Brandon E Taylor's Weblog Cogitations, Meditations, and Ruminations

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (1877)

***** (out of 5)

Anna Karenina is sometimes referred to as the 'greatest novel of the 19th century'. I can certainly understand the motivation for this accolade. The novel is quite simply a masterpiece. I have read the novel twice and will no doubt read it again in a couple of years.

Anna Karenina presents two contrasting and subtly intertwined plot lines concerning the lives of its two main characters - Anna Karenina and Konstantin Levin.

Anna's story is one of surrender to physical passions. Early in the novel, she engages in an adulterous affair with Count Vronsky, a man to which she is attracted because of his 'passion'. It is this perceived passion that causes Anna to abandon her husband, her son, and much of her morality. Her ruthlessly determined pursuit of self-gratification is ultimately, and inevitably, responsible for her destruction.

Levin's story is most significantly a quest for the meaning of existence. Levin rejects much of the superficiality that characters in the novel like Anna embrace. Instead, he finds fulfillment in his farming and in his relationships with the land and the peasants that work it. His most fervent desires in the novel are to better know God and to establish a family to which he can devote himself. Levin's story ends with the realization that an unselfish life and a love of God and neighbor can result in a sublime state of grace.

As I mentioned before, Anna Karenina is a masterpiece. The plot is engaging. The characters are believable and richly portrayed. The thematic content is both broad and deep. And, most importantly, the message conveyed by the contrasting stories of Anna and Levin are relevant and profound.

As one of my ten favorite novels, I simply cannot recommend Anna Karenina too strongly. This novel is truly a 'must read'.

Also recommended:

• Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866)