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Reading Anna Karenina - Part 1

“If there are as many minds as there are men, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts”

Hi everyone! I have decided to do a series of posts alongside my reading of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. I’m just going to be giving my thoughts and feelings towards the book as I read through it part by part. This is mainly meant for myself, as I often really want to talk about the books I read but alas I have no friends with the same interests. However, feel free to read through if you want and if you want to message me to talk about the book feel free to do that too. With that out the way, I will begin with my thoughts on the first part of the book.

General Thoughts

So far, I am loving this book. The characters are very complex, with a such a wide range of beliefs and desires that they seem to me to have personalities as real as those around me. It’s clear to me that Tolstoy has a great understanding of human psychology, perhaps on the same level as Dostoevsky. He writes in a really engaging way and always seems to have the perfect metaphors and imagery for conveying the emotions of his characters. Take, for instance, his description of Levin seeing Kitty at the skating rink - “she was as easy to recognise in that crowd as a rose among nettles”, “Everything was lit up by her, she was the smile that brightened everything around” and “He stepped down, trying not to look at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking”. Each of these convey so much about Levin, Kitty and Levin’s feelings towards kitty. Another thing I like about his writing is how elegantly he weaves personality into his descriptions of people and their actions. For example when Stiva is first introduced he is shown to be waking up from a pleasant dream and continues to attempt to recollect said dream until he remembers his problems. This illustrates his remarkable ability to temporarily forget bad things he is involved in, as is evident by the fact that he was having a good dream even though he was in a terrible situation.

Characters

So far, I would probably say that Levin is my favourite character. This is probably because I relate to him a lot - he is a romantic who struggles to find meaning in his life. His story so far is a tragic one - had he just waited a few days to propose, Kitty probably would have married him. Instead he gets rejected and returns to the country thinking it was just not meant to be. His love for Kitty is a joy to read, but its annoying that it didn't work out (yet)

I also like Kitty as a character, she has a nice personality, Tolstoy writes her character in such a way that I genuinely felt sorry for her when things didn’t work out. It’s also upsetting that she doesn’t see that Levin is the cure to her illness.

I was originally not a fan of Vronsky, as he was Levin’s rival; however as his character developed I have come to appreciate him more. He is young and naïve but he is very passionate and has a certain charm. I am not sure yet about his relations with Anna but we’ll see how that ends up.

I don’t know what to think about Anna. She seems perfect on the outside, but her willingness to cheat on her husband makes it seem like there is more to her than just that .

There are obviously many more important characters, but since these are the main ones I will just stop here.