Anna Karenina

By: Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by: David Horovitch

Length: 38 hrs

Publisher's summary

Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky.

Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude.

©1994 BBC Audiobooks Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Good book

Not as good as War and Peace in my opinion, still a masterpiece. Time well spent

A new favorite

What a profound insight into humanity Leo Tolstoy has given us! This is one to ponder and read again later.

A wonderful thought provoking book

A wonderful thought provoking book! I enjoyed the ideas explored through the narrative. well worth the read.

Brilliant narration.

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

I have never come across David Horovitch as a narrator before but he is a master. I have always felt the Ian McKellen's Odysseus set the gold standard in audiobook renderings but with the range and wide variety of characters required for Anna Karenina I would have to rate David Horovitch higher.

Any additional comments?

More by Mr Horovitch please - anything, everything but especially War and Peace!

Narrator issues

How could the performance have been better?

Tolstoy writes and puns in a variety of languages from French, to German to English. Even as someone who speaks all three of these languages, it was (at times) impossible to understand it in the narrator's slurred speech.

Great Narrator and a Classic Novel!

there is no question if Tolstoy's longevity. He describes the thoughts and feelings of the various characters very well and paints a vivid picture for the listeners.

The narrator does a great job of changing his voice and tone according to the story.

AMAZING!

Would you listen to Anna Karenina again? Why?

I would definitely listen to this again. There are many layers to the story and complex characters in the book which means there is a lot to be gained from repeat listens/reads. The performance was amazing and the story is incredible.

What does David Horovitch bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

It was very appropriately energetic and it was easy to tell the difference between characters. He whispers when people whisper and speeds up when people are telling a secret etc. it makes it all very real and compelling.

Any additional comments?

I would actually rate his performance 4.5 stars. It was an amazing performance with two *slight* down sides. there is a portion where he plays a sick man and it is very hard to understand his raspy voice. Also, sometimes he shows that people are whispering and suddenly drops his volume too making it realistic but hard to hear. These two things are, however, very slight and would not in any way deter me from listening again or recommending it to a friend.

A GREAT audio book!

A beautiful look at the human life

The suffering, the triumph, the jealously, the sadness, all is showcased beautifully in this long book that has taken me over 2 months to compete.

Glad I went for it!

I'm a major Dickens audiobook fan, and he is known for length, but I had doubts as to how well I'd do with the 38 hours of Anna Karenina. Not an issue, as it turned out. The writing is superb and often mesmerizing. Tolstoy goes into an amazing level of detail, and takes his time with scenes and plot lines. Once in a while I'd get a little tired of the detail (the political meeting went on a bit long, but they often do, don't they?), but then I'd come across something like Levin helping his farm workers scythe the hay, which is an extraordinary piece of writing, and find myself completely absorbed.

I can't sing David Horovitch's praises highly enough. It's a beautiful pairing of book and narrator.

This book is well worth your time!

Quite nice, splendid narrator

The narrator has a wonderful set of voices. A very good production all together. And a great number of intertwined stories with complex characters.