I just finished this novel today, and it is quite possibly the most incredible book I have ever read and will ever read. Leo Tolstoy is absolutely brilliant. His characters are so complex and real; we see layer after layer of intricate feeling and thought that shifts easily and drastically. No characters in any other novel seem real compared with Levin and Anna and all the rest; in fact, sometimes this novel seemed more real than life. Tolstoy has an amazing ability to capture the human experience, even the parts of which we are hardly conscious and which we can hardly put in words. Furthermore, this is not the traditional cheerful novel - there are not happy endings, just real endings. People are unhappy and do not become happy. Marriages aren't happily ever afters; they're just beginnings of even greater adventures. People fight and suffer and wish they were not alive. Feelings are complex and love is not perfect and clear. Leo Tolstoy explores the piece about which we all are curious; okay, so these people think they're in love and are going to marry. Now what? How do they live their lives? Truly, a most amazing novel. Everyone ought to read Anna Karenina.
I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't read this book, but I saw it available as an audiobook at the library and might just have to get it. It'd be a great book to stitch along to!
ReplyDeleteYou certainly should get it! You'll be glad to have read it. :)
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