“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”
Anna Karenina is an unhappily married aristocrat who is having an affair. The story follows her journey as she leaves her husband for another man and deals with society’s reaction. Her story plays alongside that of Levin and his love for Kitty.
Anna Karenina is such a tragic figure who you go from loving to hating to pitying all in the one chapter. You feel her pain when she is separated from her son, her humiliation when shunned from society and her desperation when she finds her new relationship is not all she hoped it to be. I became immersed in her character and anytime the story focused on another I found myself anxious to return to Anna.
Levin is the other main character in this story. A laborer from the country he is desperately in love with Kitty. His character is extremely likable as the kind and awkward ‘foreigner’, unused to society. We watch his character grow throughout the novel and the story ends with his words.
However, for me the book is at its best when focused on Anna. Tolstoy created a great character in her and it makes for some fantastic reading.
