This book was completely all-encompassing. If you think it’s just a period romance, you're missing out. There were sections where the discussions on agriculture and local politics dragged a bit (I had to look up a lot of footnotes), but overall, this book is a work of art. It explores every possible way someone can love, be loved, get hurt, and grieve, detailing the parts of love, pain, and personal growth. There’s everything from courtship and enduring marriage to motherhood, family bonds, betrayal, jealousy, and death. The characters’ inner struggles with mental health and spirituality make the story even more powerful. It’s not just about personal relationships – the book also tackles big themes like existentialism, socialism, democracy, paternalistic government, education reform, and wealth inequality. Reading this wasn’t easy, it demanded full engagement. There were times I wanted to keep reading, but my eyes couldn't keep up, the effort was worth it. This book makes you feel every emotion and really pulls you in. It's a classic for a reason, and I understand why it has such a revered place in literary history. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for THAT book. ( )

Awful. This book took hours of my time that I will never get back. And I'm sorry for that.
I thought this book was at least 400 pages too long, if not 600!!!
I didn't care about Levin or his need to fix the farming techniques or even his book. I thought his relationship with Kitty was interesting, only in as much as she was struggling with making the decision of who (which guy) and whether she was making the right one.
In the end, I though Anna and Kitty (and many of the other female characters) seemed just as oddly emotional (can't be left home during the day because 1) they are bored? 2) they are jealous of their husbands having a life away from them) and overly dramatic. I'm sure these emotions seems odd to me reading so much after this book was written and they may have been very appropriate for the time they were written ~ but I have a tough time believing every woman was weak and small minded. And I always have a tough time feeling sympathy for a woman that cheats, gets pregnant, and then can't live with herself.... I mean really, why should I feel bad for her bad decisions? I think the saying goes, "you've made your bed...." well, yeah, she kind of did, didn't she. ( )

I come at this book from the perspective of someone who writes stories--although it was an incredibly long book, I was absorbed. Tolstoy achieved something here with which most writers struggle, and at which they fail: namely, his objectivity. He's clearly telling a moral tale, but he doesn't demonize any of the characters. He creates realistic, three-dimensional people who are all struggling, all imperfect, yet he uses them to weave a vision of truth.

Anna is pitiable--she is simultaneously a victim of a woman's position in society as well as consumed by her own selfishness and empty pursuit of desire. In the end, all that is in her soul is to punish Vronsky for what he was unable to give her, and by the time she sees that there might be more to life, it is too late. In the beginning, I hated Vronsky for what an awful rake he was, but by the end, I felt the same pity for him. His reason to live became as wrapped up in Anna as hers was in him--the attempt to find complete fulfillment in one another only ended in misery.

Levin, on the other hand, was in a position that was acceptable to society; however, he realized that his life needed some higher meaning if he were to avoid despair. Therein lies Tolstoy's entire thesis, as summed up by Levin's thoughts on p. 721 of the 2nd Norton Critical Edition:

"Having then for the first time clearly understood that before every man, and before himself, there lay only suffering, death, and eternal oblivion, he had concluded that to live under such conditions was impossible; that one must either explain life to oneself so that it does not seem to be an evil mockery by some sort of devil, or one must shoot oneself."

Levin found an explanation of his purpose in life: ultimate goodness/love, as manifested in God, and expressed to him through the window of Christianity. Tolstoy revealed this, miraculously, without pronouncing judgment on the characters who did not agree with it, nor on people in general who find Levin's goodness through other religions.

Anna, who sought only her own fulfillment and ultimately ceased to consider what else life had to offer, chose the other road. The entire book follows this dichotomy, drawing it toward its inevitable conclusion. ( )

Once this story actually got going, it was like a Russian soap opera. I quite liked it, although I'm pretty sure it could have been at least 100 - 200 pages shorter. The contrast between Levin's family and the mess that was the Kerenin/Vronsky family was essential, but sometimes, I think there were too many superfluous moments and details that really didn't contribute much to the story. Also, this WAS (to my understanding) supposed to be predominantly about Anna, and yet, at the end,It's all about Levin and his religious epiphany. Nothing is said of what happens to the Kerenins, although Vronsky and the rest are wrapped up rather nicely. There are SO many points where this story could end, and yet it doesn't! Tolstoy keeps most of it interesting, but it really drags in parts, and when I say drags, I'm talking a snail's pace.

One thing I will say in the negative, and this is nothing against Tolstoy personally. It's more of a comment on all classic Russian novelists... pick one name, maybe two for the main characters, if someone uses a pet name or something, and STICK WITH IT! That's always bugged me about Russian literature. Levin, for example. Sometimes, they refer to him as Levin. Others, it's Konstantin Dmitrievitch; others still, it's Kostya or just Konstantin. I think there was another name used to address or reference him, but I can't remember. It's quite confusing and it drives me bananas! *end rant* ( )

It was supposed to be my summer of the Russian Classics. Took this on with War and Peace. Gave up on this a lot faster than War and Peace. I just could not develop any feeling for the characters. I think it is a flaw in my reading-- I am well aware that this novel is a well regarded classic. But I could not see anything much admirable in any of them. And if I don't admire them, I at least have to find them interesting. Which I did not. Obviously there is something off kilter with my take on the Russians, or on Tolstoy, as I had to jettison War and Peace as well. ( )