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Bossy Puts The If In CliffsNotes

anna-karenina-book

All summer long Bossy was trying to read Anna Karenina. It’s the Leo Tolstoy novel Bossy has enjoyed in the past, and she thought it was time to revisit it, as Bossy often decides, because they don’t write new books anymore and Bossy was tired of Jeff Lewis.

Or maybe Bossy wasn’t tired of Jeff Lewis, because the yellow bookmark in Anna Karenina never budged beyond page 102, which if you’ve ever read Anna Karenina, you know is just the kickoff of the beginning of the introduction.

So Bossy thought it would be interesting if she tried to speed-read Anna Karenina by randomly selecting only ten sentences at regular intervals throughout the book. Kind of like how it’s been said if you randomly select a passage from the bible, it will contain the answer. Assuming you knew the question.

Anyway. Shall we?

  1. The whole of that day Anna spent at home, that is to say at the Oblonskys’, and received no one, though some of her acquaintances had already heard of her arrival, and came to see her.
  2. That which had been for almost a whole year the one absorbing desire of Vronsky’s life, replacing all his old desires; that which for Anna had been an impossible, terrible, and even for that reason more entrancing dream of bliss, that desire had been fulfilled.
  3. Anna was upstairs standing in front of the mirror and, with Annushka’s assistance, pinning the last ribbon on her gown when she heard carriage wheels crunching the gravel at the entrance.
  4. None but those who were most intimate with Aleksey Aleksandrovich Karenin knew that, while on the surface the coldest and most reasonable of men, he had one weakness quite opposed to the general trend of his character.
  5. It was past five already, and so, in order to be there quickly, and at the same time not to drive with his own horses, known to everyone, Vronsky got into Yashvin’s hired carriage and told the driver to drive as quickly as possible.
  6. The Karenins, husband and wife, continued living in the same house, met every day, but were complete strangers to one another.
  7. After the conversation with Aleksey Aleksandrovich, Vronsky went out onto the steps of the Karenin house and stood still, with difficulty remembering where he was and where he should walk or drive.
  8. On arriving in Petersburg, Vronsky and Anna stayed at one of the best hotels, Vronsky alone on the lower floor, Anna above, with her child, her nurse, and her maid, in a large suite of four rooms.
  9. Anna was disconcerted by the intent look of inquiry Dolly fixed upon her.
  10. In the slanting evening shadows cast by sacks piled up on the platform, Vronsky in his long overcoat and slouch hat, with his hands in his pockets, strode up and down like a wild beast in a cage, turning sharply after twenty paces.

Well, what did we learn? Maybe not so much with the ten-passage summary of Anna Karenina?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  9. I learned that people don’t read much anymore. I love this book. Have read it at least three times. First time the idea of illicet sex THRILLED me! I always like that in a book.

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  11. ^5 to Bossy I ALSO bought this book many months ago and admire Bossy for having gotten to page 102 I got to page 7 and it sits glaring at me on my nightstand. I admit defat and will send tot he Goodwill for others to purchase and try to slog through it… oh oh maybe I will print Bossy’s helpful hints and place inside hehehe. (Goodwill is $1.49) for paperbacks (Except on hot sale day when it is 50 cents).

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  12. I have to qualify that. I was in 8th grade the 1st time I read it. Although illicit sex is still a good read, at twelve- thirteen, it was fantastic! I just saw that it’s on TCM Tues. at 10 pm. The one with Vivian Leigh.

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  13. Learned not enough. It has been about 20 years since I read that one. Read new translation of War and Peace a year or so ago. Tolstoy refused to call it a novel. Loved the new translation, several earlier attempts with stodgier renderings. See, puts me right into Victorian lit mode.

    The Russian tome that glares at me is Crime and Punishment.

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  19. I attempted to read AK during the summer of 2004 when it was Oprah’s book pick. At least I think it was 2004. Either way, it was a REALLY long time ago. I tried to keep up with her schedule. Even printed the character guides so I had a little cheat sheet. Both the schedule and the cheat sheet serve as my book mark. They have held permanent residence on page 281 since that summer.
    Someday, I hope to get to page 282.

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  20. Does reading a book become pointless when you can’t remember any of the story? Because I’ve definitely read it, but I can’t remember any of what you’ve said. Great.

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  21. Oh, Bossy. This summer I read a chapter of AK and then the corresponding chapter of Android Karenina. And back and forth. I also loved Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Is that wrong?

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  22. Zendra, I am also reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. A great and fun read. As for Bossy’s synopsis: love it! Please tackle Charles Dickens next!

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  23. I learned that I should have waited a couple of months for your summary. I decided to read this book two months ago. By the time I was ready to give up I felt I had invested too much time to quit. I finished it but have no idea why I even bothered.

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  24. I decided to read AK when I heard that Mel Gibson was going to make a movie of it. Back when people cared about Mel Gibson. So that was a while ago. All it did for me was add a check to my “Classics to Read” checklist. I don’t think I’ve read a classic since. Unless “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” counts.

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  25. I re-read books, too, but in my case it’s because I’ve forgotten that I read them before. I’m hoping to continue to whittle my library down to just 2 books as I age and my memory becomes more problematic. Which is a polite way of saying “non-functional”.

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  26. When you find you have forgotten almost everything about a book you read and loved, ticket is punched to read again.

    Happens with movies too. Watch them again feeling like I have never seen them before. Maybe a piece of brain has atrophied, maybe it is just how it is.

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  27. I find Russian literature brutally hard to read. More interesting (to me) even though its more grim is the Annie Applebaum book titled Gulag. It documents what occurred in the penal work system under Stalin.

    Another (perhaps the most) important book on the topic is Alexandr Solzhenitzyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. Give the wikipedia article a peruse to see why.

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  29. I love that I found your blog! I’m currently in the 24th chapter of Anna Karenina and absolutely love it. I got a little giddy when I saw you were writing about her and enjoyed answering the questions and making positive I had understood those passages. A phenomenal book. Great blog!

    Reply

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