Book Review of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Name of Book: Anna Karenina Author: Leo Tolstoy ISBN: 0-451-52449-7 Publisher: Signet Classic Type of book: Russia, classic, 1870s, adultery, marriage, life, death, rejection, war, unhappiness, madness, St. Petersburg, Moscow, farming, peasantry, wealth, money Year it was published: 1873-1877 Summary: Tolstyo's genius for viewing social classes in the largest possible context and for sketching the subtlest human gestures becomes most evident in Anna Karenina. To this novel he brought his troubling conviction that at his moments of most intense experience man is closest to death. This is the double drama of Anna and of Levin. Sensual, rebellious, Anna renounces respectable marriage and fine position for a passionate involvement which offers a taste of freedom and a trap for destruction. Levin, an eccentric and melancholy young nobleman, surrenders his individuality to live as a peasant. Characters: The characters are well drawn but tend to be boring and insuffe...