I finally finished Anna Karenina! I can see the reasons why it’s such a classic: the characters are very well wrought, the descriptions are top-notch, and the discourse on the socio-political climate of mid-ninteenth-century Russia is quite interesting.
That said, I thought it was BOOOORRRRIIIINNNNGGGG. The whole “keeping up appearances while there is a cauldren of boiling feelings under the surface” thing is not my scene. I guess I prefer more external, overt conflict to the inner turmoil of these types of characters. I thought Anna and Levin were great characters, but everyone else was pretty blah.
It’s a pretty good sense of accomplishment to finally finish it, and I’m going to be tackling other, long masterpiece-type stuff at some point. For the time being, though, I’m going to start reading some fun books like The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde.
