Anna Karenina

By: Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by: David Horovitch

Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky.

Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude.

©1994 BBC Audiobooks Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Glad I went for it!

I'm a major Dickens audiobook fan, and he is known for length, but I had doubts as to how well I'd do with the 38 hours of Anna Karenina. Not an issue, as it turned out. The writing is superb and often mesmerizing. Tolstoy goes into an amazing level of detail, and takes his time with scenes and plot lines. Once in a while I'd get a little tired of the detail (the political meeting went on a bit long, but they often do, don't they?), but then I'd come across something like Levin helping his farm workers scythe the hay, which is an extraordinary piece of writing, and find myself completely absorbed.

I can't sing David Horovitch's praises highly enough. It's a beautiful pairing of book and narrator.

This book is well worth your time!

Quite nice, splendid narrator

The narrator has a wonderful set of voices. A very good production all together. And a great number of intertwined stories with complex characters.

The BEST author! The BEST narrator!

What made this listen so wonderful, apart from the amazing narration, was the Louise and Aylmer Maude translation. I have read the Pevear and Volonkhonsky translations twice but the difference is between the King James Bible and a children's simplified bible. The Maude translation is so beautiful and the passions/ intellectual doubts so well described, the entire book was a delight. Of course, you have to enjoy marinating for hours in another time and life but the effort is rewarding. Horovitch's characterizations are perfect. Some have complained about the occasional softness of his voice but it is always to emphasize that the character is thinking rather than speaking and is a very effective narrative tool.
After listening to this audible book, I read a little about the Maudes. They were contemporaries of Tolstoy and knew him when they lived in Russia. Perhaps their translation is so striking because it captures the phrasing and tone of other writers from the 19th century. Enjoy!

A Worthwhile Read/Listen

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

David Horovitch's reading of Anna Karenina is excellent and one of the best audiobooks to which I have ever listened.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Anna Karenina?

Horovitch captures the principal character's personalities with precision and brings depth to their respective positions and roles in the story.

What about David Horovitch’s performance did you like?

I was apprehensive about listening to anyone read a lengthy Russian novel, but Horovitch did a brilliant job. His narration was never grating, and he did a brilliant job with both the dialogue and the descriptive portions of the novel.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Hope and Tragedy

TOLSTOY READ BY HOROVITCH - IT DOESN'T GET BETTER!

What a complete to joy to listen to the multi-talented David Horovitch bring this magnificent sweeping story to life. I read this novel some years ago but listening to Horovitch,create a perfect voice for each character is nothing less than staggering.
I rarely do reviews but this deserves five gold stars. I will search out other books narrated by this gifted actor. Thank you ! Gabriella

another piece of important under my belt.

My mother is something approaching infamous for always finishing a book and when she was pregnant with my sister, Anna Karenina was the book that nearly broke her. It became a family joke. Well, I decided if my mom could manage it all those years ago, I could manage it now. And so began my adventure through Anna Karenina.

I know very little about Russian literature except the names of the major authors and major works. Anna Karenina was my first time reading a Russian novel. I won't say I loved it. A lot of time was spent on socioeconomic theory and crop rotatations, along with miserable people making their own lives miserable. Still, I listened to the whole thing. The narrator was good. He did clear and distinct voices for all the numerous characters and I found it pretty easy to keep who was talking straight, Russian names are tricky but the narrator made it easier to keep strraight who everyone was. Tolstoy writes a wide and wonderful variety of people. And even though Anna Karenina is frequently miserable people making themselves miserable, I did feel for them and teared up repeatedly.

The long and the short of it is, Anna Karenina isn't strictly my type of book but I enjoyed it. It was a good book and it kept me company while I did all sorts of traveling and house work alike. It was a credit well spent and one of these days I'll listen to it again. Right after I get around to finishing War and Peace

Wonderful!

Loved the book AND the narrator. His pronunciation and voices were very well done. He keptmy interest the whole time.

life

Tolstoy brilliantly explains this timeless Russian tale that we all relate to. My favorite part of the book is the way he explains the inner conflicts within each of the characters minds. I relate to this the most and it's given me more emithay toward others.

Great narrator!

Narrator read the female parts as well as Tolstoy wrote them. Really enjoyed this book.

awesome..

loved it. it had it all. the meaning of life,, death and everything in between..