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.

Great Read

Classic novel. Great performance. Just one complaint. When"thoughts" or ""whispers" it was so soft that I couldn't hear or distinguish the phrases. Otherwise, very enjoyable.

Beautifully read

Although I found the story somewhat interesting at times, if I compare it with War and Peace, I could not help being captivated by the narrator's subtle and intelligent manner of reading. Quite an achievement.

The Greatest of Tolstoy. The greatest of narrators.

David Horovitch is a true gem. I will listen to anything he narrates as he brings it all to colorful life without bringing attention to himself in particular. This is rare in today’s world. Thank you Mr Horovitch for being true to great literature and also to your rapt listeners.

Great book and great narrator

My first review. So yes..this novel really is great. It truly is one of the greatest. But you already know that. My favorite narrator..Alexander Scourby (It’s criminal that he did hundreds of audiobooks but they’re not available to the public) Ralph Cosham (also goes by Geoffrey Howard) is my 2nd favorite. Well..imagine my surprise…David Horovitch is now on my list of all time favorites. I marveled at his performance. It felt like the perfect performance.

Sublime and perennially relevant

No one does it quite like Tolstoy. No one can trace out so effortlessly all the nuance in such a variety of relationships, built around characters complete and full of surprise, without betraying the sacred truth that sacred truth won’t fit into words.

As long and dense as it is, as full of meaning as it is, it moves smoothly and naturally. That credit goes to Tolstoy and to the translator. As for the performance, it is movingly delivered. I’ve listened to a number of 30+ hour audiobooks and they tend to be more of a slog than this. This sets the standard.

An Epic for today’s turmoil.

I had Anna Karenina on my wish list for a while, but seeing how the book was long and time was short, I have put it off. Until this January. With everything that has been going on in the world I searched for books that would give me historic insight into modern troubles. Anna Karenina proved exactly what my person needed. Beautifully written, splendidly performed, the book has been a delight to listen to.

A masterpiece

5 Stars

So much to say on this one. There are really three works here:

1. Sections 1-7
2. Section 8
3. The work as a whole.

Sections 1-7 were the bulk of the story itself. It was a work of art, truly like a beautiful, hand-carved wooden chariot. Each edge beautifully swirling into ornate curls and closures. It was like a marble statue from Michelangelo. It felt regal. I felt regal. But I felt the faults and humanity of royalty. The characters were real. They didn’t just have depth, they were human. The subtlety was done correctly for all. I felt like I knew several of these characters. The inner nature of women were on better display here than that of man. I think, though, that that is simply because women are more complex creatures.

Section 8 blew me away in a fashion that I never would have expected. Llevin finds God, and has the realization that reason in itself can, by definition, never tell us anything about the mystical. It’s the same realization that came to Wittgenstein, and also to myself. It is insane to me that this same idea keeps coming to me from everywhere all at once. Buddha, Wittgenstein, Tolstoy, myself.

The work as a whole is a masterpiece of literature.

If Tolstoy is Michelangelo, then Dostoyevsky is Picasso.

Just as Wittgenstein knew several passages of Brothers Karamazov memorized by heart, I think I will have passages from Anna Karenina that I will know by heart. In particular, from section 8.

There were several points, especially in section 8, when I had goosebumps. That speaks to an ability to write that supersedes my understanding.

It was relatively conservative in the points it made. Masculinity vs. femininity, country vs. city, peasant vs. nobility, education vs. ignorance, charity vs. hedonism, etc. There were many, many layers to this story.

I will certainly have to re-read this one, hopefully multiple times for the rest of my life. There’s so much more to get from it I think.

A real masterpiece. I was so incredibly pleased that there do exist rare pieces of humanity that push us. An escape from mediocrity. The old masters of literature, which have beaten the battle against time. The classics grow more valuable, the longer it’s been since they were composed. The longer something is relevant, the more relevant it is. Tolstoy did not disappoint. My favorite piece of literature I’ve ever read.

Well worth the listen

Anna Karenina is a classic for a reason! Tolstoy is a masterful storyteller weaving multiple themes in a cohesive story centered on family life. David Horovitch’s reading was superb!

Probably the Best Narrator I've Ever Heard

The reader was absolutely electric, especially whenever a character was upset in the story. Just amazing.

Better Than Gyllenhaal

Upon starting Anna K, I purchased both the Gyllenhaal and Hortovitch narrations and listened to the first two chapters. I kept Hortovitch, his reading being much more passionate than Gyllenhaal’s. Additionally, Hortovitch reads the Maude translation (a richer translation in my opinion), in contrast to Gyllenhaal’s reading of the Garnett translation. I was very happy with my selection; this title was 38 hours well spent.

My three biggest takeaways from this title: Konstantin. Dmitrievich. Levin. Talk about a character after my own heart: his morals, his relationships, his reactions to society, his enlightenment and the like. He’s a profound masculine character hidden behind the feminine facade of this title.

Anna K has lots for male and female readers alike. Perhaps my biggest disappointment with this title is the politicking of the various characters and cities. On a second read I might pick up more from these chapters but for the first read I found these scenes distracting.

For the first-time reader, be sure to keep your eye on the motions of Varenka and Koznyshev. While they both hold minor roles in the book, there are key moments for both of these characters throughout the title that should not be missed.

The meditations on the wide varieties of relationships presented in Anna K will leave me plenty to think about for the weeks ahead. While I didn’t find myself immediately itching to start a second reading like I’ve felt after some of the other Russian classics, the final 200 pages are quite the climax to the story and are absolutely worth the effort.

Come for Anna, stay for Levin, and enjoy some of the best outdoor scenery and relationships in literature along the way. May your own needs, desires and relationships be better understood upon completing this title.