Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
What an unexpected delight Anna Karenina turned out to be. Like many people, I was most familiar with Tolstoy's second most famous epic (after War and Peace ,) for the many television and film adaptions and the tragic, climatic scene where the title character throws herself in front of a train. (Superbly and wordlessly played here by Greta Garbo .) Set in Russia in the mid 19th century, it tells of the lives of several connected upper class families, where social standing is often considered to be more important than personal happiness, and hints at the murmurings of the widespread changes that were already starting to take place within Russia though, obviously, in 1870 when the book was first published, Tolstoy would have had no idea what was to come for Russia and the surrounding countries in the twentieth century. The novel tells the story of two different but vaguely connected relationships. The title character, Anna Karenina has come to visit her brother to help him smooth out...