Anna Karenina

By: Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by: Diana Quick

Anna Karenina is one of the most loved and memorable heroines of literature. Her overwhelming charm dominates a novel of unparalleled richness and density. Tolstoy considered this book to be his first real attempt at a novel form, and it addresses the very nature of society at all levels - of destiny, death, human relationships and the irreconcilable contradictions of existence. It ends tragically, and there is much that evokes despair, yet set beside this is an abounding joy in life's many ephemeral pleasures, and a profusion of comic relief.

©2011 Talking Classics (P)2011 De Agostini UK 2010

Ridiculously abridged

While I thought the reading was excellent, the book was butchered down to the point that the story was illogical. Poor Tolstoy! His beautiful and complex masterpiece distilled down to the point that you roll your eyes over Anna's mania rather than feeling sympathy.

Aside: it is so much more palatable to hear a woman feign a man's voice than the reverse.

Don't bother.

There are abridged versions, then there are comic book interpretations, which is the case here.