A beautiful society wife from St. Petersburg, determined to live life on her own terms, sacrifices everything to follow her conviction that love is stronger than duty. A socially inept but warmhearted landowner pursues his own visions instead of conforming to conventional views. The adulteress and the philosopher head the vibrant cast of characters in Anna Karenina, Tolstoy's tumultuous tale of passion and self-discovery. This novel marks a turning point in the author's career, the juncture at which he turned from fiction toward faith. Set against a backdrop of the historic social changes that swept Russia during the late 19th century, it reflects Tolstoy's own personal and psychological transformation. Two worlds collide in the course of this epochal story: that of the old-time aristocrats, who struggle to uphold their traditions of serfdom and authoritarian government, and that of the westernizing liberals, who promote technology, rationalism, and democracy. This cultural clash unfolds in a compelling, emotional drama of seduction, betrayal, and redemption.

Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

Listening Length

41 hours
Author

Leo Tolstoy
Narrator

Vyacheslav Gerasimov
Audible release date

22 November 2011
Language

Russian
Publisher

New Internet Technologies
ASIN

B01B91MD7G
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
See all details

Get this audiobook free then 1 credit each month, good for any title you like - yours to keep, even if you cancel
Listen all you want to the Plus Catalogue—a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts, including exclusive series
Exclusive member-only deals
$16.45 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime

Learn more about membership

By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice.

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

People who viewed this also viewed

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
5,329
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky
962
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
3
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
Wuthering Heights: An Audible Exclusive Performance
Emily Brontë
14,553
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
2,371
Audible Audiobook
$0.00 Free with Audible trial

Product details

Listening Length	41 hours
Author	Leo Tolstoy
Narrator	Vyacheslav Gerasimov
Audible.com.au Release Date	22 November 2011
Publisher	New Internet Technologies
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	Russian
ASIN	B01B91MD7G
Best Sellers Rank	111,727 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 3,657 in Classic Literature 11,830 in Classic Literature & Fiction

Customer reviews

5 star		60%
4 star		20%
3 star		10%
2 star		5%
1 star		5%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Count Makarov

A Russian book, that says it all.

Reviewed in Australia on 27 December 2017

Verified Purchase

I began with the zero cost Amazon Kindle version of over 1100 pages, translated by Constance Garnett. She died in 1942.
About one sixth of the way I became a little disenchanted by her prose, or interpretation. I thought that there must be other translations. I was right, I found a few. One was by an American couple, well known but I've forgotten their names; easy to look up of course. Another was Rosamund Bartlett's translation completed in 2014. She is an Oxford Don, which I admit impressed me, and I decided to download that from Amazon at a cost of AU$8.43.
Bartlett's version offered about 870 pages.
Finding my place from the original version, I commenced reading the new one from there. I read until about two thirds of the way through that version. By that time I became too irritated to continue and I reverted to the earlier version.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I changed from the Garnett version because I felt that her translation was written in a slightly older, pre-war, type of English. I felt that, being about one and a half generations younger, my appreciation of the narrative would be improved by a later interpretation. However, after reading Bartlett's interpretation for a large chunk of the book; to attempt to justify the expense; I found I might have been hasty. Her translation became increasingly irritating.
Bartlett's version, although using fewer pages, is far more detailed. Bartlett constantly 'stars' and 'numbers' notations about small details and names. Also she translates each and every one of the highly frequent French sentences, and many German ones also. There are thousands.
As is known, Russian nobility; which, by the way, constituted a very small section of the population; regarded Russian as a vulgar language, therefore all spoke French as a matter of course, often also learning some German and English. Thus to translate Tolstoy one had to maintain the original text. Some, like Garnett, simply copied it without translations; Bartlett, on the other hand, translated the lot. I simply couldn’t continue reading it and simultaneously enjoy the book.
So I reverted to Garnett’s version. I did so for the reverse of the reason that I original changed from her version! I came to believe that since the book was written around 1873, her translation might be closer to the intent of the writer.
Altogether it must have taken me almost a month to read; extraordinary; since I bought the 2014 Bartlett version on November 29th, 2017, but did not complete the book until Christmas eve; about 30 days!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It is a difficult book to read and follow. One primary reason is the problem of following the Russian naming habits.
Everybody is normally referred to by their formal first name followed by their patronymic, not forgetting that the patronymic is adjusted according to gender. As if that is not enough, when talking WITH close relatives, they then constantly refer to both THAT close relative and OTHER close relatives by the use of endless diminutive forms. These are endless because they are changeable almost at whim.
Finally, do not forget the actual family name. Thus, even with a list of names provided at the beginning of the novel, one is wise to begin with a notepad and writing down all the formal and informal names, patronymics and diminutives as one reads: Because it is truly tough.
It is secondly difficult because the point of the book changes. If you take a current writing course, do not expect this book to follow anything like the modern rules you learn.
Add to that, this book is Russian and that probably says it all. English writers, even as far back as Jane Austen, tend to be cool and rational. Germans, highly philosophical and consistently obtuse (just a personal, unsupportable opinion.) But Russians are emotional, highly so. Add a heavy dose of philosophy, i.e. “why me?” and “why are we here”, and finally entirely smother it by various levels of depression..
Russians and Serbs – does the world need them?
Read the book; I think the earlier one is better. Try to read it earlier in life; I am 76, I would have liked to have read it 40-50 years ago. Many of us probably need it.
And the relief at finishing it is almost sublime.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Chelsea

Dive in don’t be shy.

Reviewed in Australia on 11 January 2021

Verified Purchase

Addictive and mesmerising book. I read so much and for so long my foot kept going to sleep and I had to actually set a time to move. This is awesome book. Keep notes on the second time on to reflect on key concepts.

Helpful

amc

Dodgy purchase

Reviewed in Australia on 29 May 2021

Verified Purchase

Was really good up until the point that something weird happened ebook that I downloaded. About two thirds of the way through, instead of the clear translation from Constance Garnett, I got a jumble of words that seemed like the book had gone through a computer translator. The issue appears to be with the purchase from Amazon, not the book or translation itself. This was my second attempt to purchase this book from Amazon. Last time the whole book was like it.

Helpful

Adie Williams

Romantic, heart breaking, exceptional and a must read.

Reviewed in Australia on 13 March 2021

Verified Purchase

Why did it take me so long to read this classic? I’m not worthy of leaning a review. Pure brilliance and bliss to read.

Helpful

A Classic

Reviewed in Australia on 7 July 2018

Verified Purchase

How can you not but rate this with all the stars that you have at your means. There have probably been better books but no one understands the human nature of our being than a Russian, and none better than Tolstoy.

Helpful

Allan Anderson

Inner Gremlins abound

Reviewed in Australia on 15 March 2016

Verified Purchase

The internal dialogue portrayed in each of the principle characters, their doubts,assumptions and labouring over gaining understanding and consequent misunderstandings seem to be a big part of the human condition.
I often found it hard to follow with the constant use of different names used for most of the characters. It wasn't what I would call a easy read, long and hard going at times. In the end I found it all worthwhile.

Helpful

Mandy Harrison

Once a favourite, always a favourite!

Reviewed in Australia on 20 October 2015

Verified Purchase

Once a favourite, always a favourite!
I have always loved this book. Anna may not be perfect but she is real.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Marie Gain

Rich & entertaining characters

Reviewed in Australia on 28 December 2015

Verified Purchase

I was prompted to read this after seeing a modernised TV adaptation (A Beautiful Lie). As usual the book was far superior-allowing one to become familiar with the characters , as well as learning more from the historical point of view.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Mondoro

A good adaptation

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 August 2012

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )Verified Purchase

Trying to adapt a novel so rich in character and detail as 'Anna Karenina' in such a short compass is a daunting task, and inevitably there must be omissions. The secondary plot line of Levin and the Princess Kitty was chosen, and they are referred to only briefly on the third disc. This is a pity, as their relationship makes an important contrast to that of Anna and Vronsky. However, the adaptation successfully tells the central story of three essentially good people, Anna, Vronsky and Karenin, who become victims of a repressive social order that enshrines propriety and honour, and yet employs double standards to judge the behaviour of men and women. It uses Tolstoy's own technique of using multiple narrators providing different perpectives on the actions of the main characters, while linking together the various short scenes that make up the story. I would single out Alison Pettit's portrayal of the maid Annushka, a warm and sympathetic commentator on her mistress's plight. Turning to the three main characters, Teresa Gallagher has the dramatic range to move from peacemaker to her sister in law Dolly and her husband on the first disc to the woman driven to the depths of despair in the last disc. The last fifteen minutes of the recording are dramatically and brilliantly realised. Toby Stephens' presentation of Vronsky catches the complexity of the character suggested by Tolstoy; he is far from being the typical army officer. But it is Nicholas Farrell who emerges as the star in his portrayal of the conscientious but emotionally detached Karenin, labouring to create the new Russia in a period of repid change. To these principals I would add Cartolyn Jones' Princess Lydia, exhibiting the disngenuous piety of someone determined to do good, and the brittle nature of the sophisticated aristocratic milieu represented by Janet Maw's Princess Betsy. Credit should be given to Ed Thomasonm for including not just Tolstoy's remark about happy and unhappy families, but his observations about marriage relationships and the nature of Russian society, and indeed in conveying the esence of the novel in such a short space. I was minded to award four stars when Levin did not make an appearance, but the quality of the performance on disc has inclined me to give five stars.

3 people found this helpful

bookmuncher

Tolstoy's characters are endearingly human

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2016

Verified Purchase

I read War and Peace because I wanted to read it before watching the recent adaptation. I loved it so much that I wanted to keep reading Tolstoy and so, logically, turned to Anna Karenina. For me, Tolstoy's strength is in his immediately engaging and flawed characters, and their vulnerability forces me to take them under my wing. Because it's such a famous book, I knew how it ended before I picked it up. Nevertheless I was intrigued to see how that ending came about, and the story did not disappoint. He is still very relevant in terms of the secret to a happy and fulfilling life and focusing on what is important.

I skipped the parts about agriculture in nineteenth century Russia as this did not interest me and I didn't see what bearing it had on the fates of the characters.

3 people found this helpful

Katie Stevens

A wonderfully true, insightful classic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 August 2010

Verified Purchase

This book was my first foray into Russian literature, and I could not have had a better introduction. Tolstoy has a way of phrasing the thoughts and feelings of the characters that is so insightful, precise and identifiable that it easily transcends the innumerable differences between a modern reader and the selection of people he focuses on living in nineteenth century Russia. They are all incredibly psychologically developed and I felt as if I knew them all personally and could predict how they might react in any given situation. Tolstoy also colours his narrative so that it is seen through the eyes of the different characters, giving the reader many different viewpoints from which to perceive events and settings and so making the novel very rich. A scene from the perspective of Oblonsky, for example, is light, frivolous and faintly cynical, whereas the same situation seen through Levin's eyes is thoughtful and earnest.

Unfortunately, while the human drama of the novel has stood the test of time admirably, much of Tolstoy's social commentary has not fared so well. The sections on social economy, agriculture and political systems may have ben fascinating to a contemporary Russian reader but I found them lengthy, tedious, unnecessary and, dare I say it, dull. However, I'm more than willing to ignore the effect of these passages in light of the sheer brilliance of the rest of the book.

This particular translation (Penguin, 1954, this edition 2000) by Rosemary Edmonds is fantastic. Her prose is readable and appropriate, so that the book does not read like translated literature at all, but like any other nineteenth century novel. The illusion was so well-executed that the only time I was made aware that I wasn't reading original language literature was when characters discussed which pronouns to use to refer to one another, an aspect of language which is absent from modern English. Both the translation and the original writing make this a thoroughly excellent book.

4 people found this helpful

Sarah KL

Kindle Edition - Wonderful!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 December 2010

Verified Purchase

I'm reading this book due to being part of a book club. I probably would never have read it if it wasnt a)for the club and b) its a free download on the kindle. While I appreciate that the free edition is probably not as well translated as the more expensive editions, the story itself that Tolstoy creates goes beyond the mere difference in translation. The way he weaves a very complex yet deeply stimulating image of Russian society, politics, economics, history, values etc, and how that impacts on the normal lives of various people is incredible and realistic. How I wonder what Tolstoy would make of our modern society now!

What I also love is how Tolstoy gives us not just the actions of the characters, but there innermost thoughts and feelings as well - including the odd dog or two!!! Utterly wonderful to feel and know exactly what each character is going through and when a character such as Anna does not think of something, it shows just how far into denial she really is.

I'm totally spellbound by this book and encourage others to eat it up too.
Its a free kindle download, so you'd be daft not too!

5 people found this helpful

Rachel Thacker

Anna Karenina for the Kindle

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 January 2013

Verified Purchase

Downloading books on a kindle is so easy, thank goodness. I wanted to read this book having seen the trailers for the recent film however, I really didn't want to carry around a large book and so putting it on the kindle was the ideal option. The draw back however is that in trying to refer back to earlier pages (at the start of the book you have a list of characters which also explain who is related to who.) it is then complicated to get back to the last page read. Perhaps I need a little more practice on this, however a paper book is so much easier to do this.

I am only 22% through the book and I am really enjoying it so far, it's not as 'heavy' as I thought it would be. The story so far is of forbidden love, how Anna is pursued by Vronsky even though she married. She falls for him and so the turmoil starts...

The book also gives us and insight into what life was like in 1800's Russia, which is something I knew very little of. Further more after reading the short biography of Tolstoy (at the start of this book) you can see how he has used elements of himself in his male characters, Levin I think being the man he strives to be, working hard on his land not just for himself but for the good of all. Trying always to do the right thing be a good person. Vronsky who is more like the 'young' Tolstoy, a military man, out to satisfy himself, thinking little of others feelings we see this in the way Vronsky treats Kitty.

If you like a good love story with a good smattering of history thrown in, along with a host of supporting characters with their own little stories this is the book for you. This is a 'readable' book, not too heavy.

See all reviews

Anna Karenina [Russian Edition] Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Free with Audible Trial $0.00

Pay with 1-Click $19.51

People who viewed this also viewed

Product details

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Free with Audible Trial

$0.00

Pay with 1-Click

$19.51