Anna Karenina Readalong, 2023

15/2/23

Part 2, Chapter 11

Just when you thought the tension couldn't go on any longer, Anna and Vronsky finally do the deed. There is no description of the event; we just jump right from those two lines of dots (representing a break of time and narrative) to the feelings of Vronsky and Anna after they've had sex.

•	Anna can't stop sobbing and her body is limp with shame. Vronsky is compared to a murderer and Anna to a murdered body. Anna now sees herself as a criminal, and Vronsky as the accomplice who has brought her to this guilt.
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•	She tells Vronsky that she has nothing left now but him. She has been ushered into a new life, which fills her with horror, shame, and joy all at the same time.

•	She tells herself that she'll reflect on her physical relationship with Vronsky when she's calmer. That calm moment never comes, however, because Anna remains completely shocked by what she's done.

•	She has a recurring dream where she's married to both Alexis Karenin and Alexis Vronsky. In the dream, this seems like a totally normal situation, but then she wakes everything seems strange. It's really a nightmare more than a dream.

I've looked it up and it was 2000, may not have been BBC.

Vronsky was Kevin McKidd...how underwhelming.

I met him in Sainsburys once. He was nice. No swooning occurred.

Ha ha yes I am a bit ahead and am weirdly fascinated by the farming details!

Sadik 😅

I feel like Tolstoy has hit the perfect note really - he's boring enough to make Anna's attraction to Vronsky very understandable, but not a terrible husband.
Vronsky is a total creep, but again it's entirely plausible Anna's attraction to him.

I've read ahead a little & reached a farming section, and it's hilariously accurate. (I've spent the last month chasing a mechanic who was meant to have done a fix on my tractor before Christmas, yesterday extracted a plough that should have been in a barn from a pile of brambles, and only need to go down the pub to hear complaints about the lack of workers and the level of wages that those available are asking for.... sadly unlike Levin I don't have a steward & a housekeeper to grumble at )

That's a very 20th/21st century point of view though. In 19th century Russia he would have been a pretty good husband.

You're kinder than me. I just think he sounds like a fat, dull, boring middle aged man who feels like he no longer has to make an effort for his wife, because he knows she's stuck with him.

14/2/23
Part 2, Chapter 10

•	The argument (detailed in the previous chapter) marks a turning point in the life of Anna and Karenin.

•	On the surface everything seems to be the same, but their personal relations have completely changed.

•	Karenin feels utterly powerless, like he's just waiting for a disaster.

•	Anna continues to hang out with Princess Betsy and sees Vronsky everywhere.
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•	Karenin falls back on talking to Anna in a half-mocking tone, which makes it impossible to say anything serious to her.

•	This chapter ends with two lines of ellipses representing the total break between what has come before in the novel and what is to come after.

Yeah, after all, I think we're talking about a time when maybe the thinking about what marriage was or should be was changing. As far as he understood the purpose of marriage, Karenin seems to have been at least adequate. He clearly kept her in reasonable comfort, she had a pretty good position in society, a certain amount of freedom to socialise and travel, he wasn't violent or unkind as such.

The idea of romance in a marriage is quite recent and the transition from one belief about marriage to the one we have now must have been a painful one for a couple of generations.

He didn't strike me as a bad husband in the context of the times. With his need for routine I thought the typical mumsnet response would be is he ASD?

Am I the only one who feels some sympathy for Karenin in chapters 9 and 10? He cannot find the words to explain how he’s feeling and he’s definitely uptight, but he senses he is losing his wife and he doesn’t really now what to do about it. Totally out of his depth.

Vronsky is the definition of a cad, I agree. At this point he's being horribly selfish with no regard for Anna's reputation and the impact it's already having.

I don't remember Helen McCrory from the BBC version. Will have to look.

And a bounder!

Not as awful as Alec D'Urberville (yet?) though!

Who played him in the BBC version form years ago with Helen McCrory?

When I see Vronsky, I can't unsee James Norton, even though I know he was in War and Peace!

Absolutely awful man. Yes! A cad.

I agree Anna is caught between two undesirable choices of men - stuffy, boring, pompous Andrey who doesn't seem to care a fig about his wife - only about 'appearances' - and Vronsky - who is the very definitition of a cad. He played with Kitty's affections while it amused him to do so and then dropped her when someone more alluring and interesting came along. And now he's enjoying the frisson of excitement he gets from flirting with another man's wife in public.

I think Vronksy is just very unempathetic in the proper sense of the word. He seems unable to understand how his actions affect others.

Yes to Vronsky being a cad! He's so selfish. Determined to pursue Anna regardless of the potential cost to her.

I found the most recent chapter quite disturbing.

I have just finished chapter 8 and thought I should add some comments. Karenin is a cold fish and he’d be hard work as a husband. A bit distant, too logical and lacking in imagination. Vronsky is what my grandmother would have called a cad. He really is, no remorse for playing Kitty along and no shame in courting another man’s wife in public.
I don’t know if I should feel sorry for Anna being caught between the pair of them or just give her a good shake as neither are desirable.

12 & 13/2/23

Part 2, Chapter 8

•	Karenin was okay with Anna and Vronsky sitting together, but he has noticed that everyone else thought it was strange and improper. He's now starting to feel weird about it and decides to mention it to Anna.
•	After reading for a while, and following his normal routine, Karenin resolves that he needs to speak to his wife. Instead of thinking about the usual official business things he thinks about, he considers what he should say.
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•	Karenin is not a jealous man; he believes in trusting one's wife, and has always had faith in Anna. For the first time, comments the novel, Karenin begins to imagine that his wife has an internal life, with thoughts, wishes, and feelings that he has never known.
•	Now, for the first time, Karenin has to confront life, and confront the possibility that his wife is in love with someone else.
•	This realization horrifies him.
•	He paces back and forth, thinking about what to say and what to do. He's confused, because this is really the first time he's had to deal with life's complications.
•	He begins formulating what to say to Anna as though he were composing an official report. And he's irritated that these "domestic" matters have to take up so much of his intellectual powers.
•	He cracks his knuckles.
•	Anna comes upstairs.
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•	Although he is pleased with the speech he is prepared, Karenin is frightened of the talk he is about to have with his wife.

Part 2, Chapter 9

•	Anna is surprised that her husband isn't in bed.
•	Karenin says that they have to talk.
•	Anna seems completely natural and relaxed, but Karenin feels like she's closed her soul to him.
•	She makes fun of his concern over the propriety of her behavior with Vronsky.
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•	Anna thinks to herself that the only reason he cares is because her relationship to Vronsky was noticed in public. In other words, she doesn't think that her husband cares about her feelings and their marriage as much as he cares about what society thinks of them.
•	Karenin continues to lecture her, and Anna complains of being sleepy. All the while she keeps her tone light and sweet.
•	Karenin tells her that he loves her, brings up their son, and says that to break these bonds would call down serious punishment from God. (This is all different from his prepared speech, by the way.)
•	Anna thinks to herself that Karenin doesn't know what love is. Karenin pleads that, if there is anything to this whole thing with Vronsky, that she tell him. Anna refuses to confess any feelings towards Vronsky, and they fall silent.
•	They go to bed.
•	Karenin falls asleep quickly, but for a long time Anna stays awake thinking of Vronsky: "her heart filled with excitement and criminal joy" (2.9.32).

11/2/23

Part 2, Chapter 7

•	Someone is approaching the door, and Princess Betsy can tell that it's Anna. She looks over at Vronsky, who looks happy yet nervous.

•	Anna comes in and takes a seat.

•	The conversation turns to love.

•	The ambassador's wife says that the only happy marriages she knows are arranged marriages based on reason.
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•	Vronsky argues with her, making the claim for passion.

•	Princess Betsy argues that you can only know love after correcting a mistake, and the rest of the company agrees that "it's never too late to repent"—even after marriage. Princess Betsy asks Anna for her opinion. Anna says she thinks that there are many kinds of love.

•	Vronsky visibly relaxes at this at this ambiguous statement.

•	Anna turns to him suddenly and says that she's just received word that Kitty Shcherbatsky is sick.

•	Vronsky asks for details. The two of them go off in a corner by themselves.

•	Anna reproaches Vronsky for his behavior towards Kitty, and tells him to go back to Moscow and ask Kitty to forgive him.

•	Vronsky says that she doesn't mean that.

•	She asks him to leave her alone.

•	He argues that he thinks of the two of them as one, meaning that he sees no peace for either of them, only happiness or unhappiness.

•	Anna tries to say the right thing, but can only look at him with eyes full of love.

•	They talk some more, and then Karenin, Anna's husband, joins the little party.

•	He talks to Princess Betsy, who draws him into conversation about universal military service.
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•	Vronsky and Anna stay apart from everyone else in the room, which everyone except Karenin notices and feels uncomfortable about.
•	Trying to end this awkward situation, Princess Betsy gets Anna to join the general conversation.

•	Karenin suggests to Anna that the two of them go home together, but Anna says she's staying for dinner.

•	After dinner, Vronsky walks Anna out to her carriage.

•	He tells her that he wants her love, not her friendship.

•	Anna tells him that love means a lot to her.

•	Vronsky is happy, because he feels like he's made great advances in his pursuit of Anna.

I'll spend some time reading this tomorrow and I'll catch up with the chat soon. I was not impressed by Anna's friend spreading rumours around!

On first acquaintance I really liked Princess Myagky.

I find the chapters interesting in structure. They sort of fade out and in , almost like we are dropping in on little 'salon pieces ' in medias res.

Things are certainly hotting up plot wise and in today's chapter there is an interesting conversation about marriages of convenience.

I d find I don't properly concentrate, though, because it's so dialogue heavy. What a bunch of gossips!