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Title: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Laura Paton ISBN: 9-6263408-1-9 Publisher: Naxos Audio Books Pub. Date: June, 1996 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $26.98 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.45 (207 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Edition of a Great Story
Comment: This Edition, Pevear and Volokhonsky (Viking 2001), supposedly renders Tolstoy's Russian more faithfully than earlier ones, which attempted to "soften" him a bit for Western sensibilities. I actually bought this for a class, and my teacher, who reads it in the Russian, simply couldn't praise the translation enough, so if you're determined to read Anna Karenina already, you should probably get this edition.
As for the story, I found that the 800 pages just melted away. Long doesn't mean hard, after all, and I was sorry to see it end, to tell the truth.
The story revolves around seven different people in 1870s Russia. Superficially, it tells how Anna Karenina left her husband for another man, destroying her family, how Stiva Oblonsky ruined his family without leaving it, and how Konstantin Levin courted Kitty Shcherbatsky and they built a new family together.
Although it's enjoyable even on the superficial level, Anna Karenina rewards careful study, revealing intricate structure and interlocking symbolism throughout. Tolstoy thought it was his best work; critics have called it one of the best novels ever written; don't miss it.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Timeless Work of Art
Comment: I will admit that when I began reading ANNA KARENINA I was a little bored. For one thing, Anna doesn't make her appearance until Chapter Eighteen. For another, the book just seemed to be "they went here and did this, then went there and did that." Luckily for me, my boredom soon turned to fascination and I saw the book for what it is: a richly textured panorama of the 19th century Russian aristocracy.
Some of the events in ANNA KARENINA are a bit melodramatic but Tolstoy weaves in so many details of everyday life that, most of the time, the melodrama is totally believable and utterly convincing.
People hoping to read a novel revolving around an adulterous affair may be disappointed with this book. The affair between Anna and Count Vronsky isn't the novel's main concern. In fact, the reactions of Anna's friends and family are given far more attention and importance than are Anna and Vronsky, themselves. This is all to the book's credit, however, and not to its detriment.
I think ANNA KARENINA's greatest strength, and the thing that makes it a timeless classic, is Tolstoy's masterful depiction of each character's rich emotional life. In this beautiful book, we can really see the universality of love, sadness, tragedy, temptation, vulnerability and so much more. I don't think there's an adult alive who couldn't, in some way, relate to this book and the wide range of emotions it depicts. It is almost epic in scope.
I didn't fall in love with any of the characters, but there were none I really disliked, either. All are fascinating, flawed human beings with both good and bad points. Tolstoy was certainly a master at creating believable characters and characters with whom the reader could identify. I could find echoes of myself in almost every one of them.
While the climax of ANNA KARENINA is melodramatic, Tolstoy wrote it in a very understated and beautiful manner. It was so sad, so moving, that it brought tears to my eyes. The denouement is quiet and the book ends on a pitch perfect note, leaving the reader satisfied and, yes, changed.
Is this the best book ever written, as many people have hailed it to be? It depends on what you, as a reader, are looking for, of course, but it is certainly one of the best books ever written. It is a tapestry of extraordinary richness and depth, written in a beautifully quiet, but very involving tone. Whether you love it or don't quite think it's "your thing," it is certainly a novel that is not to be missed. It really is a work of art and it has proven itself to be timeless.
Note on the translation: I read an older translation of this book when I was in high school and I found the new Pevear and Volokhonsky translation to be far, far superior. It is far more "Russian" and the prose is much more flowing. If you're going to read ANNA KARENINA and, like me, you can't read Russian, I would highly recommend this translation.
Rating: 4
Summary: Of Love, Disaster, Adultery, Socialism and Cheap Vodka
Comment: There is much dallying in the hayricks of the country, and in the regiments of the great cities! But luckily for 19th century Russia, DNA testing hasn't yet been invented, or everyone in Moscow and St. Petersburgh would discover that they are related!Even the trains are coupling--a portent of bad things to come, because Anna sees a man smashed between the two cars as they hook up. Anna realizes right off that this is not good!If Anna's Vronsky, (who is all wrongsky for her) really loved her, he would not have drawn her into this web of disaster, where she loses status and her beloved son.However, without Vronsky's dynamic pull, there would be no story.Anna Karenina is a testament to the adage that no one's life is ever so bad that they can't make it worse! A good read a la Madame Bovary!!!!!!
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Title: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett ISBN: 0553211757 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 June, 1984 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Rosemary Edmonds ISBN: 0140444173 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: October, 1982 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Brothers Karamazov by FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY, Konstanfin Mochulski ISBN: 0553212168 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1984 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky ISBN: 0374528373 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 14 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Idiot (Oxford World's Classics) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alan Myers, Fyodor M. Dostoevsky ISBN: 0192834118 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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