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Anna Karenina

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Anna Karenina

By: Leo Tolstoy
Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
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About this listen

Winner: Audible's Best of 2016 - Classic

"Anna Karenina is one of my favorite books. But when I agreed to read it for Audible, I had no idea how much work it would be, how intense it would be, and how deeply I would fall in love with it. There were places where I thought 'if I don't give Alexey Alexandrovitch the respect that he deserves in my reading of this scene, a critical part of the book will be ruined. If I don't give EVERYONE the utmost respect and understanding, I'm not doing justice to this brilliantly compassionate book.' But at the same time, I also wanted to have a light touch in the way I played the different characters, so that the magnificence of the novel could shine through. I feel like performing this novel is one of the major accomplishments of my work life - it was so challenging and so deep, a real pleasure." (Narrator Maggie Gyllenhaal)

Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky. Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight, The Honourable Woman) cites Tolstoy's epic as one of her favorite books of all time, and her love for the literature permeates her performance. Anna Karenina is a masterpiece not only because of the unforgettable woman at its core and the stark drama of her fate but also because it explores and illuminates the deepest questions about how to live a fulfilled life.

Public Domain (P)2016 Audible, Inc. Classics Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Romance Russia Heartfelt

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All stars
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After listening to a few books, I realise that there are books that a great to listen to and books that are better to read (another example of one not to listen to Mrs Dalloway) because the language is so dense. Ci think this is one of those. I struggled to remember who the different names belonged to, and to keep attention to the plot. Tolstoy is an accomplished writer for sure, but I was thinking get to the point.

I don't think Maggie Gyllenhaal was the right reader, I found her a little monotonous and failed to keep my attention.
There was a lot I enjoyed about the book, but I did feel that Anna Karenina needed to get a grip and lacked empathy for her as a character at times.

A book for reading

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The OCD in me made me finish this even though it was nearly 40 hours. Maggie is cool and I like her so much I picked this book but even she can not make pages and pages on farming methods interesting and her French pronunciation is jarring.

So long

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The reading is very well done, the story justly famous, the narrator distinguishes well between the characters and is particularly on form in conveying the pathos of Anna herself, the reality of love's imagined failure crossing into the romantic mania for grand statement and that burden of loss and guilt that remains for the survivor. For some British listeners the accent might become too severe but I didn't find it so. So if you want the feminine take this is to be recommended, if you prefer the male voice then the Horovitch version is also excellent.

Excellent reading of classic novel

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Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance is absolutely perfect, her voice is exquisite and fits the story so well.
The book is of course an absolute classic. It is very lengthy though and goes into great detail about a lot of characters, so only take it on if you know you can invest enough time at once.
Overall, loved it.

Amazing narration of classic

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I hope Maggie G was paid handsomely for this, because in all other regards it smacks of cost-cutting. Fortunately Constance Garnett‘s 1901 translation is sufficiently unfusty to be no obstacle to enjoyment (since clearly no one wanted to spend any money on royalties). Gyllenhaal is good voice casting, in many ways more suited then a classic fruity British male - the dry & rather hazy tone with flashes of girlishness suits Tolstoy‘s heroine, and the decision not to affect numerous voices for the vast cast of characters permits the listener a more direct experience of the text. But some rehearsal/direction would have helped. There are numerous mispronounciations (of English words - don’t get me started on the French and German, the latter of which is little more than an embarrassed jumble of vowels and consonants), quite a few misreadings (charablanc?) and little response to the ebb and flow of the story. All of this could have easily been solved by paying for some preparation, rehearsal and direction. But it seems that here & elsewhere Audible will splash money on glitz but not back it up with graft.

Cheap & tragic

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