Out Now: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, read by Maggie Gyllenhaal
Anna Karenina is one of my favorite books. But when I agreed to read it for Audible, I had no idea how much work it would be, how intense it would be, and how deeply I would fall in love with it. There were places where I thought ‘if I don’t give Alexey Alexandrovitch the respect that he deserves in my reading of this scene, a critical part of the book will be ruined. If I don’t give EVERYONE the utmost respect and understanding, I’m not doing justice to this brilliantly compassionate book.’ But at the same time, I also wanted to have a light touch in the way I played the different characters, so that the magnificence of the novel could shine through. I feel like performing this novel is one of the major accomplishments of my work life – it was so challenging and so deep, a real pleasure.” (Narrator Maggie Gyllenhaal)
Leo Tolstoy’s classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky. Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight, The Honourable Woman) cites Tolstoy’s epic as one of her favorite books of all time, and her love for the literature permeates her performance. Anna Karenina is a masterpiece not only because of the unforgettable woman at its core and the stark drama of her fate but also because it explores and illuminates the deepest questions about how to live a fulfilled life.
Widely considered one of the best novels ever written, Anna Karenina is the tragic story of the aristocratic Anna’s doomed affair with the wealthy Count Vronsky. Reflecting Russian morals of the time, as well as Tolstoy’s personal feelings on infidelity, Anna Karenina explores themes of passion and fidelity, the impact that social norms have on personal choice, and the ramifications of choosing a life outside of that deemed acceptable by society.
Anna Karenina
Written by: Leo Tolstoy
Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Length: 35 hrs and 40 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:07-12-16
Publisher: Audible Studios
Get this Audiobook for the reduced price of $1.99, when you buy the Kindle edition first. Buy from Amazon
About the Author
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world’s greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
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Victor Dima
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