Poojitha Bhat

Though titled, 'Anna Karenina', this book is not just the story of hers. It has a narrative of many other people intertwined to such an extent that at times you tend to forget who the protagonist is. It is not just a story of Anna's adultery and how her passion takes over her rationality, it is also a story of all characters connected to her in some way or the other. What strikes me the most is the narration that is straight out of each character's mind. There is no filtering, no opinionation. The reader is provided with unfiltered thoughts from each character's perspective and hence has the flexibility to read and form opinions of her own. At places even a dog's and a horse's thoughts are narrated! It was astonishing to see how Tolstoy could get into the shoes of each character to pen down the story. There is nothing special with the introduction until the lady herself enters and meets Count Vronsky at a railway station. This in my opinion is the best entry of the main character in a story ever. Throughout the book, the characters are seen to debate upon various philosophical topics such as women's rights, freedom and welfare of peasantry, wars, superfluous nature of Russian aristocrats who label themselves as liberals and so on. Each character has a different interest and hence there are a lot of topics covered like agriculture, horses, racing, elections, painting, theology etc. This detailing might bore or interest the reader at places. All the points put forth by the characters seem logical and rational until the topic of religion is discussed. The religious debates seem irrational and irrelevant and turn non-believer characters into believers in an unnatural manner. (The arguments against women's education are irrational too. But they do nothing in derailing the narration). Lastly but most importantly the story is like an everyday incident that might happen around you but when it is narrated by Tolstoy, the same everyday story becomes an exquisite masterpiece!