Anna Karenina By Leo Tolstoy - A Book Review
When the movie Anna Karenina came out a while back I had a mild desire to see it. However, when movies come out that are taken from novels, especially classic novels, I will usually read the book first. It sort of slipped my mind for quite a while though until I found it as a free book for my Ereader.
Quite a few years ago I remember this book was one on Oprah's Book Club. One of the first things I found myself questioning was whether or not she ever even read anything more than liner notes or coles' notes at best. This is a long book....I mean really long. This is coming from someone that has read the Game of Thones series (A Song of Ice and Fire). What make this book seem so long is all the superfluous information you encounter at every turn. I seem to recall that it was more than 10 chapters before Anna was even introduced. Though the side story is pertinent and somewhat interesting, it can often overshadow the main storyline.
What also makes this story difficult to follow is the names of characters. The long Russian names can be hard to remember and they are written traditionally. Meaning every character is refered to by three names. Most often for men the last name is used, occasionally the first two names and when people are on a very familiar basis, just the first name. This can cause problems when trying to remember who is who, especially when he introduces brothers of some characters and switches from calling them by last names to first. If you have trouble with names like I do, this might be a book to skip.
The main story itself was interesting and I did rather enjoy it but it took a lot to get to. Tolstoy has an excellent way of seeing life from the perspective of very different people and he gives voice to individual struggle and emotional turmoil well. I am sure that in it's time it was a very gripping novel but in this day in age when we are used to a faster pace and more compact story it seemed a bit anticlimactic. Quite often I would come to a passage where I braced myself for a dramatic turn of events only to have the idea cut short and an issue resolved before it really seemed to take off.
I have not watched the movie as of yet but it does have the potential to be an excellent film with a lot of the side story removed. Most of the time I find the book better than the film but I do not anticipate that being the case in this instance.
Quite a few years ago I remember this book was one on Oprah's Book Club. One of the first things I found myself questioning was whether or not she ever even read anything more than liner notes or coles' notes at best. This is a long book....I mean really long. This is coming from someone that has read the Game of Thones series (A Song of Ice and Fire). What make this book seem so long is all the superfluous information you encounter at every turn. I seem to recall that it was more than 10 chapters before Anna was even introduced. Though the side story is pertinent and somewhat interesting, it can often overshadow the main storyline.
What also makes this story difficult to follow is the names of characters. The long Russian names can be hard to remember and they are written traditionally. Meaning every character is refered to by three names. Most often for men the last name is used, occasionally the first two names and when people are on a very familiar basis, just the first name. This can cause problems when trying to remember who is who, especially when he introduces brothers of some characters and switches from calling them by last names to first. If you have trouble with names like I do, this might be a book to skip.
The main story itself was interesting and I did rather enjoy it but it took a lot to get to. Tolstoy has an excellent way of seeing life from the perspective of very different people and he gives voice to individual struggle and emotional turmoil well. I am sure that in it's time it was a very gripping novel but in this day in age when we are used to a faster pace and more compact story it seemed a bit anticlimactic. Quite often I would come to a passage where I braced myself for a dramatic turn of events only to have the idea cut short and an issue resolved before it really seemed to take off.
I have not watched the movie as of yet but it does have the potential to be an excellent film with a lot of the side story removed. Most of the time I find the book better than the film but I do not anticipate that being the case in this instance.
The movie is horrible, as Englishmen have not truly understood Russian way of life, Russian manners at the time and true problems raised by Leo Tolstoy in Anna Karenina! The book turned out to be better, as always!
ReplyDeleteYou're right! I watched it last night and I found they tried to make it almost comical at the start. It was also far too theatrical, both figuratively and literally. I didn't feel much of a chemistry between Anna and Veronsky either and that is a pretty integral part of the story.
DeleteBeing raised on books by Tolstoy, Turgenev and Dostoevsky, I completely sure that Russian novels should be directed byvRussian directors. The script of the movie has nothing in common with the whole idea hidden behind the lines. Anna Karenina looks mad and insane in the movie, while book emphasizes her state in society, which rejected her. In addition, the love to her son is far bigger and inspiring than it was screened.
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