I could have seen this coming. I just finished Part I of Anna Karenina today. I thought I'd have plenty of time to read because I've taken two trips and spend a lot of time in transit. It turns out that it's really hard to read a monstrous paperback when there's a squirming infant in your lap. Also, I got waylaid by The Hunger Games trilogy (review coming ... someday).
Anyway, I'm taking the discussion questions from Christine at The Happily Ever After.
1.) "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
First of all, this is Russian literature. Are there any happy families? It's chilling to juxtapose this opening sentence with the six simple words on the opposing page of my copy: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." This cannot bode well.
I agree that there are many more ways to be dysfunctional than there are to be functional. However, different things make different people (and therefore different families) happy. I agree with Christine's assessment that Tolstoy overgeneralizes too much here. It does make for a memorable opening line, though.
2.) The story opens with the Oblonsky household in complete disarray as Dolly has discovered her husband, Prince Stepan "Stiva" Oblonsky had been having an affair with their young French governess. What are your first impressions of Stiva and Dolly? What do you think of the couple's quick reconciliation? Do you think Stiva got off the hook too easily?
Oh, Stiva. He's kind of lovably shallow. I wouldn't mind having a meal with him, but I certainly wouldn't want to be married to him. Dolly ... I had issues with how quickly she forgave him for his dalliance with the governess. I wanted to sit down with her with a nice cup of tea and give her a pep talk, tell her she was justifiably angry with him, encourage her to show some spine. (I guess it's good to be a 21st-century woman instead of a 19th-century woman.) But instead she chatted with Anna and she and Stiva experienced an inexplicably uncomplicated reconciliation. Stiva absolutely got off the hook too easily. Sure, he was genuinely remorseful, but he still had an affair. I was thoroughly puzzled by his attitude. It was like he hadn't given any thought to the consequences of pursuing the governess and so he was blindsided when the affair blew up in his face.
3.) Meanwhile, Oblonsky's childhood friend, the shy and awkward Konstantin Levin, "Kostya," arrives in Moscow from his country estate to propose to Dolly's youngest sister, Princess Katerina, "Kitty." What is your first impression of Levin and his friendship with Oblonsky?
Levin is my favorite character so far. Out of everyone we've met so far, he's the one I'd most want to be friends with myself. He seems like a genuinely good guy. He loves Kitty for who she is; he's certainly not playing with her like Vronsky. He has a complicated family life, but he's trying to mend his relationship with his estranged brother Nikolai. Oblonsky seems to approach his friendship with Levin the way he approaches everything else - casually, without recognizing the full significance of it. I do like that he appreciates Levin's love for his sister-in-law and genuinely wishes him the best.
4.) Princess Katerina is being courted by both Levin and Count Vronsky. What do you think of Kitty's decisions regarding these two men?
Kitty made the wrong decision and she knew it. She liked both Levin and Vronsky, but Vronsky was more charming and more infatuating. Plus he's a count. And her mother (who is totally Mrs. Bennett transported to Russia) was pressuring her to turn down Levin in favor of Vronsky. Levin is clearly the man to keep around for the long term. He'd make a faithful and devoted husband; Vronsky is a cad. Kitty only realizes the extent of her mistake when she sees Vronsky with Anna.
5.) What is your first impression of the title character, Anna Karenina? There is a strong magnetism between Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky from the first moment they meet. What is your first impression of these two characters?
I wanted to like Anna, and things started out well. She was nice to Vronsky's elderly mother on the train. She helped Stepan and Dolly mend their relationship. She was good with her nieces and nephews and obviously missed her little boy. But my stronger impression was her connection with Vronsky. Tolstoy writes of their encounter at the ball from Kitty's perspective, which had a lot to do with my negative reaction to it. I did feel like she swooped in and stole Vronsky from Kitty, even though he had no intention of asking her to marry him anyway. I feel sorry for Anna's husband. From the brief glimpse we got of him, he loves her but he's bland and dorky and utterly un-Jude-Law-ish.
6.) What is your overall impression of the novel so far?
I'm enjoying it. It's interesting to read about imperial Russia right before the revolution, but I'm also interested in the characters.
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