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Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club)
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Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $11.20
You Save: $ 4.80 ( 30% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Average Customer Rating:
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Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.733
EAN: 9780143035008
ISBN: 0143035002
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 864
Publication Date: 2004-05
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product Release Date: 2004-05-31
Studio: Penguin Classics
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.733
EAN: 9780143035008
ISBN: 0143035002
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 864
Publication Date: 2004-05
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product Release Date: 2004-05-31
Studio: Penguin Classics
Editorial Review of Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club)
Some people say Anna Karenina is the single greatest novel ever written, which makes about as much sense to me as trying to determine the world's greatest color. But there is no doubt that Anna Karenina, generally considered Tolstoy's best book, is definitely one ripping great read. Anna, miserable in her loveless marriage, does the barely thinkable and succumbs to her desires for the dashing Vronsky. I don't want to give away the ending, but I will say that 19th-century Russia doesn't take well to that sort of thing.
Customer Reviews of Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great Book
Review: I bought this book for my girlfriends birthday, and she wasnt paying attention to me because she was reading it. SHE SAID SHE LOVED THIS BOOK.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Completely Disappointed
Review: I thought that this would be a good book to read for my AP Literature class because I had heard that it was a great novel despite its daunting length. I found the book to be full of farming and political details unnecessary to the plot, the plot lacking in a definite climax, and the ending concerning Levin's realization and acceptance of God being completely unrelated to the first 800 pages. Anna Karenina, who is supposible the heroine of the novel, I found to be completely selfish and tried to shape the rules to her liking. She thought it to be totally unfair that she was deprived of society and of her son. She made the conscious decision to have an affair and was unwilling to accept the consequences of that decision. The only pleasure I received from this book was Levin and Kitty's relationship and their romance. All in all, this read was a complete disappointment and waste of time.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Long winded novel
Review: This is an extremely long-winded book and I would urge anyone wanting to read it, to rather read an abridged version. The author takes numerous side trips which have nothing whatsoever to do with the story. Numerous dull and irrelevant discussions about local politics, farming methods etc take up endless pages and add nothing to the story. One gets the impression that Tolstoy was paid by the page and did all he could to drag things out.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: So much more than a great tragic romance
Review: This is one of the great books. It works so well on so many levels. It is great realist fiction but it also paved the way for the modern psychological novel. The writing is masterful as Tolstoy alters the tone of the novel to reflect the thinking and actions of different characters. There are also recurring ideas and motifs, such as the infidelity of Stiva echoed on a much more serious level by his sister Anna, and the railway themes of arrivals and departures, beginnings and endings on their most metaphoric levels.
The 2 main protagonists are Anna Karenina, and Konstantin Levin, whose thoughts and actions mirror those of Tolstoy himself. Both are looking for love, but the loves are unique in aspect. What Anna seeks is emotional enrichment..a passion which is sorely missing in her marriage to Karenin but also unfortunately, can't be sustained in her affair with Vronsky. Levin seeks a love that will anchor his life, give it meaning and purpose. Levin seeks the truth and while he rejects society's hypocrisy, learns to adapt and function with it as he discovers a deeper meaning to his existence. Anna won't face the truth, and is victimized by that hypocrisy. She ultimately finds her existence to be empty and meaningless.
Anna Karenina is the literary equivalent of a great tragic opera. There is also much more to this novel. Much of Tolstoy's philosophy can be found here. His thoughts on Russian class structure, culture, religion, sociology , politics, and agronomy can be found in this novel. To get further insight into that thinking I suggest reading Tolsoy's Confession, which was written shortly after the publication of this work.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great Book, but Once is Enough
Review: Coming into reading Anna Karenina, I had already read most of Tolstoy's short works as well as War and Peace, so I was pretty sure of what I was getting into. I found that this novel, like all his other works, contains absolute genius. Tolstoy's insight into the mind of both men and women is astounding, and much can be learned from him. Tolstoy does a masterful job in making his readers sympathize with his characters, and the reader becomes very involved and very concerned about the character's lives.
There were parts, however, that I just struggled getting through because the plot was suspended for extended periods of time. Many hold this novel in high regard, but in my own opinion, it is the lesser of Tolstoy's two great works. I have joked with my friends that Anna Karenina is like War and Peace without the war, but it is worth the read nonetheless.
Review Summary: Great Book
Review: I bought this book for my girlfriends birthday, and she wasnt paying attention to me because she was reading it. SHE SAID SHE LOVED THIS BOOK.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Completely Disappointed
Review: I thought that this would be a good book to read for my AP Literature class because I had heard that it was a great novel despite its daunting length. I found the book to be full of farming and political details unnecessary to the plot, the plot lacking in a definite climax, and the ending concerning Levin's realization and acceptance of God being completely unrelated to the first 800 pages. Anna Karenina, who is supposible the heroine of the novel, I found to be completely selfish and tried to shape the rules to her liking. She thought it to be totally unfair that she was deprived of society and of her son. She made the conscious decision to have an affair and was unwilling to accept the consequences of that decision. The only pleasure I received from this book was Levin and Kitty's relationship and their romance. All in all, this read was a complete disappointment and waste of time.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Long winded novel
Review: This is an extremely long-winded book and I would urge anyone wanting to read it, to rather read an abridged version. The author takes numerous side trips which have nothing whatsoever to do with the story. Numerous dull and irrelevant discussions about local politics, farming methods etc take up endless pages and add nothing to the story. One gets the impression that Tolstoy was paid by the page and did all he could to drag things out.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: So much more than a great tragic romance
Review: This is one of the great books. It works so well on so many levels. It is great realist fiction but it also paved the way for the modern psychological novel. The writing is masterful as Tolstoy alters the tone of the novel to reflect the thinking and actions of different characters. There are also recurring ideas and motifs, such as the infidelity of Stiva echoed on a much more serious level by his sister Anna, and the railway themes of arrivals and departures, beginnings and endings on their most metaphoric levels.
The 2 main protagonists are Anna Karenina, and Konstantin Levin, whose thoughts and actions mirror those of Tolstoy himself. Both are looking for love, but the loves are unique in aspect. What Anna seeks is emotional enrichment..a passion which is sorely missing in her marriage to Karenin but also unfortunately, can't be sustained in her affair with Vronsky. Levin seeks a love that will anchor his life, give it meaning and purpose. Levin seeks the truth and while he rejects society's hypocrisy, learns to adapt and function with it as he discovers a deeper meaning to his existence. Anna won't face the truth, and is victimized by that hypocrisy. She ultimately finds her existence to be empty and meaningless.
Anna Karenina is the literary equivalent of a great tragic opera. There is also much more to this novel. Much of Tolstoy's philosophy can be found here. His thoughts on Russian class structure, culture, religion, sociology , politics, and agronomy can be found in this novel. To get further insight into that thinking I suggest reading Tolsoy's Confession, which was written shortly after the publication of this work.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great Book, but Once is Enough
Review: Coming into reading Anna Karenina, I had already read most of Tolstoy's short works as well as War and Peace, so I was pretty sure of what I was getting into. I found that this novel, like all his other works, contains absolute genius. Tolstoy's insight into the mind of both men and women is astounding, and much can be learned from him. Tolstoy does a masterful job in making his readers sympathize with his characters, and the reader becomes very involved and very concerned about the character's lives.
There were parts, however, that I just struggled getting through because the plot was suspended for extended periods of time. Many hold this novel in high regard, but in my own opinion, it is the lesser of Tolstoy's two great works. I have joked with my friends that Anna Karenina is like War and Peace without the war, but it is worth the read nonetheless.