Reading Tolstoy is enjoyable if only for the glimpse it provides of Russian aristocracy, the peasantry, and the spirit which they share.The co-protaganists in the novel, which some call the best ever penned, are Anna Karenina and Levin Konstantin. Anna excelled in society, but was shunned due to adultery. Levin did well in society, but preferred the country and overseeing operations on his land.
To me, the theme of the novel is the pursuit of happiness. It opens with the line "happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way".
The beautiful Anna fails to find happiness in pursuing the man she desires, and takes her own life in a despair created by insecurity. Hers is a "heart-to-head" story in which she sinks into a personal hell of her own making.
Levin, an intellect, finds love and achieves happiness by exercising faith as opposed to relying solely on his own formidable powers of reason. As a peasant tells him, "we work to serve God". His is a "head-to-heart" story in which he finds alignment with heaven.
It is said that Tolstoy converted to Christianity after completing Anna Karenina.
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