Anna Karenina: A Review

For my first stop in my literary trip through Europe this year, I have spent the last several months slowly working my way through Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. While it took me much longer than I had hoped, I do not regret reading this masterpiece. This was the first of Tolstoy's novels which I have read and it gave me a deep appreciation for Imperial Russian culture and lifestyle. This novel well-written and enlightening, and perhaps a little too detailed at times, but the greater success is the lessons one gleans from the tragic ending: every decision has consequences.

Anna Karenina takes place primarily between St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Russian countryside. Anna is the wife of an influential government official. The novel begins with Anna visiting her brother, Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky, to convince his wife, Princess Daria (Dolly) Alexandrovna Oblonaska, not to separate after Oblonsky conducts multiple affairs. In St. Petersburg, Anna meets Count Alexey Kirillovich Vronsky and the two characters are instantly attracted to each other. Anna, at first, resists Vronsky and tries to escape him by fleeing back to Moscow, only to discover that he has followed her. They meet constantly in society, whether by accident or on purpose is up to the reader, and others begin to notice their attraction. Eventually, Anna submits to Vronsky and agrees to be his mistress. Meanwhile, her husband, government official Alexey Alexandrovich Karenin, struggles to understand his wife's behavior. She admits her affair to Karenin and he vows to divorce her. After Anna's post-childbirth near death in which, highly delirious, she begs for forgiveness, he submits to Anna's desire to stay married -- for the present. Anna and Vronsky leave Russia, with their child, to escape her husband and the vicious aristocratic society.

As a sharp contrast to the painful love triangle between Anna, Vronsky, and Karenin, Tolstoy introduces another couple: Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin and Princess Katerina (Kitty) Alexandrovna Shcherbatsky. Levin is a friend of the Shcherbatsky and Oblonsky families, and he falls madly in love with the youngest Shcherbatsky daughter, Kitty. (Kitty is the sister of Dolly -- Anna's sister in law.) At the beginning of the book, Levin asks Kitty to be his wife, but Kitty is being pursued by Vronsky. Assuming a proposal from Vronsky, she rejects Levin, but after meeting Anna, Vronsky no longer even looks at Kitty. Fast-forward halfway through the novel: Kitty and Levin meet again, realize that they both still love each other, and wed.

This overview takes the reader halfway through this whopping 750 page novel, and for the sake of not ruining the novel for anyone who might be interested in reading it, I shall divulge as few details of the ending as possible. As I was reading Anna Karenina, one thing in particular became clear to me at this point: this novel would not have a happy ending. Already Karenin's career was ruined, Anna was considered a "fallen woman", and Vronsky had given up his career in order to be with Anna. It was a recipe for disaster from the start. And yet, Tolstoy gives a "remedy" for the heartbreaking tale of Anna Karenina -- Levin and Kitty.

At first it seems like the purpose of this novel is to demonstrate the unfairness of the divorce system in Imperial Russia. Since Anna was the guilty party, she would have been an outcast in society, not even able to see her son with Karenin. If she wants to be happy with her lover, she must be disgraced, but if she divorces, she will lose the rest of her standing in society. But as the reader works his way through the novel, it is clear that Tolstoy is comparing the three main relationships in the novel.

The first relationship is Anna and Karenin. They marry when Anna is young and Karenin is an established politician. Until Anna meets Vronsky, they are happy together. Karenin is serious and aloof, where Anna is outgoing and lively, but their marriage worked because they understood each other. When Anna returns from St. Petersburg, she begins to see all of Karenin's flaws and his kindness after she begs for forgiveness on her deathbed makes her hate him. But what Anna refuses to see is that even after she has betrayed him, Alexey Karenin loves her unconditionally. He tries to steer Anna away from her immoral behavior. He adores the child which is not his. He does everything in his power to make her happy, despite the fact that she has destroyed and hurt him. The scene which epitomizes Karenin's love for Anna is when they are attending a race in which Vronsky is riding. Vronsky's horse goes down and Anna is beside herself with grief. Karenin does everything in his power to aid his wife: "Alexey Alexandrovitch saw that she was weeping, and could not control her tears, nor even the sobs that were shaking her bosom. Alexey Alexandrovitch stood as to screen her, giving her time to recover herself." Then, in order to spare her any further embarrassment, he takes her home. At this point, Karenin knew of the affair deep down, but refused to acknowledge it because he had no confirmation; after the race, Anna tells him straightforwardly that she is Vronsky's mistress. Karenin never accused his wife of adultery in the midst of rumors, he only warned her of how things looked to outsiders. Even after Anna told him, he demanded that she sever connections with Vronsky, but was not determined to divorce her until after she took the affair too far. And even then, he still hoped to guide her back from immorality.

When Vronsky and Anna meet, Vronsky awakens something in Anna that Karenin did not give her: passion. They flirt relentlessly, both compelled by the mysteriousness of the other. Their affair is new and forbidden, and therefore irresistible. Despite Karenin's request that Anna does not see Vronsky anymore, they cannot keep apart. They are addicted to each other; one might say that they are in love. Certainly there is a deep attraction between these two characters, but the bulk of their affair is purely carnal. Even before they run away together, Anna begins to be jealous and spiteful for no reason and subjects Vronsky to violent mood swings. Thus begins a struggle for power within their relationship: Vronsky desperately needs to maintain his manly freedom to do as he pleases while Anna sits alone at home, unable to go into society, while Anna seeks to hurt Vronsky through quarreling with him, seeking vengeance and control over him. It is the epitome of an unhealthy relationship. While they continue to tell each other that they love each other, their actions do not express their sincerity. Anna becomes increasingly spiteful, and Vronsky becomes apathetic toward Anna's emotional needs. Neither of them truly want to stop quarreling, both selfishly demanding that the other person submit, and thus their relationship begins to deteriorate. While it is true that they both willingly gave up things for the other person -- Vronsky quits his career as a Cavalry officer and Anna forsakes her husband, son, and reputation -- their love degenerates into vengeful selfishness which causes their mutual demise.

Tolstoy displays the third relationship as the epitome of marriage, and that is the love between Levin and Kitty. After Levin proposes for the second time and Kitty accepts, they begin to plan their wedding. Levin grows tired of the wedding preparations, but consents to anything that pleases his wife. But Kitty gives back to Levin by asking to return directly to his home to begin their life together, instead of going on a honeymoon, as she knew he would prefer. There is a constant give and take for them. They argue, and then they make up. And the marriage also turns Levin into a different kind of man. He loves and cherishes his wife, accepts her family as his own, oftentimes having Kitty's parents and Dolly and her children to stay with them, and he handles much of Oblonsky and Dolly's financial affairs as their debt increases. But likewise, Kitty becomes a different woman. When Levin suffers from bouts of jealousy or irritableness, Kitty seeks to calm and reassure him. She encourages him to do what he enjoys. She even helps Levin's brother as he lies on his deathbed, trying to make him comfortable in his last days. Tolstoy based the character of Levin much off himself, and therefore Kitty was Tolstoy's idea of the perfect woman.

These three couples differ sharply. Karenin and Anna are married without passion. Vronsky and Anna have passion without marriage. And Levin and Kitty have marriage and passion -- the perfect romance. Except it's too perfect. I don't think that Tolstoy meant to portray Levin as too perfect, but he is. Certainly he is seen losing his temper or making a poor decision, in fact he struggles as much as the next man, but in the end he always does the right thing. Unfortunately married couples do not always make up as easily as Levin and Kitty do, act as they should toward the other's family, and have the patience of a saint with their spouse. While that is a good goal to strive for, it is unrealistic.

At the beginning of the novel, the reader hates Karenin. "How could you treat your wife with such coolness? Can't you see that she needs more from you?" But the more you look at Karenin's actions and realize that Anna allows her emotions to control her, Karenin actually tries to be a good husband. Sometimes he is aloof because he is wrapped up in work and sometimes he cannot put his love for Anna into words, but still loves her unconditionally. He dries her tears even when she cries over another man, he trusts her so much that refuses to believe the rumors until she tells him that she is Vronsky's mistress, and ultimately he allows her to go so that she may be happy. He is devoted, respectful, and kind until Anna betrays him, and he regains those qualities after she begs for his forgiveness. This is not to say that Karenin made no mistakes in their marriage, but he tried to do what was best for his wife, his child, and himself.

Anna is a difficult character too, in fact, she is one of the only literary characters that I truly disliked. She is an antihero which you both love and hate. Her charm and beauty enchants everyone she meets, and it is that mysterious and daring wildness that draws Vronsky to her in the first place. She loves her son dearly, and seeks to help those in need. She encourages Vronsky to improve living conditions for the peasants around his estate and try new farming techniques. She reads voraciously about anything that interests her, like architecture and literature. Then, in the midst of her brilliance and generousness, she says something wicked and spiteful toward someone that she claims to love for no other reason than to cause them pain. Her emotional imbalance is evident as she manipulates the situation to gain what she wants. As the book progresses and she grows increasingly bothered by her undecided marital state, she grows dependent on opium to sleep, and in the end it contributes to much of her paranoia. She is petulant and irresolute, and that causes pain to nearly everyone around her. And yet, very few people saw through her facade, not even her husband and her lover.

Despite my objections with the characters, Anna Karenina is a spectacular book. It is well-loved for a reason. Tolstoy is incredibly descriptive and imaginative (too much, occasionally, particularly concerning Levin's farming practices) and while the book may be fiction, he works a great deal of history, religion, and philosophy into the novel. He frequently references the "war with the Turks", and other issues faced in mid-19th century Imperial Russia. He discusses faith and religion in depth, particularly mysticism and Levin's "discovery" of faith at the end of the book. And furthermore, he discusses many of the philosophical issues of that period, particularly within the lower classes, and it is easy to see the rise of Communist principles, even within the upper class. These little details give the reader an even better feeling of life in Imperial Russia, and it is breathtakingly beautiful.

Reading Anna Karenina at the airport bar.

My main impetus for reading this novel was to watch the 2012 film adaptation of Anna Karenina. The film stars Keira Knightley as Anna, Jude Law as Karenin, Matthew MacFadyen as Oblonsky, and Aaron Johnson (best known for his role as Quicksilver in Marvel’s Avengers) as Vronsky. Just look up the cast and you will recognize a half dozen names. It was directed by Joe Wright, who also directed the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. Since that film adaptation was incredible but did not stick to the book that much, I was concerned that he would leave out many of the less important parts. Allow me to simply say this: this is the best two hour film adaptation ever. I'm not talking about best adaptation of Anna Karenina. I'm saying that outside of BBC miniseries, this is the best that anyone has ever kept to a classic novel.

Not only did they keep to the book, but they really grasped the point of this novel. All of the actors understood their characters. Keira Knightley, in particular, understood the inconstant yet enthralling nature of Anna -- vibrant one moment and vicious the next. They showed Karenin as a loving husband wishing he knew how his marriage fell apart and Vronsky as the passionate lover unable to reassure Anna as her jealousy spun out of control. Obviously there were some parts that they needed to cut from the book, particularly much of the time spent in the country and a few of the millions of characters Tolstoy includes in the novel. But I was shocked at just how many of the society ladies and Vronsky's friends they included, and even minor details which were described in passing in the novel. Even the dialogue was practically straight from the novel. The very few things that they added were necessary for a film in order to make it flow better. The costumes took a bit of liberty, particularly for Anna and one of the other society ladies, but they were still well done, nonetheless. And the soundtrack is perhaps one of the best soundtracks that I have ever heard (it was composed by the same composer who wrote the music for Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, and Jane Eyre.) They truly capture the feel of Imperial Russia which Tolstoy describes throughout the novel.

It was not a perfect adaptation though. The novel ends with Levin coming to some profound conclusions on religion, and they tried to include this, but they left out a few key scenes in the novel which make Levin question his beliefs. They included this in the film, and while it made for a positive ending in a tragic story, the topic was not discussed nearly enough. This elaboration on Levin’s thoughts and feelings felt out of place, in many ways, especially when they did not even mention what happens to Vronsky at the end of the novel. The only other complaint is that they exclude about 200 pages toward the end of the novel, and while they are not as crucial to the story, the last half hour or so lacked the flow seen in the beginning. Anna seems even rasher than she did in the book because they did not include the months of agony which she suffered through her jealousy; they make it seem like a short period of time. They rushed the ending, as many film adaptations do, and it was very unfortunate.

I highly suggest both the book and the movie. If 750 pages is daunting (and trust me, it is daunting) the movie is still worth watching. The story of Anna Karenina is tragic, and yet endearing in its own way. Tolstoy understands humanity in a unique way and paints a vivid picture of that terribly flawed yet still beautiful life.