Tolstoy - Anna Karenina

"My very manly brother, who rarely read classics, holding and reading a very thick book entitled Anna Karenina. 'What is that thick book? Why is he interested on that?' I thought to myself ... this book, even if the title bears a woman’s name and with flowers on its cover (at least this wonderful edition of mine), is not really a woman’s book."


"I have never met such an unlikable bunch of bunsholes in my life ... I started thinking of how much fun it would be to rewrite this book with a mad Stalin cleansing the whole bunch of them and sending them to a Gulag ... I finally had the momentary joy of Anna's suicide. Ecstasy! She was gone."


"When the Russian elite first read this idyll to their vanity, they must have fallen headlong into the reflecting pool right after Narcissus. For now, you see, not only are they rich and powerful, but according to Tolstoy they’re also supremely virtuous."


"After reading all 864 pages I can now say that it was absolutely NOT worth it. This is obviously a character driven book and not a plot driven book."


"Anna Karenina? She never became 'real' to me. I also had a problem with some of the choices she made e.g. going to see the opera singer when she and Vronsky were in Petersburg. I know this was a momumentally stupid thing for her to do since she was a married woman who was openly living with her lover but she seemed oblivious to that. Tolstoy didn't try to explain it. Was she so desperate to hear the singer that she ignored the consequences of going to the concert?"


"I might actually deserve a medal for finishing this book. I enjoy reading older books and I even enjoy reading books about Russia. This book however was incredibly dull."


"I just didn't care. Anna is a whore. Vronsky is a self-absorbed jag bag!
'Oh, but they are in love!' you say! I say, Gag me with a spoon!"


"Not deserves to be classic........."


"I always have a tough time feeling sympathy for a woman that cheats, gets pregnant, and then can't live with herself.... I mean really, why should I feel bad for her bad decisions? I think the saying goes, 'you've made your bed....' well, yeah, she kind of did, didn't she."


"The best way that I know how to sum up this book is that it is sooooooooo boring. I wish I could get back the part of my life that I wasted reading this book. Two thumbs down. If you tell me you actually enjoyed this book, I will tell you that you are a liar."


"How can Stephan Aaaa... long name sometimes be called Oblonsky? What the heck?"


"What an unsavory ending for this pre television-era soap opera! I'm glad I finished it so I can say I finished it but OMG. It was painfully lame."


"I don't even remember when the time period was or what the relevance was....and I love history."


"Anna Karenina is a book for people who whine. A book of whining. Dreadful amounts of whining."


"Completely overrated. Tolstoy didn't capture Russia of the 19th century worth a darn...lacking imagery, interesting detail, and even standout characters. Sheesh."