94 pages • 3 hours read
Leo TolstoyAnna Karenina
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1879A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book Club Questions
General Impressions
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of suicide and death.
Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.
1. Were you familiar with the plot and ending of Anna Karenina before you started reading? If not, were you expecting a happy ending for Anna and Vronsky? Do you think that if the novel were published today, it would still be popular with readers?
2. To what extent would you call Anna Karenina a love story?
3. Have you read other works of 19th-century literature? How does this one compare, particularly in its treatment of the mores surrounding women’s sexuality at the time (you might, for instance, compare it to Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles)?
Personal Reflection and Connection
Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.
1. Consider Anna Karenina’s famous opening proclamation about happy families. Do you agree with this statement? In your experience, what traits characterize happy and unhappy families?
2. Kitty initially rejects Levin but subsequently regrets this decision Why do people sometimes change their perspective after making a decision? Do you think this tendency is more common when individuals are young, as Kitty is?
3. Do you think that Anna’s decision to pursue an affair with Vronsky, despite the significant risks entailed, is realistic? If the novel were set in the contemporary world, would she be more or less likely to give in to her desires?
4. Why does Levin struggle so much to find a sense of peace and contentment within the novel? Would you characterize him as an “overthinker?” In your opinion, why do some people find it more challenging to accept the circumstances and reality of their lives?
Societal and Cultural Context
Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.
1. How does the novel comment on marriage as both an emotional and social institution? Do Tolstoy’s insights into the challenges associated with marriage still ring true in the contemporary era?
2. After struggling with religious doubts for most of the novel, Levin finally concludes that his skepticism about organized religion does not have to detract from a deep and personal sense of spiritual connection. How does this conclusion resonate in the contemporary world?
Literary Analysis
Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.
1. Is Karenin a sympathetic character? How do his decisions and actions contribute to the unhappiness depicted in the novel’s plot?
2. Analyze the contrast between urban and rural settings in the novel. What types of events tend to happen in the different settings? Which type of setting is depicted as more conducive to happiness?
3. Discuss how the novel depicts motherhood by considering the experiences of Anna, Kitty, and Dolly. Is becoming a mother depicted as a liberating or oppressive experience for a woman?
4. Compare and contrast Anna with Emma, the protagonist of Madame Bovary. Did you find one of the protagonists to be more sympathetic than the other? What shared mistakes do the two women make as they search for happiness?
5. What does the train symbolize, and why does Anna choose this method to end her life?
Creative Engagement
Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.
1. Imagine an alternative ending in which Anna does not die. Do you think that she and Vronsky would have been able to establish a fulfilling relationship? What would Anna have said to a younger version of herself decades later?
2. Tolstoy focuses on aristocratic characters and only gives limited consideration to the many working-class individuals living in Russia at this time. Choose an incident from the novel and describe it from the perspective of a character from a different social class (for example, a household servant, or someone who works on Levin’s estate). What changes in this version of the event?
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By Leo Tolstoy
