Anna Karenina

Beautifully read. Like the other reviewers I can highly recommend this audiobook. I notice it is a 'cover to cover'edition.

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22 people found this helpful

Tolstoy readable

What did you like most about Anna Karenina?

The depiction of pre-revolutionary Russia

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The description of the harvest

Any additional comments?

This is a long slow book and needs to be read at leisure. The narration is excellent, the different characters distinguishable. I read it on paper years ago and have been glad to re-visit it.

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13 people found this helpful

Brilliant story, beautifully read

Would you consider the audio edition of Anna Karenina to be better than the print version?

Not better, just different. Both excellent.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Anna Karenina?

Hard to say, loved the descriptions of the different characters, and their ways of life.

Have you listened to any of David Horovitch’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Not previously heard David readings. I think he reads beautifully.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Much more cry than laugh!

Any additional comments?

A wonderful story, beautifully told.

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7 people found this helpful

Interesting and felt a lot shorter than it is

Good book to try Tolstoy but just not quite sure if all the side stories are worth it and I think a good editor in the modern world would have lopped them all away. The story's ending is purely random as well.

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Amazing!

Oh what a book! What a story! My heart is totally moved. And the performance is top class!!! It truly is a moving story and a classic. You won’t regret listening to this book.

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90% engrossing narrative 10% boring material

Tolstoy wrote "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." and this book demonstrates this maxim in abundance. The destructive effects of jealousy; infidelity; financial profligacy and rigid self-righteousness are all explored in this massive tome and these troubled relationships makes for a compelling listen all the more vivid for me as I pictured the characters from the superb 1977 TV dramatization starring Nicola Pagett, Eric Porter and Stuart Wilson as the doomed love triangle at the centre of the book. Where the dramatization scores is that much of the philosophical navel-gazing, ruminations on theological questions and interminable description agricultural practices and hunting expeditions were edited out. Despite this I enjoyed the book which is enhanced by the narrator's spirited dramatization.

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crazy

longest book ever. c v b n m n b v c v b n

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A true classic

Just let yourself be carried along with the lives of these characters and you will be rewarded. It was read beautifully. So much pain and passion involved. Wonderful.

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Plumbs the depths of the human spirit

I was very sad when it finished - felt like I had lost a friend, until I realized I can always listen to it again.
Tolstoy is a master at probing and understanding the human spirit. And he does this more by asking questions and putting characters and their struggles into contrast than by giving answers.
I feel like someone has been rummaging in my soul.
That is not to say there is no story or plot to enjoy, and when I first encountered this book in my teens/early 20s that is all I paid attention to.
But now I am in my 60s I find myself riveted by the paradoxical contrasts between peasants and the nobility, and the barriers to agricultural and political reform as processed through the minds of the various characters, all of which, regardless of their outlook, Tolstoy made me love and understand.
This is a huge work that tackles problems, questions and challenges of what it means to be human and how to live a good life. As relevant today as it was then.
And now the performance - all I can say is David Horovitch made this book come alive in a way I could never achieve from simply reading it. Simply superb.

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A must!

A very interesting and informative account of the lives of people who are on the edge of reform both socially and politically.

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