Anna Karenina

Not to be rushed but to be savored

This is not the dull endless drama I read in college. Maggie Gyllenhaal brings every word to life. Tolstoy in spite my youthful opinion many years ago, created characters that are exciting, brilliant, often frustrating, selfish, funny and in many ways just like our own family members. I didn't want it to be over and I know I will listen to this again. Right now I wish I could talk to other readers to share all the deep thoughts and feelings this book awakens.

72 of 74 people found this review helpful

Top Notch Performance

I've listened to several audiobook recordings of this classic novel. This one may be the best.

The narrator is a famous American actress who obviously devoted a lot of time and effort. I admire her because audiobook narrators are famously underpaid. I'm sure she didn't do this just for the money. You can tell she loves this story, which in my opinion is the greatest love story in novel form.

One of the unique aspects of this version is that most of the other narrators are British. This narrator has a naturally clear and seamless American delivery. It caused me to pick up subtleties that I didn't feel listening to the Brits (though I thoroughly enjoyed them).

This audiobook is worth your money. I plan to re-listen to it in a few months.

A note on this translation:

This is the famous Constance Garnett translation, which, for many years, was the gold standard and the one beloved by so many great writers such as Faulkner and Hemmingway. There are several recent translations, most of which I've read. This and all translations are very good. I wish there were audiobook versions of the recent translations, but I understand that Audible and other recording companies probably can't afford to pay the translators so they use this and other old translations whose copyrights have expired. This is another reason why this narrator has done such an admirable job. Her performance makes this version, which was written in 1901, sound relevant and fresh.

105 of 113 people found this review helpful

excellent classic, the only way to describe it

First time author for me. If you are like me, every once in a while it's a good change of pace to take on a long classic. You have to be in the right frame of mind but something clicks about a story and you go for it. For me, in this instance, it was narrator Maggie Gyllenhaal the actress. And, she did a great job. But in researching the story while listening I learned that this being a classic, Audible has seven full length versions of this audiobook, all with different narrators. How do you know which one to listen to? There are even two Russian version, one Italian, one Spanish plus abridged versions. I guess this is what happens when a book is a true classic.

At times it seemed that the title of the book is a misnomer. Yes, the doomed love story of Anna is central to the story but there is much more to it. There is the farmer Levin who is questioning his faith the entire story, trying to decide if he's a Believer or Unbeliever. But it's also a time piece of Russian history. Tolstoy wrote this in the 1870's and writes about many facets of Russian life at the time. The Serfs of Russia, most of the people, had been freed from serfdom which was basically slavery. They were now called peasants and had to be paid a wage for their work. Under serfdom Russian agriculture had been a profitable venture for the elite of Russian but now with freedom productivity had gone down and profitability was out the window. The term communism was already being used so the coming revolution wasn't something that dropped onto Russia out of the sky. There was much discussion on the equitable distribution of all things for the good of the people. In many ways these issues still exist in current day Russia.

Tolstoy himself was born into the aristocracy of Russia. Since he touched on so many subjects you had to wonder if he wasn't one of those questioning the status quo. He apparently embraced religion and spirituality later in life and it seemed he may have been espousing his questions and views on the subject a he devotes quite a bit of the story to this topic.

All in all, this is a great classic. When the time is right take the challenge and good luck on deciding which narrator to listen to. I don't know that I have a second listening in me just to try out a second narrator. But it is interesting to see how different narrators can put a different perspective on a story.

43 of 46 people found this review helpful

Really stunning

The voice of the actress is full of emotion but subdued,just like Tolstoy's prose. Beautiful production!!!

17 of 18 people found this review helpful

Maggie Gyllenhaal was Outstanding!

Beautiful Narration of a deep, melancholy story. So much emotion, so much pain, so human.

14 of 16 people found this review helpful

Struggles of life

This is the story of human struggle to understand love and hate, good and evil, doubt and fear, responsibilities and consequences, and mans very existence while living through the pains of living. Tolstoy is a master story teller and has an understanding of the inner thoughts of men and women. Excellent.

14 of 16 people found this review helpful

Worst performance I have heard yet

I have been listening to dozens of Audible books for years now, and this might be the worst performance I have heard yet. Maggie Gyllenhaal is in my opinion destroying the entire book.

In the Youtube video posted on the book's Audible page she describes the recording as "I wanted to have a light touch on the way I played the different characters, because the way that somebody reading the book is imagining these people with their own voices, their own mind, is really part of the experience".

The problem is that THIS IS NOT HOW AUDIO BOOKS WORK. The result is utterly horrible. There are almost no emotions expressed by Maggie in her voice, there are few and short pauses, no whispers, no shouts and no anger in her voice where it should be. It's the most boring, tiredsome and utterly painful voice I have ever listened to. It's like listening to someone describing a cooking recipe.

I managed 6 hours in this book and was ready to give up when I decided to try the Audible recording by DAVID HOROVITCH instead.

It is SO MUCH BETTER! When David speaks there is emotion in his voice, you can feel the passion, anger and hopefulness of the characters in a way that Maggie could not even come close to accomplish. When Wronsky and Anna meets his voice adds an extra dimension to the experience, like any good actor adds to a theatrical role.

So, for anyone wanting to listen to this great book - stay far away from this recording and get the one from 2008 with David Horovitch instead!

23 of 29 people found this review helpful

Zero character differentiation

I don't think I'll every try another of Maggie Gyllenhaal's products. While she annunciates well and has a nice voice, she does absolutely nothing to differentiate between characters. No accents, tones - nothing. If you're not paying close attention, it can be very difficult to tell what's going on.
As far as the story itself, it was okay - it is extremely meandering and spends lots of time explaining events that don't seem to matter to the overall story.

16 of 20 people found this review helpful

Excellent

Where does Anna Karenina rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

3

Any additional comments?

I'm saddened by the negative comments about Maggie Gyllenhaal... she did a superb job of narrating. As we all know, narrators can destroy a book... her reading kept me captivated. I am so impressed by her and hope I will get to listen to other books she narrates.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Touching Sentiment

Explores marriage, war, culture, society, religion, and the soul. Very long, at times tedious, but beautifully performed and overall classic work of literature.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful