Tolstoy...and Anna Karenina

[joyful_grace_18]

I am currently reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, and I was just wondering who has read it? I've been stuck on this book for nearly five months now and it's driving me crazy, because I am used to reading a book of that size in just a couple weeks. And it's not that the books dry or anything, it's an incredible classic!...I just can't find time to finish it, something else always has my attention.

Anyway, just wanted to maybe discuss it with someone who's read it and then see what their overall opinion is on Tolstoy's works as a whole...because I am thinking about reading more once I (hopefully) finish Anna K.

[Shellbiz]

You must finish the book! This was one of my favorite classics even though it does not turn out well for the protagonist. I read this book a few years back and again for a college course. (There are movies out as well--maybe that would spur you on in reading it . . . to reward yourself after reading the book by watching the video.)

Tolstoy is a wonderful Russian writer who has a great deal to say about Russian society. It is impossible for Anna, once held in high regard by her high-society counterparts, to get rid of the repercussions of her adulterous affair. Anna giving in to her own desires is caught in a web of uncertainty and insurmountable pressure as she defies the stigmas of her day (sort of like Hester in The Scarlet Letter) to be with the man she loves. But unlike Hester, who I believe was not as much a willing party to her sin (or was she?), Anna gives in to the sin "that so easily doth beset her."

[joyful_grace_18]

yeah...someone who has read it!...cool, ok so I'm like over 3/4 of the way through the book, around where Levin and Kitty move to Moscow to wait until Kitty has their baby; and then Anna and Vronsky are also in Moscow I believe. I love Levin, with all his odd, but honest ways...but I'm having a hard time with Anna, which of course I guess is the point. She's driving me nuts!...just divorce your husband and get it over with if you are gonna keep Vronsky around!

I love the way Tolstoy tries to pull you into Anna's world through other characters in the book, such as Dolly for instance. She finds Anna's world perfect at first, somehow convinced that everything she has herself is empty, but just as you want to throw the book against the wall, Dolly comes to her senses and realizes how miserable Anna really is and how real and full her own is.
But seriously, Tolstoy just pulls you right into the mind of each characters as he switches back and forth, back and forth with such a diversity it is amazing!

...which movie is best? 'Cause I've seen bits and pieces of a newer one that has Sean Bean in it.

[ProfessorAlan]

I read it a year or so, and am glad I did.

[Shellbiz]

You are getting a very good handle on what's going on. Tolstoy does provide a lot of tension in his book as he draws the reader into Anna's predicament eliciting emphathy, but at the same time gives fodder for eschewing her inability to make a decision. You just want her to make up her mind! Of course, anybody who reads this and still entertains the idea that "love" can make everything right, has been lost in translation.

[joyful_grace_18]

yeah, definitely...there was one chapter, where I almost felt Tolstoy had crossed line, making out Anna's affair to nearly be ok...but of course I pressed on until I found out what he meant...lol. (I was just getting bogged down by the character's mind)

So has anyone read any of Tolstoy's other works?

[Shellbiz]

So, Professor Alan, from a man's point of view, what did you think of the book?

[ProfessorAlan]

Her downward spiral seemed similar to me of that some guys I've known have gone through after making a similar decision.

[Shellbiz]

[For sure! I've heard people who have entered into the sin of adultery say that it's real sweet in the beginning and for a time, but eventually cannot hazard the mess it creates--to say nothing of the huge weight of guilt that must accompany most people's consciences for abandoning their vows and hurting their loved ones along the way.]

Is there justification for finding love elsewhere even if you husband is a jerk, like Karenin, who was quite plastic and lacking in affection? Some people would be sympathetic to Anna for that reason. I think Tolstoy is saying that it's the staying power of love that really makes it in the end. Levin exemplifies that enduring sort of love. Despite his awkwardness with Kitty and disenchantment with the birth of his son. we see that love is not just for his own satisfaction when he is happy over the lives of Kitty and his son having been saved in the storm.
By the way, here's a quiz you can take to see how much you know of the details of the book: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/anna/quiz.html

[joyful_grace_18]

...finished the book yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and I do I believe it is one of my favorites, only the ending was a bit abrupt. I loved Levin's conversion experience (all the talking to himself etc.), but somehow it just didn't seem right to end quite where it did. I read Brother's Karamazov early this year by Dostoevsky, and that book ended sorta of the same way. Maybe it is just a way of writing.

anyway, can't wait to read more of his books...especially War and Peace.

[Shellbiz]

I'm still following this thread even if a little late on the draw. I have not read Brother's Karamazov but sure would like to. It is on my list.

As for the ending of Anna Karenina, it probably seems abrupt after all of his slowly churning away descriptions of the characters and their individual stories. But I think after Anna dies it is fitting to the denouement to have Levin sum up Tolstoy's gist. Levin came to recognize his faith being the object of the real driving force in his life. We can consider the fate of those who were lacking this faith, as well. The other characters lives, bereft of making decisions with the big picture in mind ("It's not about you, dummy!") are found wanting. Levin and Kitty will have a life of purpose with blessing, and the others, perhaps, will pass their lives by pursuing temporal pleasures.