What is currently happening in Anna Karenina is Levin's brother is dying. Anna is struggling with keeping the attention of her lover Vronsky and missing her son so much she can taste it. Kitty is adapting to married life with Levin and paving the way for how their marriage will be defined, as back in those days the stereotypes and properness of things mattered most to everyone. Alexei is coping with his separation from Anna and has a new woman in his life that is helping him, but complicating his life further. Anna's poor son is just trying to please his tutor, the butler and nanny-like female companion of his dad that told him that his mother, Anna, is dead. These are difficult and confusing times. There is so much to relate to in the quandaries of life all of these fictitious people are going through. This story is demonstrating to me that life, no matter what time through the ages it is, focuses on personal relationships in relation to other people more than the secondary work that we do to pay the bills. The scandal and gossip still emerge as what the latest news is about and the world news of war, illness and famine are secondary to those still.
I am put off by the repetition the author demands of writing the full name or more confusingly the full nickname of people every time he mentions them by name. It is always written with first and last name instead of first name alone. As if there are characters with the same name and as if we will be confused somehow if he does not spell out their entire names. This makes for a long winded book. Also, the amount of politics in this book is astounding. I thought I would be reading a lovely story of the complicated lives people lead in that time, but it turns out the premise of the book is heavily politically laden and there is no escaping it. History to me can be bland and uninteresting to me. Sprinkled in, it is fine, but long winded treaties about them really turn me off. If I wanted a history book I would pick one up. I now know that Tolstoy was very interested in the world view and the politics of the day. The story of the people he uses as a means to an end to tell a historical tale more so than the other way around. This is really a story of the people revolving around one woman within the particular historical times Tolstoy wanted to comment about.
Someone commented about Anna Karenina the other day and how you do not want to end up like her. That spurred me to want to get to the end of this book already so I could accurately interpret their meaning and know what happens! I got through only 15 pages before falling asleep last night. It is enough to see changes in plot and what is happening and enough to keep my interest peaked to keep reading. I smell coffee and hear eggs being made right now. Mmm... I think I will go beg some from my husband now. Adieu for now, the great curve ball in the sky.
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