angelina is not currently reading any books.
I’m 33 years old, female, from the United States. I’ve been a DailyLit member since November 28, 2007.
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Anna Karenina - It does pick up, but...
I'm happy for Levin in the end, but does anyone else wonder what happens for the others? Little Annie, and Karenin and Vronsky? I'm disappointed that there wasn't more of a wrap-up. I ended up caring for many of the characters, and I wanted to know how they put their lives together again.
Anna Karenina - does it pick up?
I found the entire beginning of the book to be completely delightful, and I couldn't wait to get to the next segment. Now I am at about section 190 or so, and have found the last several sections to be painfully slow. I'm not loving or approving of any of the characters, and all the ones I like best are doing unpleasant things, and taking a tedious amount of time to do them. Does it pick up? I'm not even halfway through, so I know there is a ton of story to go, so... Encouragement, please!
Anna Karenina - French
I just ran across this passage, when Anna's husband is writing to her - I thought it might be relevant: "He wrote without using any form of address to her, and wrote in French, making use of the plural "_vous_," which has not the same note of coldness as the corresponding Russian form."
Anna Karenina - French
I learned the same thing when I learned French (ages ago) - but I learned that the "tu" form was what one might use with an intimate, or with a child, and would be inappropriate among anyone except close friends or family members. (They certainly are close - but would the "tu" form have been acceptable to those around them?)
Anna Karenina - French
I thought this passage was fascinating: ""Forgive me for coming, but I couldn't pass the day without seeing you," he went on, speaking French, as he always did to avoid using the stiff Russian plural form, so impossibly frigid between them, and the dangerously intimate singular."
I don't know much about Russian, so the idea that it would be easier for them to converse in French is interesting. But in French, do you think they use the vous or the tu form? (I'm guessing vous, but isn't that also very formal?)