Amazing classical novel . Review on Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina of Lev Tolstoy is yet another sublime masterpiece of Lev Tolstoy, who is regarded as one of the best litteratuer the world has even seen. Anna Karenina, like almost all other Tolstoy novels, is a complex (and yet lucid) exploration into the Soviet (Russian) society in the later half of 19th century.

This novel treats all aspects of life in Russia during that time. It deals with themes as diverse as extra-marital affairs, rural economy, high society and urban family structure in an elegant manner.

As the name suggests, the main character in the novel is Anna Karenina. She is married to a person of high society, who has given her all the worldly comforts, but not any emotional support. Her husband is not unkind by any description, but only unfeeling: he should have realized that other than food and clothes, human beings deserve and crave for other things like entertainment, time from close ones. They have a child - a 8/9 year old boy, whom she loves very much. Nothing strange in this, because a mother is expected to love her child. But the amazing way in which this relationship is depicted is worth a mention. When Anna Karenina gets divorced and loosed the custody of her child, the father of the child explains to him that his mother is dead.

We now realize the genius of Tolstoy, (Tolstoy is no ordinary author) in which he pens down the deep pshychology of the boy. I would urge the readers to read the novel because I am not Tolstoy, and cannot quite express what he wrote. In brief, the boy refused to believe his mother died, because ''he loved his mother, and he did not believe that the people he loves can die''.

Anna Karenina then went to stay with her lover, named Vrunsky. From that relationship, they have a daughter. But somehow, her personal life is screwed up, and she looses all hopes in life. Ultimately, she commits suicide by jumping under a running train, and at that point in life ''Death looked to her like life''.

While all this urban hungama was on, the rural side also ran in a parallel thread. The trouble with me is that I know little about village economy, and less about Russian history during that time, so this area, although has appealed to me in expression, is not very clear in context with me.

Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a staunch defender of family structure. He was pained to see the disintegration of family based on social/economic pressures. That is why this novel. In this, he has not judged Anna in any moral light. In other words, for her extra marital relationships, Tolstoy has neither defended her, not critisized her. She flew like a comet from the start of the novel to the end.

There is another interesting piece of information regarding this novel. While writing Anna Karenina, Tolstoy did not keep any side notes. He mentioned that whatever he wanted to write is in Anna Karenina, nothing is outside that.

Footnote: This is not so voluminous like War and Piece of the same author. This is just some 800 pages in paperback. :-)