Anna Karenina (Penguin Clothbound Classics)
Tolstoy's epic novel of love, destiny and self-destruction, in a gorgeous new clothbound edition from Penguin Classics. Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky. Their subsequent affair scandalizes society and family alike and soon brings jealously and bitterness in its wake. Contrasting with this tale of love and self-destruction is the vividly observed story of Levin, a man striving to find contentment and a meaning to his life - and also a self-portrait of Tolstoy himself. This acclaimed modern translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky won the PEN/ Book of the Month Club Translation Prize in 2001. Their translation is accompanied in this edition by an introduction by Richard Pevear and a preface by John Bayley 'The new and brilliantly witty translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is a must' - Lisa Appignanesi, Independent, Books of the Year 'Pevear and Volokhonsky are at once scrupulous translators and vivid stylists of English, and their superb rendering allows us, as perhaps never before, to grasp the palpability of Tolstoy's "characters, acts, situations"' - James Wood, New Yorker
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Community Reviews
Book #52: Kelly's pick for our 10th Anniversary meeting, to discuss a classic. The meeting was to take place in Tallman State Park as COVID lockdown rules had lifted. The meeting never took place.
Tolstoy is incredible, as always, I just wish I hadn't read War and Peace first. I think it's the superior book, and anything after sort of pales in comparison. Still, this was obviously incredible and deserves it's reputation as one of the greatest novels ever written. Wish I could give it like an 8.5 or something? Incredible novel, but if you want to challenge yourself with a massive Tolstoy tome (and you think you can only handle one) push yourself for War and Peace.
A magnificent and entwining read. Such a delicately and intricately weaved net of stories all working together and completely intertwined with other in the most seamless manner. A true master work and a treasurable read nonetheless.
This one has sat on my shelf for years. I had picked it up many times only to quickly replace it, fearful of the length. But, now having a Kindle, I tackled it, only to be distressed by the slow moving percentage at the bottom of the page. I was determined to finish it, and finish it I did! While it was a sweeping, epic tale of intellectual and physical love and pain, renewal and loss, it was also about a person's search for spirituality and the reason for being. Anna and Levin represented the two opposing sides in this journey. Anna, being self-centered and closed-minded to reality, and Levin being selfless and eager to uncover his truths. Tolstoy does a masterful job of creating characters that live and breathe. Anna is beautiful, maddening, enigmatic, and cruel. And Levin just made me want to be a farmer's wife.
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