At the time of the novel’s release, a young generation of Russian liberals were launching an attack against family values.

In fact, Tolstoy used this first line to evoke the genre of the family novel.įamily novels were highly popular in Russia, but by the time Tolstoy released the first installation of Anna Karenina in the 1870s they had fallen out of fashion.

With this first line, Tolstoy puts family first among them. The core themes of these characters’ struggles tie back to family, sexual attraction, and Russian identity. This is not to book to pick up if you’re looking for some light entertainment to boost your mood. Spoiler alert, they’re all unhappy and cause each other pain, to varying degrees, in different ways. Through these two core arcs, additional family dramas unfold throughout the story as well. Meanwhile, another young couple navigates a complicated courtship, marries, and starts a family. (And let’s be honest, this novel has a lot going for it, but it’s pretty sprawling, and there are a lot of characters, so even if you just finished it yesterday you still might not remember the beginning clearly and that’s totally fair.)Īnna Karenina is the story of a woman’s tragic self-destruction as she pursues an affair with a younger man, Vronsky, in pursuit of something better than the cold and distant relationship she has with her husband. By signing up you agree to our terms of useįor those who haven’t read this 800-plus page whopper, let’s start with a quick recap. Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. Which is, sure, a solid statement, I guess. “Happy families are all alike every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Anna Karenina’s first line is among these, one of the most famous openings to a novel in all of literature: But some first lines go even further and become part of the collective memory of culture all on their won. It sets the tone, reveals character, and exposes themes. As any author knows, the first line can be the difference between a reader won over and a book cast aside.

The first line of a novel is arguably the most important of the entire work. Follow her on Twitter All posts by Emily Wenstrom Her Chronicles of the Third Realm War series includes Mud (#1), Tides (#2), Rain (#0), and more to come. Wenstorm, an award-winning sci-fi and fantasy author whose debut novel Mud was named 2016 Book of the Year by the Florida Writers Association. By day, Emily Wenstrom is a content marketing specialist.

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