Anna Karenina - finished!

I've been half-heartedly reading this for some time (see previous post) and realised that I couldn't bear to go back to work after such a long time off after Christmas without finishing it. This has meant that I've spent a lot of time reading in the last couple of days - there are worse ways to spend a very cold holiday.

Firstly, I'd like to thoroughly recommend to you keen readers that a slanket (blanket with sleeves) is a fantastic addition to your reading equipment. I was given one for Christmas by my brilliant friend Jo - I have rarely left the sofa since due to the extreme comfort (and occasional electric shock from the static it creates), and it has most definitely facilitated reaching the end of a difficult read.

Secondly - Anna Karenina. Hmm. As I read this, I couldn't shake the feeling that Tolstoy had about three different books in mind, and at least 6 essays on philosophical and religious concepts, as he wrote and, rather than writing separate works, rolled it all into one. My overwhelming feeling at the end was word fatigue. I think this is mainly due to the way Tolstoy seemed to be working towards a grand ending, then veered off for a few thousand words to discuss the rights and wrongs of war, before shoe horning the story back towards his ending...I think it would have been more powerful as a culmination without this diversion.

There are three main strands to the story - Anna & Vronsky, Kitty & Levin, and Dolly & Stiva. Anna & Vronsky are an exploration of what might happen if you follow your heart at the expense of previous commitments and promises - the social quagmire they find themselves in, the realisation of how much has been given up, and the guilt all chip away at the happiness of their new-found love and it is never going to end well. Dolly & Stiva as a storyline kind of hovered in the background - they feature strongly at the beginning but, once Dolly accepts Stiva's adultery and decides to move on with their marriage, fade into the background as a constant reminder of the stresses and strains of living beyond your means. Stiva seems to play the part of a catalyst for other events in the novel, often coincidentally popping up in unexpected places to facilitate meetings between other characters or the moving on of the story. Kitty & Levin were, I think, the most interesting characters, in the way that they develop and grow a happy and fulfilled relationship despite Levin's best efforts to sabotage it by over-thinking.

It is a majestic work. I suspect it would be made vastly more readable by removing the sections on the peasantry & musings on the best way to manage farmland and there were also times when it seemed to drift for 50 pages or so before moving things on. I suspect Tolstoy's aim in writing was more about the leisurely exploration of concepts than creating a tight, fast-moving tale...or if not, this is certainly what he achieved. I can't see myself reading it again - I actually didn't find any of the characters particularly believable, and also didn't think that any of them moved much beyond the initial character sketch/characteristics laid out for them. I suspect that each character represented a particular type of belief or person in society but I'm just not interested enough to do the reading which would give me that background knowledge...sorry! I would not venture to argue that it shouldn't be considered one of the greats - but it is probably one I won't even dip into again. As Daniel commented in my previous post - it's useful to have read it to understand other allusions to the work but that's about as far as it goes.

So, next - slightly unenviable choice between the three as-yet-unread Dickens novels on the list. I need to read one now or I will find myself at the end with all Dickens to go, and I can't think of anything worse!

Anna Karenina (part 1) and A Christmas Carol

As I've worked my way through this list I've been trying to balance out the ones I want to read with the ones which are harder work. Rightly or wrongly, the Russian epics are definitely on my "harder work" list. I've been reading Anna Karenina for a couple of weeks, and am 53% of the way through (one of the benefits of reading on a Kindle is that you always know exactly how far through you are!). I've told a couple of people that I'm reading it and their reaction has been "you'll love it"..."it's a great book".

I'm going to reserve judgement until the end - so far, I'm not convinced, but I have sort of been reading it alongside a Philippa Gregory (picked up entirely on the basis that the cover matches the colours I've just painted my bedroom and therefore it looks pleasing on the bedside table - me, judge a book by its cover? Never!), which is always going to make Anna Karenina feel like harder work. So far, there are some compelling elements but with the move to the countryside, and elaborate descriptions of farming methods, peasantry and pastoralism, I've kind of lost interest. I will pick it up again soon!

In the meantime, given that it is only one week before Christmas, I thought it was time to read A Christmas Carol. I am obviously familiar with the story, but don't think I have read it previously, given that I go to great lengths to avoid Dickens generally. However, I've read it in about an hour this morning, and got to the end - progress on the majority of my previous Dickens attempts! (Nicholas Nickleby, I mean you - 3 attempts and never finished...).

I have to say I enjoyed it - in a way, there's not anything to dislike. The thing I found particularly striking was the creation of atmosphere and visual pictures which, for me, were much more powerful than any film version I've seen. Scrooge's fear and trepidation is much more clearly depicted when described and then partially left to the imagination!

It is, of course, a great story - some comedy, some sadness, and a transformed Scrooge by the end. Definitely deserves its place in this list, and in the standard Christmas feelgood movie/book canon.

And back to Anna Karenina - I suspect I won't finish it in an hour...