I feel so accomplished!

Why do you ask? Well, I'll tell you!
I finished Anna Karenina...woot! It only took me forever because I kept getting distracted and what not. I actually enjoyed it, even though I had my doubts at first. I'm actually starting to think I enjoy almost every book I read...except Twilight *shudder*

I don't really know who I sympathized most with in the book, since Tolstoy kind of made me feel bad for all of them. I probably felt the most sympathy for Seryozha (Anna's son) because the poor kid had no idea what was going on and no felt like explaining to him and he was often forgotten...poor kid. I have to say that I didn't expect Anna's death even though she was threatening suicide and everything. I kind of paralleled her threats with a child threatening to run away from their parents just to make them feel bad for them seemingly not caring about you. Anna really did regret throwing herself under the train though, that much I know. It was just like the time she thought about taking the whole bottle of morphine or opium, I can't really remember which. She got really scared of the idea of death, which made me think she wasn't going to kill herself...but I was wrong.

I must say that Levin's whole realization at the end of the book kind of irritated me, whether that was because I was tired when I read it and didn't have much patience, or something else. Being an atheist myself, I can think of plenty of things to live for in life and not flounder at the idea of right and wrong without turning to a god of some sort. But I guess Levin's not like me and since Tolstoy was a christian (or something like a christian, anyway) I figured that Levin would have some kind of conversion. His personal struggle to find something to live for was long, but I did enjoy the end result. Particularly at how Levin didn't feel much different that how he had felt before, it felt to me like Tolstoy was saying religion doesn't change who you are, you have to make an effort to change yourself. And of course, Levin's age old question of whether those who believe in a different religion go to hell, even if they're good people. Levin's internal conflict was like an ever changing picture, morphing into different shapes and colors throughout the book, making me so glad that I didn't read the abridged version (which cut out most of Levin's thoughts and feelings).

Let's see, probably my favorite scene in the book was when Levin was freaking out about Kitty going into labor. He represented the stereotyped nervous first time father absolutely perfectly and it made me laugh. Of course the doctor's and Kitty's complete calmness was funny and contrasted Levin's so greatly it was perfect. I have plenty of favorite scenes but that one was just amazing.

Would I recommend this book? I would say that I wouldn't recommend it to most of the people in my English class, so if you like major action packed, exciting, non-sluggish plot, non-human nature focused/slice of life then this book probably isn't for you. But i guess I could always be wrong. If that's the case, then check Anna Karenina out, just don't be intimidated by the 900+ pages and probably small print.
:)