Today, I’ve finished the book Anna Karenina, written by Leo Tolstoy, the iconic Russian novelist.
It’s a long book (around 900 pages depending on the edition) so it was a bit intimidating at first, but as soon as I got myself into the story I knew it wasn’t going to be a pain.
Before diving into this, I want to say that by any means I’m doing a review, in fact, I’m struggling a lot on how to organize this post. So please take it as it is: a random flow of words from a random dude.
Something that impressed me was the ability of Tolstoy to describe complex human emotions in simple sentences. It’s hard to explain, but on more than one occasion I thought that I was feeling the same emotion as the character in the book.
My impression is that Tolstoy has a special ability to understand mankind, and more impressively to describe it. This is true if you consider that in many occasions he is describing feelings that he didn’t experiment. Like what a rejected woman was feeling or a very young kid.
It isn’t one story, it’s more like separate stories interconnected between them.
One of the best things is how Tolstoy manages the timeline: sometimes, from chapter to chapter, you have small jumps in time, both backward and forward that are a joy.
Since every character with some importance is described so well, It’s hard to feel a special empathy for one or many.
I believe that this is because there aren’t heroes or villains, they all are human beings, with feelings, strengths, and failures. No one is perfect, no one is pure, no one is bad.
But, if I have to pick one, I’d go with Levin, which by the way is, in my opinion, the main character. I felt identified with him in some aspects and I think (or want to) that he is a good guy.
Buying an e-reader was one of the best decisions of the year, I usually carry it in my pocket so I can read it on the bus or while waiting for the doctor. It is really amazing to think that I’m carrying a 900-page book in my pocket (along with many other books). I can say that I have been reading a lot more because of this. The only regret is the device itself, every release of Kobo introduces more bugs, and the performance and user experience is not good.
I want to see the movie launched in 2012 about this book.