Kiti’s sojourn in Germany marks the first trip abroad in Anna Karenina, and her trip to Europe deli- neated in Part Two is followed by Levin’s in Part Three. With one hundred and forty named characters and several other unnamed characters, Tolstoy places his central focus in Anna Karenina on the characters. Based on the title of the novel, you'd probably assume that the whole book is about Anna Karenina. Rosamund Bartlett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 847 pp, £18.99 [N.B. This review appeared in The Independent on Wednesday 1st October 2014, p. 38. Italian movie music maestro Dario Marianelli's score for the latest version of Anna Karenina has been nominated for the BAFTAs and the Oscars - … “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” The famous opening line of Anna Karenina sets us up with a good idea of what the novel will be about. Mia Forbes considers the central theme in Tolstoy's novel, considered by many to be one of the finest ever written. Considering, then, the novel as epic prose, we must analyze its temper by contrasting Tolstoy with Homer, rather than his contemporaries like Flaubert or James. “The central theme of Anna Karenina," he said, "is that a rural life of moral simplicity, despite its monotony, is the preferable personal narrative to a daring life of impulsive passion, which only leads to tragedy." Her overwhelming charm dominates a novel of unparalleled richness and density. All four of the central characters of Anna Karenina embark on a jour- ney to Europe sometime in the course of the novel. The novel, Anna Karenina, parallels its heroine's, Anna Karenina, moral and social conflicts with Constantin Levin's internal struggle to find the meaning of life. Dario Marianelli - Anna Karenina OST: an album guide. Karenina on the characters. Themes of Life and Death in Anna Karenina - Themes of Life and Death in Anna Karenina The novel, Anna Karenina, parallels its heroine's, Anna Karenina, moral and social conflicts with Constantin Levin's internal struggle to find the meaning of life. Both novels have relationships and adultery as a central theme. What follows is a pre-edited version.] Ha! Despite the basic structure of a multiple plot, Anna Karenina is essentially amorphic, lacking what Henry James called a "deep-breathing economy of organic form." Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy, trans. When I first started reading “Anna Karenina,” ten years ago—I’m obsessed with the book, and have read it seven times since then—I, too, thought of it as a love story. One of Tolstoy's major projects in Anna Karenina is to question the "improvements" that are happening to Russia due to Western "progress."