111 Book Review: Anna Karenina (Анна Каренина)
Anna Karenina (Анна Каренина)
by Leo Tolstoy
Happy books are all alike; every unhappy book is unhappy in its own way.
This unhappy book has two narrative threads: The story of Anna Karenina’s affair with Russia’s most eligible bachelor/dirtbag Count Vronsky, and all of its subtle consequences; and the story of the eligible bachelor/former-dirtbag Konstantin Levin, including his marriage, his struggle between faith and reason, and of course lots of discussions about obscure Russian agricultural policies, and the subtle consequences of all of the above (including the aforementioned obscure Russian agricultural policies).
These two narratives — one of unraveling, another raveling — touch only at a single point and yet intertwine to illuminate the bittersweet melancholy of the human experience.
tl;dr: Trains; drawing rooms; trains; vast Russian estates; trains; obscure Russian agriculture policies; train stations; Meaningful Holidays Abroad™; trains; train stations
My rating: 11 out of 11 Obscure Russian Agricultural Policies
Get it here:
- IndieBound (print, U.S.)
- Better World Books (print, worldwide)
- Project Gutenberg (electronic, free)
- Apple Books (electronic)
- Google Play Books (electronic)
- LibriVox (audio, free)
- Scribd (audio)
Oh, you liked it? Well then, try: Wuthering Heights (for another story of broken love), At the Sign of the Cat and Racket (for the subtleties of love)
