Anna Karenin

[Auspicious]

I finally finished Anna Karenin. I'm not normally big into Russian authors or novels that run over 800 pages (enough already!) but this one is a definite exception for me. It reminded me more of a Jane Austen or Bronte novel. Tolstoy's characters are amazingly well-drawn--I'm absolutely in love with Levin (and Levin and Kitty as a couple), and I feel for Anna and yet am dismayed at her at the same time.

<Sigh>

Big thumbs up.

[houseelf]

Julie,

I have been trying to get motivated for awhile to start reading some of the classics again. I have a hard time reading anything other than fluff without some sort of professor doleing out assignments but my brain is losing IQ points daily so I've got to do something. You are the third person that has recommended this as a must-read-in-this-lifetime sort of book. I think your review is the motivation that I needed.

Thanks,

Kelly

[houseelf]

Julie,

I'm slogging through Anna Karenina now. "Slogging" probably isn't an appropriate term because as you have already said Tolstoy does paint vivid pictures of his characters and the plot.

It seems like that I have forgotten how to "work" at reading after a few years of reading slick, glossy magazines and pop culture fiction. Anyway, I'm at the point where Levin has returned to the city to to court Kitty....only 923 pages left to go!

All joking aside, the book really does draws the reader in. Now, let's hope that my fast food, high speed internet, instaneous gratification type of mind can slow down to finish this one.

Kelly

[Auspicious]

Yay! I'm smilling just thinking about that book.

There's a slow section in the middle, but then the end part gets really good again. When you finish you'll feel really glad you read it, I believe.

And then you can reward yourself by reading some quick easy things. I followed it up with Brave New World, Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth, and My Antonia.

Wait, now I have to do a thread about My Antonia . . .

Ok, confession.
I wrote my high school AP English "big" paper on Anna Karenina.
The thing is....well it's a really long book....and I was visiting my uncle in Hawaii for spring break.....and it is a really, really long book....and I didn't read the book.
I can't believe I wrote an entire paper on a book I didn't read! I did spring for the Monarch notes rather than the cheapo Cliff notes. And I did read the first 100 pages or so. And I got an A-!
I have had occasional guilt about this over the last 10+ years and this post had brought it up again! So, I have to ask, what translation did you read? An English prof told me this was a wonderful book and best read in a German translation and suggested that I had a dry translation. (I can't read German). I had a Norton edition, btw. Actually, I still have it on my bookshelf.
Maybe I'll give it another shot....

[Auspicious]

I read the Penguin edition.

Translation is a tricky thing (which is why I usually stick to material written in English and was surprised to find that I liked this book) so maybe you would like a different translation better. It's worth a try--nothing says you have to finish it if you still don't like it.

I aced more than a few English papers on books I hadn't actually "read." I never bought Cliff or Monarch Notes, though--I became an expert skimmer. It's definitely not good for your education, but I don't think it's unethical (though I certainly had that inner debate with myself a few times). If you hadn't thoroughly studied, say, your economics text but you walked in and were able to intuit the correct answers to all the test questions, that wouldn't be unethical, would it? I think it's borderline but still gets a pass. However, I too still feel guilty about short-changing my education and that's a big part of the reason I now read so many books that are commonly part of school curricula. Hmmm.

[houseelf]

As long as we're talking about classic literature that we actually enjoy , I can't recommend Emile Zola's "Germinal" enough. I must admit that it is another translated tome....BUT...it is an amazing story about humanity, love, power, and socialism. The characters almost breathe by the end of the book. Very, very good.

It looks like I won't be posting any more book reviews anytime soon. I'll be reading Anna Karenina for the next few months. I have Vaclav Havel's "Letters to Olga", Queen Noor's memoirs, "Midwives", and a Ken Follett novel sitting on my nightstand for the next reads.

Kelly

[houseelf]

I'm stuck in the 200s and I can't force myself to go on....How did you all plow through the middle section? It is very interesting and equally taxing.

As an aside, I can tell you that it was written by a man in another century. What married woman would risk losing her child and her life for an roll in the hay? I mean, we might say, "Gee, you're yummy" but that would be the extent of it. Who really has the energy for all of this running around and secret meetings?

Kelly

That part sounds familiar -- I think that is about when I pulled out the monarch notes. I was under a pretty serious time crunch -- I had to finish the book over spring break. And who wants to read Anna Karenina in Hawaii?
Press on, Kelly!!

[Auspicious]

I'm stuck in the 200s and I can't force myself to go on....How did you all plow through the middle section? It is very interesting and equally taxing.

Yeah, that's the part where my reading slowed to a crawl, too. Honestly it took me months to finish this book. That middle part I would just chip away at every few days--I couldn't bring myself to read some every day. I considered abandoning it at that point, but in the end I was very glad I hadn't.

As an aside, I can tell you that it was written by a man in another century. What married woman would risk losing her child and her life for an roll in the hay?

I know! And for that jerk Vronsky?? Ugh.

No, seriously though, I don't think it's unrealisitic at all. I can think of some women in real life who have risked (and lost) "everything" for a sexual affair, and at least one I know where that included custody of her daughter. I'm always sort of uncomprehending and yet chilled to the bone by the very idea that people choose that path.

That's why you have to keep reading though. They get more into all that later--the nature of her relationship with her son, the things that led her marriage to fall apart, the way parts of her decline and parts of her thrive in her new circumstances . . . she's an interesting character, I think, and I understood her much better a the end than the beginning, but I was never able to look at her any way but absolutely stony-eyed. I couldn't bring myself to hate her, either, though. One of the things I liked about the book was that even as it explained her it never excused her for a minute.

Anna was also the least interesting part of the book to me, too, though. I much preferred all the stuff about Dolly and Oblonsky and especially Kitty and Levin (which was another thing that made the middle slow for me--they don't appear much in that part).

I say try another hundred pages.

[houseelf]

Julie,

You are completely correct...I need to push on. Some of the best books that I've ever read hit a lull at some point.

By the way, I heard that there is some website out there that serves as an online book discussion group. I'm sure that classics like Anna Karenina are hot topics. My busy life doesn't really permit joining a book club so this may feed my soul. Do you know any of these sites? It sounds like you would enjoy them too. Please let me know if you do.

Until then, keep tantalizing me to read on! I love to hear your input on this book, and lord knows that I need the motivation.

Nowadays, we would probably refer to Vronsky as a pretty-boy puke.

Kelly

[houseelf]

Julie & Nellie,

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I forced myself to read 50 pages a night the last few nights and I'm about half way through. There is something about turning thirty that has lit a fire under my butt to make the most of everything. Anyway, I finally understand why this book is considered one of the greats.

[Auspicious]

I'm glad it's clicking for you --I was afraid I was encouraging you to waste your time on a book you just had no connection with.

And nope, I don't know of any specific online book discussion groups. This is actually the only online community I hang out in.

There is something about turning thirty that has lit a fire under my butt to make the most of everything.

Lit a fire, indeed! I can't believe you're simultaneously training for a marathon and reading 50 pages of Tolstoy a night with a kid a husband and a job. Good grief. If you have a secret that makes every day 32 hours long I hope you'll share it. 8)

[houseelf]

ha, ha, ha....

The truth of the matter is this: We all make our choices. My house is filthy, we rarely entertain, I haven't done a photo album in over a year, my groceries get delivered or we eat out, and I only work 30 hours a week! But, I spend as much time with my boys as possible, call my friends after the little guys bed time, run over my lunch hour or during nap time, and read while the boys play or watch tv. Really, there is no secret, we just all make our choices. Domesticity has gone way out the door at my house in order to accomodate other things...and I have only one child.

But...on to Anna. I'm at the part where Kitty and Konstantin have become engaged and Anna has sought her husband's forgiveness during her near death confinement. Vronsky has attempted suicide and Anna refuses to see him. Tolstoy knows how to paint a complete person with bits of heroism and frailties altogether.

Now, only 500 pages left.

Kelly