An excellent book occasionally spoiled by Tolsoy's tendency towards the driest didacticism .

 I’m not sure I could’ve appreciated that ending the way I did a year or two ago. Anna Karenina is one of the most complex, provocative, reflective, moving and vibrant books that I have ever read. The characterization was spectacular- Dolly, Stiva, Levin, literally felt like they were buzzing off the page. It was a beautiful, insightful book, one that I am so glad I can now say I have read. I can’t believe the accuracy of my instinct that this would be one of my favorites, because it is, without a doubt, in my top three and already, it has shaped my vision of the book beginning in me, no matter how small the idea is right now.
 

One thing kept going through my head as I read those last remaining pages- how true this post (https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/9hws4r/i_read_anna_karenina_in_5_days_and_now_i_think_my/) rang. This book is the peak for me- the writing, the story, the insights, the characterization, the personal significance of the story, the timelessness of its moral lessons even now- all of it enthralled me. It swept me up and took me with it and just like that Redditor, I will dearly miss the characters. 

The only two gripes I have with it is that I wish there had been more study of Vronsky and Kitty’s characters and how dissatisfied I was with the ending. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the ending with Levin. It was one of my favorite parts of the book but I didn’t like that it was literally the last page or how none of the characters’ reactions to

Anna’s death were explored. I wanted more closure, more insight into how Dolly, Levin, Kitty, Stiva, Alexei, etc. would’ve reacted. I wanted to know how the high society which so poorly treated her received the rocking news. I wanted to read about Vronsky being told, running to the station and dropping to his knees with heaving sobs. I wanted to hear that Alexei, wracked with guilt, ran to his son and grabbed him close, sobbing into Seyrhoza’s unsure chest. I wanted to read the various measures with which everyone who loved and didn’t love her responded to this horrifying news. But I didn’t get that. Instead, I got hardly a glimpse of Vronksy’s despair. It was dissatisfying and even more so, because her death didn’t feel justified enough. I needed a more concrete reason other than her sudden descent into paranoia-induced madness. The expectations I carried into this book and even up until the halfway mark was that this was simply a story of her trying to leave Alexandrovich and him refusing, forcing her only resort to become her death at the train station. To read how they dragged on for months, in resentment and restlessness, instead of the grand romance I had expected was extremely disappointing and anti-climactic. Especially that her suicide was over some fickle feeling she’d contrived in her head. Maybe if the expectations of society and the weight of what she would do after he left her were more prominent, it would have felt more justified.

Regardless, I cannot say enough good things about this book and think that everyone should, given the chance, immerse themselves in it. 

Funnily enough, my first introduction to Anna Karenina was through my favorite children’s series, A Series of Unfortunate Events. According to one of the characters, “The central theme of Anna Karenina… is that a rural life of moral simplicity, despite its monotony, is the preferable personal narrative to a daring life of impulsive passion, which only leads to tragedy." I always knew I wanted to read the book eventually, but the idea of reading Tolstoy has always felt daunting. 

On the surface, this is a story about family, loyalty, and love. Looking deeper, though, the books acts as social critique on a variety of topics that include family duty and relationship, (in)fidelity, the purposes and realities of marriage, societal reputations and the jealousy within social groups, hearing vs. understanding, political reform, self-centeredness vs. others-centeredness, gender inequality, hypocrisy, faith, ideas on industry and progress, and the contrasts between country living and city life.

The character stories are riddled with metaphor and allegory, with outside events aligning to inner attitudes and occurrences. Just one example is a country house where one of the families resides for the summer. A character promised their spouse that the house had the necessary work done in order to comfortably reside in it. Upon arriving, though, the rest of the family finds that it has nice curtains and décor while the functional parts of the house have fallen into a state of disrepair. The situation with the house mirrors several of the marriages in the book; one spouse thinks by making things look all right, they will be better, while the other spouse is left to deal with the consequences and/or do the major repair work. 

While there are a few places where the story was slow (agricultural information, anyone?), there was a LOT to take in! Multiple characters with great arcs and evolutions, dramatic events, and plenty of commentary about Russian culture make this a book to be savored over a longer period of time. (Aka, this isn’t a book to stay up all night reading, but rather something to read in smaller chunks so that you can take your time, analyze, consider, and reflect.)

On a surface level, this is a domestic (and often sad) story about individuals, but the revelations and emotions apply to the greater world around them.

worthwhile classic