Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Anna Karenina

Although the book is titled Anna Karenina, it explores more characters than just her. I would even go as far to to say that the main character is actually Levin. The book is character driven, giving different point of views throughout with their feelings, flaws, and ideas. The ending is incredibly sad yet it does give you a hopeful reproach upon life and being alive but also questions existence itself and how actions and thought form the being of all of us. This book was incredible and will have a lasting effect on the reader.

Content Warnings

freschne's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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joanabacana's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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sebastianoblass's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Such a beautifully written book. This Tolstoy explores themes such as family, suicide, love , philosophy, class, etc. I surprised at how this book captured me from the beginning, with its lengthy descriptions of russian imperial luxury and fashion. Such a stylish read.
the story seems to divide between two main plot lines that keep intertwining with each other. Anna’s love affair with count Vronsky and Levin’s search for a purpose in life. Levin’s side of the story would often drag into lengthy monologues about diverse topics that, while insightful into russian society of the time, and the diverse social and economic dynamics of the country, i couldn’t help but feel like they dragged out a little too much, but then again, that’s russian literature for you. he was just such a tedious character and i couldn’t help but disagree with a lot of his thoughts and ways of regarding his life and the people on it. His cynicism at the start of the book was really insufferable. On the other hand, Anna’s affair with count Vronsky was to me the central focus of the book, and it kept me engaged and wanting to know what would be of them. Anna’s quick decay in society and descent into madness

as well as her development of a drug addiction

was documented in a kind way, which i appreciated. The author didn’t join in on the bashing of this fallen woman. the hypocrisy of russian society made me particularly mad in this respect.
Towards the end of the book we see something interesting happen, which is the revival of Religion by the end of the 19th Century, by which we see our weaker minded characters first influenced, such as

Karenin, when fallen under the spell of Lydia Ivanovna < spoiler>. It was insufferable to me how he excused his own selfish desires ( revenge) behind the front of being a good religious man, specially when he had seemed to have found real authentic goodness right before influenced by Ivanovna. It annoyed me particularly how he saw Seryozha as a weapon rather than his own son. Later on, we’ll see characters like Levin and even Anna on her very end find God and start asking questions about him and the universe, which i thought was an interesting factor of the times
Other Thoughts:
We were robbed of a Kitty lesbian arch. Like, that girl kept falling in love with women… specially Vasenka.
I hope Dolly leaves her asshole husband and lives a lavish life ( though i can say that Oblonski grew on me quite a bit )
I thought the ending for Vronsky was quite appropriate, i was sick of him not experiencing any consequence to the whole situation, other than being driven mad by Anna’s jealousy.
There is so much to say about this book but these are my initial thoughts.
Best Scenes
- initial Moscow Ball when Anna dances with Vronsky.
- Dolly visits the Vronsky in the country
- Anna’s final monologue
- Levin rescues Kitty and gives that powerful final line to the book.
- Horse Race when Anna tells Karenin
- Anna Visits Seryozha
- the opera.

Content Warnings

thedandybrambler's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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rubiecore's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

i don't really know what rating to give this. i might just leave it without one. this doesn't mean that i didn't like or enjoy it because i did! i truly did enjoy it but it almost feels wrong to slap a rating on it because of the amount of stuff that happens throughout the story. it follows so many characters and discusses so many different topics it's hard to truly place how i felt about them into a certain amount of stars. tolstoy really likes words, and i think it's incredibly interesting how many of those are relevant to topics of discussion in the society of 2023 even if they are in a different context. i feel like this is a book i need to reread every once in a while to see if there's anything new i can get from the story.

Content Warnings

aritag's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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