Revolution or Tragedy? Spinning Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina"

"He stepped down, trying not to look at her, as if she were the sun. Yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking."

- Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Not another gargantuous Russian novel, you say. Unlike his goliath book War and Peace, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is one you may actually be able to get through without wanting to pull out your teeth. Published in Russia in 1877, this familiar title is living proof that there are 'some' men in the word who can write realistically about women and boast proudly of it. The novel speaks tension between duty, boredom, societal roles, gender expectation, and an empty urban living that even today serves as precipice for disaster.

Yet Tolstoy's brilliant novel transcends time and calls to readers with Anna's witty and gorgeous sex appeal that has carried her name for over a century of literary history. Sensuous, romantic and exquisite, the story revolves around the tragedy of losing one's sense of self in light of obligation that was the fate for many women in times gone by. To this day, despite the heart-wrenching twists and turns through character names you can't pronounce, Anna calls to new readers a lesson for the ages.

At over 900 pages, this astonishing romantic tragedy will surely bring tears to your eyes even as you catch your first glimpse of dull Tsarist society where politics outweighs human decency and emotions. Tolstoy's brilliance shows when he gets in the head of both big and small characters, even the ones that appear for a single fleeting moment. Yet no head does he permeate as thickly as he does Anna's. She is, after all, the 'queen of the ages'.

What did Tolstoy really want his readers to know of love and desire? Read it for yourself and find out what the tragedy strikes in you.