Anna Karenina

 

// ANNA KARENINA //

by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1878. 

8 parts / 817 pages

audio by Maggie Gyllenhaal

I finished!

I don't even know what prompted me to pick this one, other than that it has been on our bookshelf for years & years (is it mine? Is it Joel's?) & is one of those books I would perennially see on the shelves in my young adult years & inevitably pass over. I do think it's a pretty cover, though my children would constantly refer to the image as buttcheeks. Anyways, it was on the shelf downstairs & I really jumped into it knowing very little about it or Tolstoy.

Ultimately I had wanted to read another classic & to try something longer after listening to an Anne Bogel podcast (What Should I Read Next) on reading longer works. After listening to the podcast I thought I would try reading a chapter a night. Which worked for a while & was a nice rhythm. It is a different pace, though, & I found myself wanting to get through more of it quicker. Finally, after starting in January & nearing April, I just wanted to finish it up. Not to say I wasn't enjoying it, I actually found it surprisingly engaging. I quite liked how the book was broken up into shorter chapters, (which I find helps me keep momentum). Even if it was a headier chapter, it felt doable. Really it's written in short segments.

Again, it was quite engaging & descriptive & found it quite easy to settle into. There were several beautiful passages throughout (Levin mowing, picking mushrooms in the wood, the country in winter)... & I found the ending surprisingly moving. It took me a while to get the hang of the plot line/flow... the story converges to follow two main couples & their struggles as well as doing hops to the left & right to dwell briefly on other side characters before moving on with the main plots again. The two main plots serve well to contrast one another; one ultimately leading to self-serving destruction, another to purpose & meaning in the faith.

The book gives an overall picture of Russian life at the time among societal circles & follows the characters quite in depth with "universal verity & particular insight." (James Mustich)

// CHARACTERS //

The characters were richly rendered, with "stunning psychological acuity" (Mustich, which I agree with) & I had fun casting in my minds eye as I worked my way through. Here's what I came up with...

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Anna, a beautiful & passionate woman in the upper circles of Russian society.

I alternated between reading & listening to the audio by Maggie Gyllenhaal on audible. She did such a lovely job; I found myself just wanting to listen. She quite naturally filled the role of Anna for me in the book. I did have the most difficulty in so far as characters go with understanding Anna; she was a bit of a mystery for me.

"It's impossible to tear the past out by the roots. Impossible to tear it out, but possible to hide the memory of it. & I will hide it."

"Each of us has skeletons in his soul."

"The habitual gesture of making the sign of the cross called up in her soul a whole series of memories from childhood, & suddenly the darkness that covered everything for her broke & life rose up before her momentarily with all its bright past joys."

Maggie's real life husband Peter Sarsgaard worked well for Anna's husband, Alexei, a respectable man. Type 1?

James Franco as Vronsky, an enigmatic turned anguished soul. His 'strong, white teeth' are mentioned throughout.

"But what sort of man was he? He had to find out what sort of man it was that she loved."

Chris Pratt as Levin, "a sincere, slightly awkward country landowner" (Mustich)

There were a few moments I really felt for Levin's character. He felt like a 9 to me.

"the thought that came clearly to Levin that it was up to him to change that so burdensome, idle, artificial, & individual life he lived into this laborious, pure & common, lovely life."

"He felt that something in the depths of his soul was being established, adjusted & settled."

Carey Mulligan as Kitty, a lovely upcoming woman in society.

"Kitty felt that Anna was perfectly simple & kept nothing hidden, but that there was in her some other, higher world of interests, inaccessible to her, complex & poetic."

Jemaine Clements (a recurring character in my minds eye) as Stepan, Anna's brother. Quite the character & a bit of a lovable scoundrel. Friends with Levin. Loves wining & dining.

"They loved each other, in spite of the difference in their characters & tastes, as friends love each other who become close in early youth." (Levin & Stepan)

Michelle Williams as Stepan's wife Dolly, who I most closely connected to in real life. She's a loving, tho haggard mother of a handful of children.

"With six children Darya (Dolly) could not be calm. One got sick, another might get sick, a third lacked something, a fourth showed signs of bad character, & so on & so on. Rarely, rarely, would there be short periods of calm."

Leonardo DiCaprio as Sergei, Levin's scientist brother.

Christian Bale as Nikolai, Levin's outcast, ruffian brother.

Mia Wasikowska, minor role as Kitty's friend Varenka, a mild sweetheart.

Eric Wareheim as Yashvin, a tall, loud-mouthed friend of Vronsky's.

Zach Galifianakis in a minor role as Mikhailov, a moody painter., who I thought fit the bill perfectly.

//

I was pleasantly surprised that it turned to faith at the end...

"Levin's life comes to fruition only when he finds his own way to live it, recognizing that our experience is made sacred by the griefs & joys that were equally outside all ordinary circumstances of life, were like holes in this ordinary life, through which something higher showed." (Mustich)

"That chief miracle, in it being possible for each person, along with millions of the most diverse people, sages & holy fools, children & old men - along with everyone, with some peasant, with Kitty, with beggars & kings - to understand one & the same thing with certainty & to compose that life of the soul which alone makes life worth living & along is what we value....

'Can this be faith?' he wondered, afraid to believe his happiness. 'My God, thank you!' he said, choking back the rising sobs & with both hands wiping away the tears that filled his eyes."

//

Overall quite a lovely read for its genre. 

I would have liked to have heard more about the daughter & more from Vronsky at the end. Also a bit more credit to Alexei?!