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Anna Karenina

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Anna Karenina

By: Leo Tolstoy
Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
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Winner: Audible's Best of 2016 - Classic

"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.

Public Domain (P)2016 Audible, Inc. Classics Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Romance Russia Heartfelt
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I loved everything about this. The story is amazing, I love the way Tolstoy seems to see the world from all the characters points of view and sympathise with all of them. At first I found it odd that Maggie Gyllenhall doesn't put on accents for the different characters - she just reads them all in her voice - but after a while I liked it and it has the advantage that she doesn't shape your perspective on the character; whereas other narrators can really shape how you see a character, e.g. by reading them in a shrill or silly voice. Thank you Maggie for a beautiful performance that will stay with me.

I loved this book and the narrator

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Beautifully read, Ms Gyllenhaal gives truly rounded inner and outer lives to Tolstoy’s characters and sets the scenes so fully that the emotions and their development in the world they inhabit is so vividly set one can only feel oneself being fully immersed in their lives, their loves, intrigues, frustrations, jealousies… all their emotions are delivered with neither monotony nor unnecessary embellishment so that the whole work rises up from the page and transports you into the author’s Russia in a way that feel at once both authentic to the time and true to the eternal lives that we all live. It is a definitive production that shows what brilliance can be achieved when a great work is performed by a great actor in a great production. If there is one Audible work that I can recommend without hesitation it’s this.

Absolutely stunning - a truly definitive performance.

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It’s a slog in places and though I enjoyed the narration, the American pronunciation of the word ‘duty’ irks me. But stick with, it’s a wonderful book.

Have patience

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It’s not war and peace which is a masterpiece, but Maggie Gyllenhaals performance is outstanding, filling the characters with a naturalness and relatability which makes the experience personal and very enjoyable

It’s not war and peace

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In an act of bravery I undertook to listen to Anna Karenina - if not now, when? What an absolute pleasure.The whole of humanity is in this novel, in all it's complexity, despite its focus on these protagonists in a very defined historical period. Maggie Gyllenhaal's narration was outstanding. She brought compassion and insight to the text, without overperforming - I feel the reading enhanced the written text, which of course isn't always the case with audiobooks. I was enthralled by sections I probably would have skimmed if faced by 1000 physical pages. I am sad to have reached the end and, if you can believe it, plan a reread in the future.

Absorbing read, marvellous narration

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