόημα της ζωής στην οικουμενικότητά του.

Η Άννα Καρένινα είναι ένα μεγάλο έργο τέχνης που, με φόντο μια ολόκληρη εποχή της τσαρικής Ρωσίας του 19ου αιώνα, εγγράφονται πάνω του με τρόπο μοναδικό στοχασμοί πάνω στον έρωτα, στο τι είναι θεμιτό και τι όχι στη σύντομη ζωή μας πάνω στη γη, στις κοινωνικές συμβάσεις, στον θάνατο, την πίστη στο θεό και κυρίως, την πίστη στον ίδιο τον άνθρωπο.

Άννα Καρένινα και Κονσταντίν Λιέβιν καταχωρίζονται δικαίως ως δυο περσόνες της παγκόσμιας λογοτεχνίας· η μεν πρώτη ενσαρκώνει την αιώνια Γυναίκα με όλα τα τρωτά συναισθηματικά της αδιέξοδα, που επωμίζεται στις πλάτες της το βάρος της κοινωνικής κατακραυγής λόγω των επιλογών της, ο δε δεύτερος τον άνθρωπο που καταγίνεται με την πνευματικότητα και επιλέγει την ησυχία μιας υγιούς και καθ’ όλα γήινης οικογενειακής ζωής.

Πώς αξίζει τελικά να ζήσεις τη ζωή σου;

Ένα δραματικό αριστούργημα.

*Η έκδοση του Γκοβόστη και η μετάφραση της Κοραλίας Μακρή είναι άψογα.

This is a book that I was actually dreading reading for quite some time. It was on a list of books that I'd been working my way through and, after seeing the size of it and the fact that 'War And Peace' was voted #1 book to avoid reading, I was reluctant to ever get started. But am I glad that I did.
This is a surprisingly fast-moving, interesting and easy to read novel. The last of which I'd of never believed could be true before reading it, but you find yourself instantly engrossed in this kind of Russian soap opera, filled with weird and intriguing characters. The most notable theme is the way society overlooked mens' affairs but frowned on womens', this immediately created a bond between myself and Anna, who is an extremely likeable character.
I thought it had an amazing balance of important meaning and light-heartedness. Let's just say, it's given me some courage to maybe one day try out the dreaded 'War And Peace'.

From the Introduction:

n  

'I am writing a novel,' Tolstoy informed his friend the critic Nikolai Strakhov on 11 May 1873, referring to the book that was to become Anna Karenina. 'I've been at it for more than a month now and the main lines are traced out. This novel is truly a novel, the first in my life...'

nEarlier this year, I came across a quote so attractive, that I thought whatever book it was from was automatically good. In other words, I had to read it.

"I've always loved you, and when you love someone, you love the whole person, as they are, and not as you'd like them to be."

I was shocked when I found out it was this book. To be fair, I knew next to nothing about it. I had heard about it briefly in The Elegance of the Hedgehog (and its poor adaptation, The Hedgehog) and also from my dad, who's a movie buff. He deemed it as immoral and in other words a "cheating book", despite having seen only the film, and said I wouldn't like it. Being human, I looked more and more forward to reading it. Thanks to a friend, I got a very good translation, which made a huge difference. There's nothing quite like disobeying just for the fun of it.



I expected an unbearable and dull writing style, but was pleasantly surprised. The only times this book bored me was when it would ramble on too much about trivial details. I'm not conflicted about its length. I don't mind large books, but it can go both ways. Upon finishing a huge book, I can either feel as if it was the perfect length, or as if it could have easily been shortened. With this book, I felt both. The length, though much of it unnecessary, made it all the more beautiful. Despite my ever-persistent impatience, there's a certain charm to it that I've never seen in another book. This undefinable pace that if I could put into words, would be phrased as, "the pace of life". I don't even know how to describe something so abstract, but there's something so idyllic about it.

The book is noticeably filled to the brim with inner monologues and dialogues. The characters are all very realistic. Some are mean and some are stupid, and if you're lucky, you get both. There were a couple here and there that I liked, but most I didn't. I usually have a problem with this, but here I felt like it didn't matter too much.



I'm not keen on romance in the least, but this novel, as Tolstoy put it, is truly a novel. At times it was too philosophical for my liking, but in the end, all loose ends were tied off. It concluded in a surprisingly hopeful and satisfying note. A good way to end the year.