Anna Karenina

[Guest JLHyde]

Anyone here ever read Anna Karenina?

I have been in touch with a Russian friend living in Russia; and, this person spells Tolstoy with an "i" at the end, and where we call him Leo, they call him Lev. I will take my friend's word on it.

Did you know, for example, that the American actor of Ukranian descent--Liev Shreiber--is actually named for Tolstoy?

And, Liev--pronounced L'YEV--is the Jewish variation of Lev?

And, that both variations translate into English as "Lion"?

(Maybe that's why we write it "Leo" (which comes from the Latin and also means "Lion").

Anyway, the trivia aside, this is a good read. Tolstoy seems to have had a very good grasp on human nature--for a "backward Russian writing tall tales in the latter half of the 19th century".

(Actually, he was considered part of the Russian Aristocracy).

Oddly, the one character that stands out, in Tolstoy's book, is not Anna Karenina--although she does factor heavily into the plot. The main character, it turns out, is a slight-of-build nondescript man named Levin.

(Another "take-off" on this "Lion" name, I'm thinking.)

(I see a lot of the author, himself, in this Levin guy, who has some sort of a spiritual epiphany towards the end of the work.)

PS: The book is an "Oprah's Book Club" choice.