In light of all the extramarital affairs making headlines in the media lately, it only seems appropriate that the movie adaptation of “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy is coming out this weekend. Tolstoy clearly knew his Russian characters would come to life in American government and politics one day and everywhere else around the world.
This book is a monster. If you swung all 900 pages in all its glory at someone, you could knock them out. That being said, it took a long bit of time for me to get into the plot of all the angst and debauchery. Tolstoy holds nothing back with his characters. All of them are complex and a little bit obnoxious. Most characters in the book are whining about their lives somehow. “Oh poor me, I’m part of the elite social life of Russia.” C’mon people! Everyone is obsessed with someone else or glittery expensive things.
The leading lady, Anna Karenina, who is stuck in a life she chose, then proceeds to throw her whole life, including her kids, to the wind for a younger guy she falls in love with. Mid-life crisis much? I hate to love her/love to hate her. No one likes a cheating ho, but then as the story unfolds over hundreds of pages, you start to feel sorry for her. You would think someone in her elite position and her age would know better than to wrap herself in a web of lies, deceit, backstabbing and regret, but we women obviously don’t like things to be easy. To give her a little credit, her husband is kind of douchey.
The writing is somewhat difficult to get through since it was originally written in Russia forever ago, but it’s nothing anyone couldn’t get through. There are other stories that branch off of the original one (Anna and her affair) that involve the minor characters. These story lines are basically one person pining for another person or rich people complaining about their lives. It’s good to see how the other half lives, I guess.
Despite the huge moral issues of this book, I can’t help but love it. It’s a big mountain to tackle, but well worth it. It’s actually really hard to read at some places in the novel, and I’m not going to sit and tell you it’s for everyone because it’s not. The ending of the book is straight up depressing, so it makes sense that Kiera Knightley got the leading role. Girl knows how to act out some serious drama — hello “Atonement.”
I couldn’t stop laughing the first time I saw this trailer because of the mustache on Jude Law, who plays Anna’s crappy husband. It worse than in “Sherlock Holmes.” It irritated me that all the actors are British, when the book is based in Russia, but I guess there are not many well-known Russian actors, so you have to work with what you have. From the trailer, it looks like all the angst and passion is captured in a way I don’t think Tolstoy could have properly conveyed through his writing. There are also sexy time scenes in the movie that are definitely not in the book. All those scenes are implied.
I know time piece movies and books aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I really think everyone should check it out. Obviously I think you should read the book as well. Check the trailer out here if you haven’t already seen it.
