I had some trepidation about reading Tolstoy -- the Russian authors have a reputation for hard reading. But I was very pleasantly surprised. This translation is excellent. The prose is accessible and modern, but not too modern to miss the flavor. The story is fantastic and the characters are real and memorable.

DNF. Ugh. I know it's a classic so I tried but these super long books about how women who tried to follow their hearts were punished by society just don't work for me. As a French major, I read Madame Bovary and came away from it feeling like it was 500 pages of nothing. I know there's social commentary in all of these tomes but I still feel the same way about them all at the end - pages and pages that come to nothing but bleakness. Add this to the list of author's I won't read, all for the same reason - Edith Wharton, Maeve Binchy, etc.

DNF. This story is impossibly slow even though the premise is exciting.

Picking this book up and down multiple times, I didn't begin to fully grasp the beauty of the novel until hundreds of pages in. Anna Karenina did not create a single plot with antagonists our characters must overcome and grow from as a result - as is classic in many novels - but rather liberally utilizes hundreds of pages simply to set the scene of our story to the smallest of details, the story of Russian aristocrats searching for what provides meaning in their lives, whether it be society, industry, religion, politics, drinking copiously, art, and nature. Upon realizing the directionless nature of Tolstoy's masterfully created world, I quickly became fully engrossed with each character's listless quests to define themselves. Anna Karenina attempts to mimic real life by íntimately characterizing players from all walks of life, all of whom are subject to relatable emotional and logical dilemmas and contradictions, and in doing serves as the channel by which Tolstoy expresses his musings on the complexities and simplicities of life.

Overall, an amazing book I'm sure I'll need to reread as I'm certain volumes of meaning flew over my head. Looking back, the scope of the story is incredible. If you have plenty of time and are looking for a epic filled with vast networks of relationships, characters with three to four different names, emotional rollercoasters, and chapter long descriptions of grain harvesting, I definitely recommend :)

A difficult read but well worth it. Amazing how the themes of love, children, politics, war, spirituality and religion have the same basic truths today as over 100 years ago. Hence, a timeless classic.

Will be processing for decades. A reminder of the beauty of human life. Amazed that it was created by one man. Longhand. Feeling grateful and a bit stunned that I finally reached the end.