Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Today I finished reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I started reading it right after graduating from BYU last April. It took me so long to read. I almost hated every minute spent reading it. I wanted to complete it before this next semester started up. I didn’t enjoy reading it over my summer vacation and during my first semester at veterinary school I did not want to waste my limited free time over that stupid book. I disliked Anna. I did not sympathize with her and her situation. She should not have flirted with Vronsky and ruined her life so well. I did like how Tolstoy ended her life at the train station. It was very symbolic of how she ended her life on that fateful day when she met Vronsky at the train station. I wish the book was not even named after Anna. She wasn’t the major character in the book (in my opinion). She did not even make it to the last few chapters of the book. I did like Kostya Levin a lot. I enjoyed reading about Levin’s life. He found a wife, worked and toiled with his own hands on his land, tried to work through the economic situation in Russia, and tried to discover God and his religious beliefs. His life seemed to have the most development throughout the book. Maybe I related to best to his character. I am looking for a husband. I enjoy working with my hands and managing my own possessions. I look at the economic situation around me. I am religious. Levin finds political elections as dull and boring. I don’t know if I quite agree with him on this matter. Some elections are dull and boring, but it is important to understand and participate in the government of the land where you reside.