Author: Leo Tolstoy
Genre: Realism, Fiction, Novel
Originally published: 1878
It is clear to me that Leo Tolstoy understood the intricacies of relationships, love, families and perhaps the individual heart, at perhaps a more profound level than anyone who has ever picked up the pen. Such is the depth and quality of Anna Karenina, that no matter what a person's situation may be in life, be it bachelor, engaged, married, divorced or humbly in love, one can find a character to connect and relate to in a meaningful and often illuminatory way.
Truly one of the great Russian Novels, Anna Karenina's entire essence can be encapsulated in it's opening line: "All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in it's own way."
A story about sometimes happy families, sometimes unhappy families, is the tale of all families, that have ever existed, and will ever exist, from the beginning of time, till its unavoidable dawn. The plights and follies among the aristocratic families are so eloquently described by Tolstoy, that one can imagine they are the neighbour to the Levins, or the Oblonskys, and are simply hearing or watching all the happenings and gossips of the local community.
More than anything, Tolstoy speaks to the heart; he pulls and plays the heartstrings in perfection, with his perfectly bringing of diverse characters together, and the dialogues and discussions and often, disagreements between the character's pushes the narrative forward. So masterful is Tolstoy's skill in writing that the reader himself, will be filled with a nervous tension, if for example, Konstantin Levin suddenly enters a scene with Alexei Vronsky, or Kitty Shcherbatsky with Anna Karenina. The tension between the character's manifests itself in a real, pulpable way in the heart of the reader.
And not only tension, about every emotion, all the way to the deepest one of all, Love, is evident in Tolstoy's characters. You can tell Tolstoy loved his characters, and you love the character's for it. Even the wickedest characters are understood, even loved, as the reader understands that the same wickedness may not be too far away from their own hearts. Furthermore, the way Tolstoy uses characters to distill different philosophies or concepts is masterful. For example, the ever curious and misunderstood character of Konstantin Levin, is a lens for the reader to be exposed to more profound philosophical concepts in a gentle way. The reader's curiosity and ignorance is paralleled to Levin's, and in a stroke of brilliance, the reader becomes Levin, and through the eyes of Levin sees the crowded rooms of people at a party, or jolly Muzhiks at his farm. Every chapter, every page in the book forces the reader to embody one of the character's, to understand the deepest of motivations for their actions, what outcome's they hoped to have, what fears they had, and the story develops in a way the reader can never really predict. Such is the beauty, and brilliance of Anne Karenina; to continuously pull the reader into the story, yet always leave a tiny hint of the bigger picture at play. Like the artist in the Novel who loves such trifling details of his work, details which are never noticed by the observers of his paintings - every reader of Tolstoy's masterpiece will take away a little detail of their own into their own life. Having completed the beautiful tragedy, the only thing for a right minded person to do is hold their hand akimbo and proclaim, "Thank you Count Leo Tolstoy!"
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