I recently reread Tolstoy's best, and it shook me in a way I REALLY did not expect it to. I was touched in a way that I didn't at all feel when I first read it at 16. Now, if you've not read it and are planning to, spoiler alert.
The book is about a wealthy noblewoman in pre-revolutionary Russia who is married to a Mr. Karenin. She falls in love with another man, Count Vronsky, and has an ongoing affair with him. Eventually she moves away from Karenin and their home to elope with Vronsky, but the fact that she cannot legally remarry and the immense subconscious shame she feels leads her into paranoia that Vronsky is cheating on her. That paranoia drives her to suicide. There are other side-stories intertwined with it, but that's the gist of the parts I consider worth retelling.
The first time I read the book, I felt awful for Anna and for Vronsky. It was clear to me that Karenin was a heartless robot who never cared for Anna, that Vronsky was the one who truly loved her for her soul, and if only she weren't so paranoid, she could have been happy with him.
Now, as a wayward wife myself, I see things differently. I see so much of my husband in Anna's husband Karenin. They are both very reserved, and inwardly- I think- very loving. I may have been reading into things too much and seeing what wasn't there, but it seemed to me, upon rereading the book, that Karenin, despite his outward coldness, is truly tender towards Anna. For example, when she nearly dies having her lover's baby and her husband promises to forgive her and reconcile. This time, the one I felt most sorry for was not Anna, but Karenin. He truly seemed to love her, and to want only the best for her, and to be willing to surrender every scrap of pride he had for her sake, in spite of his rational, cold demeanor.
Has anyone else read Anna Karenina or any other book (or seen a movie, TV show, etc.) and found it had an entirly different meaning to you post-A as it had done pre-A?
The book is about a wealthy noblewoman in pre-revolutionary Russia who is married to a Mr. Karenin. She falls in love with another man, Count Vronsky, and has an ongoing affair with him. Eventually she moves away from Karenin and their home to elope with Vronsky, but the fact that she cannot legally remarry and the immense subconscious shame she feels leads her into paranoia that Vronsky is cheating on her. That paranoia drives her to suicide. There are other side-stories intertwined with it, but that's the gist of the parts I consider worth retelling.
The first time I read the book, I felt awful for Anna and for Vronsky. It was clear to me that Karenin was a heartless robot who never cared for Anna, that Vronsky was the one who truly loved her for her soul, and if only she weren't so paranoid, she could have been happy with him.
Now, as a wayward wife myself, I see things differently. I see so much of my husband in Anna's husband Karenin. They are both very reserved, and inwardly- I think- very loving. I may have been reading into things too much and seeing what wasn't there, but it seemed to me, upon rereading the book, that Karenin, despite his outward coldness, is truly tender towards Anna. For example, when she nearly dies having her lover's baby and her husband promises to forgive her and reconcile. This time, the one I felt most sorry for was not Anna, but Karenin. He truly seemed to love her, and to want only the best for her, and to be willing to surrender every scrap of pride he had for her sake, in spite of his rational, cold demeanor.
Has anyone else read Anna Karenina or any other book (or seen a movie, TV show, etc.) and found it had an entirly different meaning to you post-A as it had done pre-A?