Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

The woman I imagined as Anna

Until watching "The Last Station," I had never been tempted to read anything from Leo Tolstoy.  I'd heard of his writings, but, generally, the titles were followed by a heavy, frustrated sigh.  It was as if everyone who had ever faced the 800 or more pages would rather have gone hungry for a year than to revisit them.  But, then, I fell in love with the portrayal of his life -- his wife asserting that any man who had read Tolstoy's works would know who he really is.
      A friend of mine loaned me her copy of "Anna Karenina" saying she was frustrated with it for beginning the story with "minor characters."  She had seen multiple movie versions of the love-triangle story between Anna, Karenin, and her lover, Vronsky.  I'm thankful I didn't have any of these ideas to get in the way of the story or Tolstoy's style of telling it.
     Tolstoy does a beautiful job of weaving different characters who have very different answers to the same question: fidelity to a spouse, to yourself, or to your country...all are important here.  The dichotomies in belief are illustrated right on down to the differences between Petersburg and Moscow.  Reading a work with so much depth and dimension left me knowing that "Anna Karenina" wasn't about the woman at all.  Not really.  It was a pleasure at times, heart breaking at others, and painfully...well, painful...especially when the local political system was discussed. I could almost feel Tolstoy wincing a little as he added this sequence, obviously feeling it necessary to present the full picture of Russia, but such an unpleasant irritation and so unlike his description of a Gentleman spending the day laboring side-by-side with Laborers, scythe in hand, I believe the manuscript was as much a telling of the author at the time he wrote it as it was a picture of Russia.
     One question I would ask Tolstoy is if his 'chapters' included whatever he wrote that day.  Each is limited to less than 4 pages, and, although densely worded, these don't always complete a scene.  Sometimes, they change perspective, showing each scene thoroughly from differing character's viewpoints...other times, the same character is still there, in the same place, with the same people.  Books written today follow a different set of "rules" for what is called a "chapter."  I have to say that I think I will adopt Tolstoy's arrangement in my own writing, at least in the first draft.  And, as for a reader who is also a busy mom, it was wonderful to be able to read a whole chapter in just a few minutes and get back to my household instead of feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere...Elephants really ought to be eaten one bite at a time!
      Would I recommend this book?  Yes.  I don't know if there are many souls left in our microwave world equipped for the patient pace necessary here...or who are willing to overlook the book's title and allow the author to tell the full story.  But, for myself, it was well worth the weeks to lock minds with Leo Tolstoy and feel Russia under my skin.