Anna Karenina

***WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Continuing my tradition of starting off the year with a huge book, Anna Karenina certainly fits the bill. Although Anna Karenina is over 800 pages, the writing is vigorous and well-paced thanks to the translators, Pevear and Volokhonsky.

Two things about the book strike me most: Tolstoy's depiction of relationships and 19th-c. aristocratic Russian life. I'm sure being married to a Russian makes me appreciate the latter, in particular the references to kvass and gathering mushrooms. But I really like how Tolstoy described the evolution of relationships. The wooing is always more fun to read, but more important is what happens after "marriage" (Levin/Kitty, Anna/Vronsky), when two strong individuals learn to live with each other.

And what about Anna? Although Anna is not as deep as Levin, she is a force of nature. I enjoyed reading about her (I was less impressed by Vronsky), but not so crazy about how her passion ultimately consumes her. The stream of consciousness in the last moments of her life is mesmerizing, but I wonder what would've happened if she just didn't have opium (my doctor thinks she needed a therapist). Perhaps what she really needed was Tolstoy not believing that divine law forever binds married people.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Dates: 5 Jan-6 Feb 2009