Anna Karenina
After about three and a half weeks, I finally finished Tolstoy's second longest epic novel, Anna Karenina. While still a respectable 864 pages, it doesn't quite measure up to War and Peace at a monolithic 1472 pages. So Anna is big. Real big. But in my opinion, it is not big enough. I think it is very persuasive in its implication of Absolute Truth and Fundamental Order, but it stops there without going on to a comprehensive whole. You'd think that in nearly nine hundred pages you could say just about anything, but Tolstoy never really gets around to giving a complete worldview. After reaching the revelation that God exists and provides the sole possible purpose to a meaningful life, Tolstoy leaves Constantine Levin standing on his porch at the end of the book contemplating the stars and whether all religions are not equally valid. To quote Arthur Dent, "It leaves the audience crying, 'Yes, but what of it!'" I am left with the inescapable conclusion that I now have to read War and Peace to find out what Tolstoy really thinks about life. Estimated time for completion: 6 weeks.
My final opinion of Anna: I have never read a more skillful portrayal of how people actually percieve the world around them and interact with each other, but it lacks a coherent message to tie its incredibly vivid and sprawling plot together tightly enough.
My final opinion of Anna: I have never read a more skillful portrayal of how people actually percieve the world around them and interact with each other, but it lacks a coherent message to tie its incredibly vivid and sprawling plot together tightly enough.