“Happy
families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” –
Leo Tolstoy
The book, Anna Karenina, is a
classic and I’ve heard about it a lot before I finally read it for our book
review. When I picked it from the shelves, it wasn’t really my first choice
because it was so thick but as I went through the story, it really became very
interesting. I chose this book because this book was referenced in “The Last
Song” by Nicholas Sparks. I thought the story of the “The Last Song” was somehow
related to this book so I was always interested to read it before but didn’t
find a copy anywhere until I came across the copy in our library.
The story of “Anna Karenina”
revolved around the Russian society and its changes. Leo Tolstoy got the
setting right to fit with his theme of adultery and self-discovery. In the
novel, Russia is going through some changes whether or not to sustain their old
values or crumble to westernized values. Also, it talks about family life and
its difficulties.
The book talked about a lot of
issues like love, adultery, sexual desire, lust, social responsibilities,
social statuses and responsibility It also tackled at the latter part of the
book, Christianity through Konstantin Levin.
The story was set in the imperial Russia during the 19th
century. The story started with the exposition of Stiva and Dolly’s story.
Stiva Oblonsky, Anna’s brother, cheated on his wife, Dolly Oblonskaya, with
their governess (maid who takes care of their children). The first few chapters
also introduced the character of Konstantin Levin, a long time friend of Stiva
who just came back to Moscow to propose to a beautiful nineteen year-old
Princess Kitty Shcherbatskaya, Dolly’s younger sister. Levin asked Stiva for
advice on what to do about his love for Kitty—Stiva said he should go on and
ask her to marry him (Levin). In a party where Princess Kitty was accepting suitors,
Levin came and proposed only to be dismissed because Princess Kitty was already
in love with a certain dashing and rich young man named, Alexi Vronsky. The
story came back to Stiva who was still depressed of his marriage. Stiva wrote a
letter to Anna and asked her to come to Moscow to persuade Dolly to get back
together with him. On Anna’s train ride to Moscow, she met Countess Vronsky,
mother of Alexei Vronsky. They got along well because Anna left her son,
Seryozha and the countess was coming home to hers who was Vronsky. When they arrived to Moscow, that’s when
Vronsky and Anna met. In the train station, a man who checks the rails died by
his body being severed by the rails of the train. Anna was concerned of the
worker’s family and Vronsky heard this. Vronsky, then, gave money to be donated
to the worker’s family. Anna was impressed with Vronsky and is immediately
enthralled by his generosity. they were both enthralled by the one another. Kitty
and Anna were very good friends until the night of the ball happened because
Kitty was expecting Vronsky to ask for her hand but he instead danced with Anna
and that made Kitty realize that Vronsky was already in love with Anna. Anna,
on the other hand, ran as fast as she could back to her husband, Alexei Karenin
and her son, Seryozha.
Alexei Vronsky continued
his courtship of Anna in St. Petersburg until Anna finally gave. They were
already having an affair when people started gossiping about Anna and the extra
attention she pays to Vronsky in public. Anna’s husband, Alexei Karenin, was
certain that Anna would never betray him that way despite what the public was
saying. As Anna and Vronsky’s affair prolong, Anna became pregnant of Vronsky’s
child. Then Vronsky joined a steeplechase event and his horse, Frou-frou, broke
its back and despite the crowd, Anna was not able to control her worry for
Vronsky and shouted: “Alexei! Alexei!” while her husband ensures her that he
was just there saving Anna of the shame but it was already obvious to everybody
that it was Alexei Vronsky she was calling for. After the said event, Alexei
Karenin demanded Anna to stop her improper behavior—Anna then confessed that
she is Vronsky’s mistress. Karenin decided that she has to break off the affair
between her and Vronsky to make their marriage work. Vronsky and Anna continued
to see each other despite Karenin’s requests. Karenin consults his lawyer for a
divorce. By being a divorced woman in 19th century Russia, Anna will
lose everything. Vronsky and Anna eloped
to Europe while Levin confessed to Kitty that he never stopped loving her and
Kitty accepted. They were betrothed and started a new married life in Levin’s
estate in the country. Anna gave birth to Annie which made her very sick.
Karenin forgave her on her bedside. Vronsky was embarrassed of himself because
Karenin was so selfless and kind to them after everything they did.
Anna and Vronsky lived in
Europe but they had trouble having friends. Anna and Vronsky then came back to
St. Petersburg where Anna visited Seryozha for his ninth birthday without
Karenin’s consent but her husband found out anyway. Anna’s desperation for a
position in the society, she attended a show though Vronsky refused for her to
attend.
Vronsky sought help from
Dolly, Stiva’s wife to talk to Anna to request Karenin for a divorce so they
may be married and happy. Anna, finally conviced, sent a letter to Karenin
regarding their divorce thinking that she needs to marry Vronsky to prevent him
from leaving her. Anna’s relationship with Vronsky continued to be strained,
Anna became bitter and jealous. Landau, the French psychic whom Karenin worked
with his divorce rejected Anna’s request. Anna became more jealous of Vronsky
as she suspected that he is having affairs with other women whom Countess
Vronsky demands Alexei Vronsky to marry. Anna thought Vronsky doesn’t love her
anymore. Anna became confused and tormented that she thought suicide was the
only escape from her miserable life. She then killed herself by going under the
carriage of a train passing by just like what happened with the railway worker
when she and Vronsky met.
Anna Karenina’s story was
a beautiful and at the same time, tragic and sad. I was surprised by the turn
of events in the first few chapters, Anna was always described by the
characters that revolved around her as elegant, majestic and beautiful but as I
went through the pages, I learned that she also had a lot of insecurities and
she was very unhappy of her marriage to Alexei Karenin.
I learned a lot of things
while reading the book and it also got me thinking about the choices I’m going
to have to make in my life as it goes through. I got to think about risks and
facing the consequences of my choices. Anna Karenina chose a great,
complicated, romance for stability and security and I admire her greatly for
that. I’ve learned that life is too short to not take risks and start living
your life to the fullest. It dawned on me that to be able to get what you want;
sometimes you have to sacrifice what means a lot to you. Just like Anna, she
sacrificed her chance to be a mother to Seryozha to be with the love her life.
The book was a long read, I never
had to read a book for 3 weeks before although I didn’t really focus on it continuously--
I kept stopping after I finish a part. I did some heavy reading because of this
book—it’s heavy literally because it has more than 800 pages because of the
introduction and also because of its story. Although, I loved the plot line of the book,
especially the way Tolstoy wrote about Anna and Vronky’s connection. This was
my favorite passage: “She(Kitty) had not
been near Anna again since the beginning of the evening, and now again she saw
her suddenly quite new and surprising. She saw in her(Anna) the signs of that
excitement of success she knew so well in herself; she saw that she(Anna) was
intoxicated with the delighted admiration she was exciting. She knew that
feeling and knew its signs, and saw them in Anna; saw the quivering, flashing
light in her eyes and the smile of happiness and excitement unconsciously
playing on her lips, and the deliberate grace, precision, and lightness of her
movements. “Who?” Kitty asked herself.
“All or one?”… “No, it’s not the admiration of the crowd that has intoxicated
her but the adoration of one. And which one? Can it be he (Vronsky) ?”… Kitty
looked at him and was filled with terror. What was pictured so clearly to Kitty
in the mirror of Anna’s face she saw in him. Every time he turned to her, he
bent his head as though he would have fallen at her feet, and in his eyes there
was nothing but humble submission and dread. “I would not offend you” his eyes
seemed every time to be saying “but I want to save myself and I don’t know
how”. On Vronsky’s face was a look such as Kitty had never seen before”
It was time-consuming to read
it but it was worth it. Though the story ended tragically, I loved how
beautifully painful the story was. From the beginning of Anna and Vronsky’s
love affair, every line gave me a roller coaster of emotions that only a few
books have given me before. I admire Tolstoy for bringing the characters to
life by complex qualities and their struggles in their self-development. I was
definitely captivated by this book and if only I have more time to read it once
again without the pit stops, I would. The book is one of the greatest literary
pieces of all time.
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