"Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy - 94 points

I finally finished Anna Karenina! This was a novel that I enjoyed, but it took a long time to finish. I was happy to learn that it was originally serialized, so it sort of made sense to read it this way. It also took Tolstoy many years to write, and it evolved through the process, so I figure I could do the same.

My copy of Anna Karenina

At its core, Anna Karenina is about marriage, adultery, passion, and the search for meaning in life. It is centered on a few clusters of couples. The main characters are Anna Karenina and her husband Karenin along with her lover, Vronsky. The other couples include Oblonsky (Anna's brother and sister-in-law) and his wife. Oblonsky's wife has a sister, Dolly, who eventually marries a young suitor, Levin, after falling for the cad Vronsky earlier in the novel. 

What are we to make of all this? First of all, it's a pretty good book. The characters are believable and accessible. The novel definitely draws you in and fleshes the characters out as it develops. Marriage can be hard, but so can adultery, and this novel shows both sides of that coin. The central character, Anna, is someone who makes many mistakes, but you find yourself rooting for her, not stoning her, right up to her tragic death. Tolstoy created a sympathetic adultress while at the same time not sugar-coating her flaws or the consequences of her, and society's, decisions around marriage, passion, and adultery. Levin, the man who does eventually find marital love and inner peace of a sort, is also hailed as a type of success story in the novel. The novel ends with him finding contentedness in his marriage and station in life. 

Views and comments on life, love, culture, religion, and faith can be found throughout the book, which is part of its mass appeal. Tolstoy has keen insights into these matters that are revealed in his characters. 

In terms of writing and style, the horse race scene, the hunting scene, and the harvest scene are definitely epic. Each of these has stuck with me months after reading and are some of the best descriptive emotional scenes I have ever read. 

I also like Russian novels in the sense that they are relatable to my situation as a Canadian in terms of weather and geography with references to the cold, snow, winter, and a generally agricultural/natural view of the world in a vast country that is connected, but still distant, from other power centers of the world. 

It took me a while, but I did enjoy this novel. It was an interesting story, but outside of a few epic scenes, the parts that remain are the characters. I feel like I know them in a way that I don't in other novels. This personal connection, coupled with the deep dive into the grand themes of love, marriage, and the meaning of life, is what makes Anna Karenina a great novel.

Epicness: 24

Many say that Anna Karenina is a contender for the greatest novel ever written. I can see why. It is constantly referenced and many great authors point to its depth and breadth. It stands on its own as a great story and novel, and also pushed the idea of what it means to be a novel (serialized, re-written, a type of exploration of personal and political themes through the form of a novel). 

Exploration of the Human Condition: 24

Anna Karenina is a deep exploration of what it means to be human. What are the constraints on our sexuality and rules surrounding marriage and family life, and what are the costs of not having them or following them? What is the meaning of life? How does one truly 'believe' or 'not believe' in God? Tolstoy's different characters explore each of these themes, and others and the reader explores with them.

Eloquence: 23

Anna Karenina is not necessarily a poetic book, but many of the scenes are. The banter between characters is flawless and fluid, and the narrator seamlessly flows in and out. 

Enjoyability: 23

I enjoyed this novel. It was long and took some work, but it was worth it. I feel like I was invited to part of their family. 

"Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert (1857)

I have read Madame Bovary, the 1857 French novel by Gustave Flaubert, twice.  The first time was a few years ago, but I read it in fits and starts, and I didn't blog about it.  I read it again recently, in part, because a group of friends decided to read Anna Karenina, and I learnt that part of Tolstoy's influence for that novel was Flaubert's Madame Bovary.

I enjoyed the book both times, but got more out of it the second reading.  My guess is this is generally true of all reading, but there is also something special about the freshness of the first read.  I found the novel intriguing and applicable today, especially Emma's romantic disillusionment with life.  Part of the original popularity of this book was the fact that it was banned, but it certainly wouldn't be today.  Emma is referred to as the original desperate housewife, which wasn't an acceptable conversation in novels in 1857 France, but something we almost idolize today.  Further to that, Flaubert reveals Emma's inner feelings, desires, and passions without any moral judgment or critique.  His characters simply are who they are, including sensual beings.  This is certainly a sensual book, but hardly scandalous by the standards of our day.  The sexuality is inferred, and in many respects is what makes it alluring.  Many readers related to the feelings of Emma, and the male characters as well.

Charles Bovary is a flawed character, and also betrayed by his own sensuality.  He loves his young bride, Emma, after a loveless earlier marriage to a widowed shrew, but in some ways, he is not sensual enough to keep up to his new bride's imagination.  His fawning after her is not what she wants, and yet she wants him to be more romantic.  What's a guy to do?  He becomes more distant and she seeks love elsewhere.

The novel begins with some background information about Charles Bovary, and then some about Emma.  From a young age, it seems, that Charles was somewhat dull and Emma was somewhat passionate or had yearnings for more.  At times I feel for Emma, being stuck in a 'loveless' marriage, and at other times I feel she is quite selfish and immature.  She, from the beginning of their marriage, felt a piece was missing, but she is quick to put the blame on Charles.  I wonder how many marriages can relate to this?  It is interesting that Flaubert, a male, is writing this about the inner life of a woman.  I wonder if he experienced this in his romances because it is written with depth and passion.

Charles Bovary did have some degenerate years when he failed from Medical school before returning to plod through by memorizing the exam questions, not because he understood what he was doing.

Madame Bovary gets bored.  This is applicable to our time because boredom, "that spider, that spins webs in every room", is what drives much of our time on social media.  Ultimately Madame Bovary is bored and looking for someone else to entertain her.  She imagines that she is missing out (#FOMO) at times even imagining that all her friends from school have all moved on and married happily without her.

I find similarities amongst characters from other novels, namely Don Quixote and Pip in Great Expectations.  All of these characters are longing for an ideal, I suppose Candide would follow this track as well.  I don't know whether to envy her or feel embarrassed for her.  The marriage of Emma and Charles has a chance at the start.  They both have some life experience, Charles previously married and Emma did live away at a convent, which is something at least.  They both seem happy at the beginning of their marriage, which is recounted at length by Flaubert, down to the decorations on the wedding cake and the behaviors throughout the night of many guests.  But while Charles seems happy with what he gets, Flaubert has him radiating after their first night together, Emma seems consummately disappointed.  Somehow the romance novels she devoured and the passions she imagined did not meet the reality of her situation.  She finds herself not living the idealized life she had wished for very early on in her marriage, eventually driving herself to affairs, disappointment, and manic depression, which all conspire to drive her to take her own life.  Again, this romanticizing of a life 'out there' is quite pertinent, with many of us gushing over social media posts of lives we wished we lived.  He can we meet the expectations of the demands set by the lives posted on social media?  How can we not be anxious? A great book, and timely for our day as well.

'Epic'-ness: 22.5: I had heard of this book before I read it, but knew none of the characters or plot.  It helped define the genre and is still applicable today.

Enjoyability: 22: I enjoyed this novel, but found that I could put it down.  Some of the characters were hard to follow and keep apart, but I think that had to do with the French names. 

Eloquence: 23.5:  This is a poetic book.  It reads like Emma feels.  I would love to read it in French.

Exploration of the Human Condition: 23.5: This novel is as applicable today as it was in 1857.  It is a bit narrow in its exploration of human idealized romanticism, but all the characters and vignettes show Flaubert's insights into human life.  

Epic Quest Total Score: 91.5

Novel 8: "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens (91.5)

The only novel by Charles Dickens that I had read before reading Great Expectations, was A Christmas Carol, which I have always loved.  It was time to dig deeper into Dickens.

I found an old copy of Great Expectations (pictured below) and started reading.  I had seen the 1998 film adaptation of the book (starring Gywenth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke), so I was somewhat familiar the characters and plot; but, as is often the case, the book was so much more than the movie.  That said, the tenor and sensuality of the 1998 movie version was on point and grounded in the themes of the book, if not the particular facts of the novel.

As I read, I found myself being drawn to the main character, Pip.  He reflected many human characteristics that are so familiar, yet often not portrayed in typical pop culture heroes: the hidden shame for close friends and family (Joe), and the accompanying shame from feeling the shame, desire for someone that doesn't desire you and even mistreats you (Estella), and the lack of desire for what you know you should want (Biddy), and unhappiness upon receiving what you wanted.

I also enjoyed the rich, complex characters in the novel, and the slow unfolding of the mystery surrounding Pip's unexpected expectations.  I also enjoyed, and laughed out loud, while reading, which is always a good sign!  These points of laughter covered the spectrum of scenes from the trials and joys of caring for an aging parent (Wemmick) to scenes that demonstrated human experience between young men venturing into the world together, going into debt along the way (Pip and Herbert).  Other humorous scenes included the marital stress and bumbling success of the Pocket family (complete with father pulling at his hair as an act of OCD, though Dickens wouldn't have known that label yet!).  The interactions and enigmatic, quirky life of Miss Havisham and Estella were also interesting, and darkly humorous.  I also related to Herbert and Pip when they join the Finches of the Grove men's club, and busy themselves with tabulating their debts and trying to make a plan to get out of debt, all the while doing nothing tangible to change anything.  Their play-acting as businessmen and serious adults is as relevant now as then.

Another aspect that I enjoyed were the scenes of dialogue between characters, and Pip's inner monologues.  This is where Dickens offers poignant insights into life.  Many quotable lines in this regard, and Dickens himself can be heard shouting across the centuries.

I found the ending satisfying, not exactly Hollywood, but offering signs of hope.  I was grateful that Joe had his day, and Pip found his peace.  The novel gave me a sense that we should expect to experience joy in our life, and accepting this within the conditions in which we find ourselves is part of the path to experiencing our own great expectations.

Epicness: 23.5: This is Dickens, after all, and I felt like I was in the hands of a master.

Enjoyability: 22.5: The novel read a bit like a mystery, a romance, and a piece of serious literature, and it worked.

Eloquence: 22.5: In particular, the dialogue and the quotes of some of the characters.  I enjoyed 'listening' to the British accents in my head as Pip visited people from the different classes.

Exploration of the Human Condition: 23: I related easily to Pip, and found in Miss Havisham, Estella, Joe, and in so many other characters people that I have met in life, all represented and given expression in this 100-year-old novel.

Epic Quest Total Score: 91.5

Novel 7: "Middlemarch" by George Elliot (94)

First of all, George Elliot is not a man.  She is a woman.  This may be obvious to others, but it took me some time to figure this out, and I felt a bit silly for not knowing this when I chose to read the novel.  I think this is somewhat remarkable considering the time and place in which she wrote, 19th century Britain.  I doubt the deck was stacked in her favour, but she rose to be one of the greatest writers English literature has ever produced.

That said, Elliot is hardly a household name.  Not like Dickens, or Shakespeare by far.  I had never read Middlemarch, and I had barely even heard of it, if at all.  I have an English minor in my Education degree, so it surprised me that this book had never caught my attention or had never been on any of my reading lists considering its importance in the English cannon.

But, to the novel.  In short, Middlemarch is remarkable.  It is not an easy read, and is quite dense, and not particularly exciting (which may account for it not being overly popular).  Each page is worth the work, however, as each passage, or paragraph, or line reveals something of the human condition that is rarely explored (in Elliot's way) in other literature.  The book is at first glance a trite, boring account of life in a English county where the characters gossip about one another and live relatively unremarkable lives, and do very little of grand importance.  But, Elliot's insights into the feelings of the characters, and their motives, unseen, unknown, and un-lived by the others (or sometimes themselves) is a poignant journey into the interior life, a space where many of us live our lives.  At times I felt like Elliot was peering into my soul.  She writes of petty jealousy, frustration, and, yes, love.  She writes of obligation, dreams, defeats, feelings of being trapped, of wanting to do what's right by your community.  She writes of debt, sibling rivalry, and marriage.  The story for the most part ends on a happy note, and has some twists and turns along the way, but the most compelling parts of the novel are Elliot's comments on life through the perspectives of her characters.  It is astonishing the breadth of psychological insight she had.  I wonder what she would have been like to visit with in the flesh.

In a strange way, this book is almost biblical in its sweep of human feeling and moralizing, which may bother, or bore, some readers.  Elliot doesn't sermonize, but sermonizes different perspectives through her characters.  I didn't feel judged as much as I felt exposed, as her characters thoughts about others revealed more about them than the person they were judging.  "Judge not, lest ye yourself be judged...,"  I felt her whisper in my ear.  I feel that Middlemarch could be read again and again, like other epics and the reader would be better for it.  I feel that I could learn new things each reading, or at least grow in knowledge about what it means to be human, and the type of human life I want, or don't want, to live.

That's got to be worth something.

I don't know how soon I will pick this book up again, and I did finish it by listening to much of it in audio form, but I am glad I read it and feel richer for it.  I am surprised by this, and I don't know why. I was kind of sad when it was done.

On a different note, I noticed that the pub in Middlemarch, The Green Dragon, has the same name as a local watering hole in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.  I can't help but think that this is a subtle nod from Tolkien to Elliot.  One emerging master to an older one.

Book Score: 94

Epic-ness: 24.5: This is an epic novel.  I noticed that it consistently ranks in the top ten lists of many 'greatest novels' lists.  After reading it I concur, but it hasn't hit the public consciousness like War and Peace, and other such novels, even though I felt it was just as 'epic'.

Eloquence: 23: Elliot's writing is eloquent, and her characters have that air as well.  The book is chock full of delicious quotes that would make any Instagram account glow, and has.  The book is a bit too dense for my tastes, however, which cramps its poetic style.

Enjoyability: 22: This is a tough one.  The story itself wasn't that intriguing, though the joy of the novel was in the insights, not the narrative arc.  The story wasn't that great, but I did enjoy it, and would recommend it to others.  The 'enjoyment' was there, but in a way that I don't normally experience in novels.

Exploration of the Human Condition: 24.5: Elliot's insight is epic.  The beauty and the darkness in it is of the gossipy, petty type, not the blood-thirsty type, which makes it more poignant and elegant and relatable, if not as sexy.  This is her true genius in my mind.  She didn't write a Hollywood book, she wrote a real one.  I guess that's why it's not that popular.

Novel 6: "1984" by George Orwell (91.5)

Does listening to an audiobook count as reading a book?  There certainly are differences, but I 'read' 1984 by listening to it on the Audible app on my iPhone.  This was my first full audiobook, and I was impressed with the quality of the narration, and the quality of the app itself.  I will still try to read my books in the old-fashioned sense, but this will not be my last audiobook.

I had been wanting to read this book for quite some time, and I was not disappointed.  I didn't know too much about it going in to it, but I knew the basics.  The book was an insightful commentary on life in a media saturated and controlled world, as well as the political potential of propaganda and thought control.  I was expecting this, and Orwell delivered.  The delightful surprise, however, was the plot, and how well-written and well-paced the book was.  The love story with Julia was superb and original, and the whole novel read like a mystery where you keep reading just to get to the end because you want to solve the riddle.  The end shocked me, but as the character O'Brien would suggest, I knew it was coming the entire time.

There were aspects of the novel that I found quite chilling, especially the parts where it parallels our world (much of it, in fact) or the parts where it points to the potential of thought control in our world. Particularly, the part where it appears that Big Brother is able to read Winston's mind, or is learning how to read Winston's mind, was troubling.  Our minds are our final refuge, and if that code is cracked what privacy or hope do we have?  I also hate rats, so the Room 101 scene really worked for me.  And, as I mentioned, the narration was excellent in my audiobook, which really added to the experience.

The book was more enjoyable due to a series of podcasts I listened to about the life of George Orwell (Orwell's real name was Eric Blair) produced by the CBC on their radio show Ideas.  I strongly recommend these podcasts to anyone interested.

1984 by George Orwell: Book Score: 91.5

Epic-ness: 22: This novel is experiencing a new boom in popularity due in part, I think, to the election of Donald Trump and White House phrases such as 'alternative facts' that have their equivalents in the novel.  As well, Facebook and Google algorithms seem to know more about us than we know about ourselves, and our laptops have the built-in technology to watch us as much as we watch them.  Recently popularity aside, this book has stood the test of time so far, but it just isn't old enough yet to achieve top marks in this category.  It will be interesting to to see how popular or relevant this book is 100 years from now.

Eloquence: 23: Orwell's creation and use of Newspeak, and doublethink, and other literary-political wordplay was remarkable and well constructed, and reflects the depth of Orwell's insights into how state propaganda can control its citizens.  As well, the flow of the book was darkly beautiful right until its bitter end.

Enjoyability: 23.5 I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in politics or media.  The last third dig drag at points for me, but I think I was wanting to see how it ended more than anything.

Exploration of the Human Condition: 23 The novel nailed this, at least in terms of exploring humanity's quest for freedom, meaning of reality, and consciousness, especially in regards to the state and media.  That coupled with the surprisingly original and honest love affair with Julia make this book a classic in these regards, however, its scope being limited to political mind-control and related themes kept the novel from exploring other themes.

'Moby Dick' Update: True Life Horror That Inspired 'Moby Dick'

Thanks to fellow Eternal Poet, Wade Klassen, for alerting me to this video and article from the Smithsonian about the history of Moby Dick.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-true-life-horror-that-inspired-moby-dick-17576/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=socialmedia#ooid=12ZGxpeTpCzfLFiOoOFkV5eF9iLVu4Lu

 

Novel 5: "Candide" by Voltaire (90.5 points)

I just finished Voltaire's Candide, and it was a surprisingly easy read.  I feared that it might be heavy and dry when my friend suggested we read it for our next Eternal Poet's meeting this December, but I jumped at the chance to dig into the novel. 

The general message of Candide is to be cautious of simplistic and overly optimistic views of the world, especially when those views support, or allow, or gloss over (or Pangloss over!) pain and suffering.  Religion and governments and philosophical systems seem to be the major perpetrators of such views in Candide and Voltaire skewers them all in turn.  The climax of the novel is the last line where Candide, now mature and wise to the world, endeavors to cultivate his garden.  After all his adventures Candide doesn't simply just accept life as it is, that is passively, but rather seeks to make life how it ought to be, by tending to his garden.

A few personal notes that I found interesting: 1) Canada gets mentioned, but is dismissed as a 'few acres of snow'.  In typical Canadian fashion I was thrilled just to be noticed!  I had heard this quote of Voltaire's before, but it made more sense in context.  2) The discussion of slavery as 'the price of eating sweets in Europe' (or something to that effect) was a good reminder that we are not the first generation to think of 'fair-trade', or ethical eating.  Sometimes we get caught up in the eternal present and forget that other thinking, feeling beings have gone before us.  3) The comments about humans being 1/4 monkey pre-date Darwin and I found that interesting too.

A great little book and I recommend it.  Thanks Wade! 

Score: 90.5 points

Epic-ness: 22.5
- Who hasn't heard of Voltaire?  Glad I finally read him. 

Enjoyability: 23.5
- Surprisingly easy to read, understand, and follow.  I laughed out loud at times.

Exploration of the human condition: 22
- In the broadest sense Voltaire nails this by posing many questions about the state of the world, and asking why it is the way it is and why we tolerate it, but this novel isn't about deep character development at a more personal level.  Many questions are posed, but most are left unanswered.  You can only go so deep in a satire.

Eloquence: 22.5
- Simple in it's eloquence. Voltaire is a foil with his knowledge of literature and history and gracefully weaves them together with religion and philosophy throughout this novel.

A great little novel.  I recommend it for a quick read when you want something to sink you teeth into but don't have too much mental energy or time to invest.