Two things:First, I didn't read this 864 page book in one week and second i read this one through DailyLit.com which sends subscribers a page a day of the book of your choice (thanks for the tip Kath!)... so though I have been pretty adverse to getting a Kindle I've now read one of the longest books in the history of fiction on my (relatively) small IPhone day after day since last january. Difficult to explain but I loved the idea of delving into a great work of fiction as an aside, as an adjunct to my regular reading. I was about 3/4 of the way through last week and decided to do the last 300 page final sprint as my book this week.
Of course this is book, often called 'the greatest novel ever written' is one of Tolstoy's best. He brilliantly interweaves the lives of several characters in 19th century Russia. I loved the descriptions of the upper class where visitors were invited to drawing rooms for drinks and stimulating conversation and after peeling away a few layers of a marriage they were found to have mostly unhappy, unfulfilled lives. When Anna Karenina makes the shocking decision to leave her husband for the dashing Count Vronsky she has made a choice which will be both freeing and unbearably painful.
The other main character, Levin, a 'gentleman farmer' spends most of the book going through agonizing moral dilemmas. Should he profess his love for the woman he wants to marry? When she rejects him should he pursue her again? Where is his place in the social class? Especially among lower class workers who make their living off of his land? He goes through chapters and chapters of religious revelations which were somewhat difficult to muddle through.
The writing, though, is classic and brilliant. Anna's tragic end is both stunning and haunting, it will stay with you long after the book is done.
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