Anna Karenina

By: Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Length: 36 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Tolstoy's masterpiece begins, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

This is the story of the unhappy family of Anna Karenina. The novel contains much concerning Tolstoy's spiritual crisis and his search for the meaning of life. But it is also chiefly about marriage, and the growth and death of love.

The touching picture of Anna Aarkadyevna Karenina's slow disintegration has fascinated readers for well over a century. Beautiful and charming, Anna lives in a splendid world of her own making. She smokes, rides horseback, plays tennis, takes opium, practices birth control, and (although she is already married) falls in love with a handsome army officer.

Anna's life is played out against a backdrop of dazzling balls and the vastness of Russia's landscape. It is a magnificent story that shimmers with the intensity of intelligence and passion, especially through this superb narration by Davina Porter.

Public Domain (P)1990 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Porter reads magnificently." (Los Angeles Times)

A great version - thanks to Davina Porter

The Russian names can be confusing - spent a lot of time trying to figure out "who was who",but that was how Tolstoy wrote the book. Davina Porter is one of my favorite narrators, and she handled the names probably better than anyone could.
Enjoyed tackling a Tolstoy, and loved having a long book for a change!

Can't Put it Down!

I am reading and listening and can't get enough of Anna Karenina ! Davina Porter's reading is excellent. This is the first Tolstoy I have tried and I know why it is a classic.

To be so insecure

I was looking for something different to listen to and came across this book. It is a classic and being I have done much reading in my life I thought it would be a good one to experience. I had not read anything about the Russian life so it was interesting to learn this. It is sad the Anna couldn't be happy with the new love. And sad that she left life in the way she did. I realized that a man wrote the book & there is a lot of different people who narrates this story and I liked Davina Porter's voice the best. Maybe because I've listened to all of the "Outlander" series...

Great

Magnificent performance by the narrator. Thank you. I never would have read it otherwise. It's a fascinating book

a good supplement

I used the audible version to help me read through the actual text version, and found it very helpful. It's such a big book, it can be intimidating. I'm planning on doing the same with Tolstoy's 'War and Peace'. The problem with Russian literature (very generally speaking, and for me at least) is that the names are a little tricky, and it can be hard to keep track of them (let alone pronounce them!). So having it read to you is vastly helpful. The characters still resonate through my mind. Anna is such a tragic heroine (if you choose to categorize her as 'heroine'). She reminds me of Emma Bovary (of 'Madame Bovary').
Sometimes I simply listened, sometimes I read along. Although sound quality is not the greatest, I found it enjoyable listening and would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Russian literature.

It's the Garnett translation, but K&B update?

What made the experience of listening to Anna Karenina the most enjoyable?

Davina Porter did an excellent job.

Any additional comments?

Tried like crazy to find out which translation this was before downloading, but I could not. The initial audible.com statement that starts off the recording identified the translator as Constance Garnett. However, I have several text versions of the 1901 Garnett translation (which is in the public domain), and this is radically different. it's hard to find an identical sentence. This is much less awkward, and yet richer, more detailed, more accessible, more sparkling in its language. This leads me to believe that it's the Kent & Berberova update of Garnett, which is one of the most often recommended translations. Even if not the K & B update, I consider it a very good edited version of the Garnett translation.

Glad I read it-book is just okay-Narrator is A+

Choose this narration.

Print out a character map. (google)

This is another classic that needed an editor.

I chose this version of Anna Karenina for one reason- It was read by Davina Porter. Her fantastic readings of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series convinced me that her version of Anna Karenina would be the one for me. Davina Porter narrates flawlessly without distracting one from the story- Male or female, French, British or Russian, child or adult... ect.

I gave the story a three because I am glad that I "read" it but the book is just okay. Even with irritating characters , the boring meandering topics and the confusing names, I was intrigued enough to get through the book and be interested enough to find out what happened. I cannot say that about every book.

I wanted to slap all of these whiny, pompous characters. I guess the privileged in any time do act like stupid teenagers that never grow up. So... maybe their actions were reflective of real life people. I had a hard time relating to them many times. I don't believe murder or suicide is the answer in real life but many times, while reading this book, I found my self wishing for either for the characters.

Tolstoy gave the characters first names, last names, middle names and nick names for just about every character. He would refer to a character and I had to figure out who it was by circumstance. I suggest printing out a character map before listening to this book (Google).

I continue reading these old classics and am continually disappointed. Jane Austen is the only exception so far. Writers like Tolstoy and Hugo should have taken a few pointers on story telling and editing from Austen. In my humble opinion, Tolstoy and Hugo could have used editors with a large red pens. As with Les Miserables, this book goes off on tangents that don't have much to do with the story at all like Russian agrarian policy, obscure 19th century philosophers, ruling class ennui and class struggles. However, Anna Karenina's tangents are just little run on sentences when compared with Les Mis's gratuitous chapters and chapters and more chapters on 19th century French politics and sewer system. However, Les Mis's core story is much better than Anna's. I think that these books are wonderful for providing a blurry snapshot of life back then but not all that great reading when compared to so many great books written before and since then.

Great intro in audio

What did you love best about Anna Karenina?

I tried to read this a few years ago and just couldn't make it, although I really wanted to, so this was a great way to get that check mark! Overall, I loved it and was thrilled to be able to multi-task my way through it. I did enjoy the story and stepping back in time.

Did Davina Porter do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The narration was average at best, I didn't care for her "male voice effect" - they came across much angrier than I imagined almost every time, but hey, she was reading and not me so I could live with it!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

36 hours in one sitting? I don't think so....

Fantastic Narration

I am currently making my way through the classics and felt that Anna Karenina was a must. This is the first I've read of Tolstoy The work translates well into English I think. I recommend this audio book.

My one complaint is that given the lenght of the book, I had hoped to finish with the feeling that I just wrestled with a "big idea". This was not the case. It is simply great storytelling.

The narration is very clear and consistent and by itself deserves 5 stars.

Worthy of 5 Stars

This is an epic, gripping novel. Great narration.

Look out for the book-writing farmer.