Of its time, yet timeless

I was surprised, and delighted, by how much I loved this novel. I'm not sure what I was expecting (more bitter tragedy, perhaps?), but I found myself engrossed in this fascinating, warmly lit, and intricately woven tale of stately life in 18th century Russia.

The characters were drawn with such care and detail, their lives felt entirely real to me, and I experienced their lives and loves almost as if they were my own. Realistic, too, were the struggles they faced - and the grand and mundane questions that occupied them.

This is a novel that foreshadows so much of what was to come in Russia - and in the world - in the 20th century. War, revolution, struggles between the classes, the mechanisation of agriculture, faith and what it means to be good - all these ideas and are explored with a sort of timeless honesty. The conversations between Levin and Oblonsky could be transposed to a modern dinner party and would still seem fresh.

Reply