wlma

Author: lsmallwood

  • Anna Karenina, Week 3

    Welcome to Week 3 of December’s discussion of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, covering Parts 4 and 5.

    Part 4

    Anna and Karenin are estranged, living in the same household but barely interacting. Karenin is so concerned with the optics of their household and relationship that he is willing to remain married to Anna as long as she and Vronsky don’t humiliate him with making their affair obvious in society and their household staff. Anna disregards Karenin’s wishes and invites Vronsky over to their home when she knows Karenin will be at work, but he returns early and runs into Vronsky.

    An infuriated Karenin decides to proceed with getting a divorce on grounds of infidelity, but his lawyer convinces him to go the easier route that will not involve the church and could end up not going in Karenin’s favor. He sees Anna’s brother Stiva at a party he and Dolly are throwing, alerting Stiva (who is giddy about his new affair with a ballerina) about the divorce.

    What are your opinions of Karenin? Can you understand where he’s coming from, or is his reasoning weak? As I read the novel my opinions about him change, but I’m at the point where I don’t have any empathy for him.  

    Vronsky struggles during a difficult week having to entertain a foreign dignitary, and Anna beings to show her jealousy with him for one of the first times, as she dislikes him being away with other people along with the possibility of being around other women. She is unwell during her pregnancy and announces she’s had a dream where she was told she would die during childbirth.

    Anna’s mood and character begins to obviously change here; we see little charm in her interactions and she makes two references to her own death. Do you think it’s the pregnancy, mental illness, or the stress of her marriage and affair?

    While away, Karenin learns Anna’s given birth to a girl also named Anna and is expected to die of a fever. When they’re reunited at her bedside, Vronsky comes over and Anna begs Karenin to forgive both her and Vronsky, which he does. Vronsky is so upset that he attempts to shoot himself when he returns home, but a servant finds him in time and sends for doctors who help save him. When Anna makes a miraculous recovery she and Vronsky leave together for the countryside.

    As someone who loves reading about drama and is really enjoying this book, even I am starting to get tired of the back-and-forth divorce conversations concerning Anna and Karenin. To me, it’s a big stretch that Karenin is so moved by Anna’s recovery that he once again tells her he’s okay with their affair if she wants to continue seeing Vronsky. I don’t see forgiveness having that big of an impact on these characters. What do you think?

    Lenin and Kitty are reunited at Stiva and Dolly’s party and they still have feelings for each other!! In the midst of the party they begin to play a word game on a chalkboard and it is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated romantic scenes in literature. They open themselves up to be vulnerable with each other explaining their past mistakes and reasoning, ending with Levin again asking Kitty to marry him. She says yes, and fireworks in the shape of hearts burst from our book pages.

    The next morning Levin returns to Kitty’s home to finalize their engagement and alert her parents to the news. He also wants to be honest with her and shares the journals he’s kept, telling her the fact that he is not religious as she is and had not been chaste. While upsetting to Kitty, she forgives him and remains engaged.

    These scenes with Levin and Kitty are some of my favorites in the whole novel. The people around Levin are so happy for him they want to be the one to drive him to Kitty’s home and hear all about it. Kitty has shown how much she’s matured since she and Levin last met, and they’ve formed a quick bond of love and understanding with each other.

    Part 5:

    Anna and Vronsky are living together in the countryside and Anna’s mood appears to be back to normal; she is happy away from Russia and being free to be with Vronsky in public. (Girl, why won’t accept Karenin’s divorce offer and get it over with?!) However, now Vronsky is the one struggling. He seems to be unhappy now that he has everything he’s wanted. He begins painting again, painting a portait of Anna, and she whisks them off to go see a famous painter in the area. When Vronsky sees his work, he abandons his own portrait of her and hires him to do it.

    With Vronsky hating their life in Italy, the two eventually make their way back to St. Petersburg but are not met with open arms from their former friends in society. Anna sneaks into Karenin’s home to see her son on the morning of his birthday, which is possibly the saddest scene in the novel. She and Karenin run into each other, and Anna is left in another downward spiral as she begins to resent her daughter and Vronsky for her life ending up this way.

    Though Vronsky begs her not to go, Anna insists on attending the opera that evening with her elderly aunt. He understands that Anna will be ridiculed if she goes, and that’s exactly what happens. Distraught, Anna pleads to leave again.

    Do you think Anna has parental love for her son? She is brought to tears when she visits him, but she’s also choosing to live away from him by running off with Vronsky and her daughter.

    Levin and Kitty get married and leave for Levin’s home in the countryside. Kitty begins to invest all of her time and effort into housekeeping duties, and Levin begins to show more of himself below the surface with her, becoming agitated and, at times, quick to anger. When he learns of his brother Nikolai being on his deathbed, Levin is annoyed at Kitty’s insistence on traveling with him. However, when they arrive, Levin admires her even more when he sees how kind and selfless she is when taking care of his brother. Levin sees his own personal failings compared to Kitty’s strength, and his love for her grows even more. Which is good, because we find out Kitty is pregnant!

    What I liked about reading these parts were the comparisons between the “honeymoons” of both sets of characters. While Anna and Vronsky aren’t married, they escape to glamorous and luxurious Italy when their relationship is renewed after both survived near-death experiences. Levin and Kitty’s wedding is followed by a trip back to a much more modest and humble home than Kitty is used to, but she instantly takes on the role as the head of the house. While Anna is constantly running away from something, Kitty is taking the next steps to the rest of her life with confidence and with Levin.

    Come back next week when we’ll be around the final third of the book and discussing Parts 6 and 7!

  • Anna Karenina, Week 2

    Welcome to Week 2 of December’s discussion of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, covering Parts 1, 2, and 3.

    Part 1:

    This novel has two great opening lines. The epigraph pulls from both Deuteronomy and Romans verses “Vengeance is mine. I will repay.” We turn the page to chapter one and are hit with one of the most famous opening lines in all of literature, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And BAM! In only 20 words we know we’re in for a bumpy ride.

    Did you already know the story and ending of Anna Karenina before you read it for the first time? No spoilers! It’s one of the most famous stories in the world, but I’m a true believer that a story can still be enjoyed even if its main plot or events have been spoiled through pop culture.

    The novel opens with Anna’s bother Stiva (Stepan) waking up the day after his affair with the family’s governess had been discovered by his wife Dolly. We spend a good deal of time with Stiva, as he’s the character who introduces us to the novel’s second protagonist Levin.

    How do you feel about Tolstoy’s choice to open the novel with Stiva rather than his sister and main protagonist Anna? Do we learn anything about her through learning Stiva?

    Stiva travels to the train station to meet Anna arriving from St. Petersburg, and Count Vronsky is there to meet his mother. On her journey there Anna has been sitting with Count Vronsky’s mother who is enamored with her, and Vronsky is immediately drawn to, and struck by, Anna’s beauty. And so it begins!

    The novel’s other protagonist, Levin, is in for a bumpy ride of his own. Russia is beginning to leave behind some traditions like arranged marriages; Kitty’s mother has difficulty with this but has a preference of Vronsky over Levin, her father prefers Levin. He’s returned to town and is somewhat hesitant to propose to Kitty after hearing she’s been close with Count Vronsky while he’s been away. At Stiva’s encouragement, Levin is more hopeful and goes to meet with Kitty; later arriving at her home to catch her alone and make the proposal… and be turned down. Were you at all shocked Kitty refused the proposal?

    Let’s talk about The Ball Scene. Leading up to the ball, Kitty has just turned down Levin but is excited to meet Vronsky there; so excited that she even tells Anna Karenina to wear a lilac dress to coordinate with her. Anna does not wear lilac, but black!  It’s not the dress, though, that makes Anna irresistible. When Vronsky sees her again the dress is described as merely a frame to highlight her elegance, beauty, and charm. Though he danced with Kitty, Vronsky and Anna make a statement when they danced a waltz and the final dance of the evening together, leaving Kitty without a partner. It’s in this moment of high-drama that Kitty realizes she’s lost Vronsky’s interest to someone she admired and cared deeply for. Later at home with the Oblonsky’s, Kitty claims she has a headache to miss dinner with her parents and Anna, and Anna claims she believes Vronsky will still pursue Kitty. Soon after, she leaves town to return to her husband and son. She looks out at the first train stop and spots Vronsky at the station. He has followed her. (!!!!!)

    In St. Petersburg, Vronsky has the audacity to introduce himself to Anna’s husband and knows she doesn’t love him. At the end of Part 1 we know that this is just the beginning of a long, dramatic love affair.

    Part 2:

    Kitty is down bad in Part 2. She’s depressed and heartbroken over the turn of events that changed her life in a short window of time; rejecting Levin’s proposal and being snubbed by Vronsky for another woman. Stiva makes a visit to Levin and mentions how Kitty has been ill this whole time, and Levin finds a kind of satisfaction in hearing this. Kitty’s family takes her to Germany to stay at a spa to work on her health, and she’s introduced to Madam Stahl and a lovely young woman Varenka. Their kindness and charm eventually inspires Kitty to move beyond her heartbreak and begin to think of doing good deeds for others, but when Kitty’s father visits he makes Kitty realize that Madam Stahl is a vain woman, not a charitable angel.

    It’s at this point in the novel I think Kitty realizes she often acts as she’s expected to by others, or is inspired by others, but doesn’t act as her true self. She’s a young woman who has gone through a fairly traumatic experience and is now able to mature and grow through these experiences.

    In St. Petersburg, Anna’s husband quickly understands something has shifted with her since she returned from Moscow and puts together the pieces that she and Vronsky have feelings for each other, urging Anna to keep some things locked inside and not act on them. Nice try, Karenin! Time jumps forward in this section to a year or so later and we find Anna and Vronsky are now officially Having An Affair. However, Anna is not overjoyed when we find out, she is crying and says she’s lost everything while gaining everything she wanted. How do you feel about Anna in this moment? Do you have any empathy for how she’s feeling?

    At this point, everyone in St. Petersburg knows what’s going on between Anna and Vronsky and society is changing how they treat her. Vronsky buys a new horse, Frou Frou, and is preparing for a race when Anna tells him she’s pregnant and won’t leave her husband to be with him. This racing scene is about as dramatic as Part 1’s scene in the ball, with Vronsky and Frou Frou both agitated and confused, leading to a fall in the race that breaks the horse’s back.  

    During this time, Karenin and Anna are practically living separate lives in separate homes and he sees how Anna reacts during the horse race while not knowing if Vronsky is okay. Anna finally admits she loves Vronsky and hates Karenin, whose reaction is repression and methodical, telling her to keep up appearances.

    Part 3:

    Levin works hard in the countryside to work through life’s troubles, as labor makes him feel like he’s a part of something greater with a feeling close to Enlightenment. While feeling connected to the land, his attitude about farming changes and he becomes frustrated that the peasants aren’t flexible to work with him on new ideas of agriculture and technology – something that takes up much of Part 3. He receives a letter and learns that Dolly, Stiva’s wife and Kitty’s sister, is staying nearby to save on expenses. When Levin visits her she brings up Kitty, letting him know she believes there’s still a chance of them being together. Levin begins to get angry, saying it could never happen. The next day he spots Kitty passing in a carriage and his heart is light again, open to loving her.

    Why do you think Levin’s feelings changed so quickly when he saw Kitty? Did he really stop having feelings for her before, or do you think it was more about his pride? Are you someone who likes to keep busy and do chores when there are other things on your mind like Levin? 

    Karenin and Anna’s marriage is in a bad state. Karenin wants Anna to suffer and is refusing a divorce, and he’s beginning to resent their son while also using him against her. They eventually meet again and Karenin essentially tells Anna he’ll tolerate her affair as long as Vronsky doesn’t go into their home… which Anna can’t uphold. 

    There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to Anna and Karenin’s son; I felt so badly for him through the entire novel. Do you think either of his parents are worse for their behavior toward him, or are they equally bad parents? Anna talks about how much she loves and misses her son, but she also chose to continue her affair with Vronsky and leave her life behind knowing she was leaving her son. Karenin uses his son against Anna and doesn’t provide much, or any, affection. 

    That’s it for Parts 1-3! Come back next week where we’ll be discussing Parts 4 and 5. 

  • Anna Karenina, Week 1

    Welcome to December’s online book club! This month we’ll be discussing Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. If you have read the book and would also like to talk about it in person, the Xenia Community Library’s Classics Book Club will be discussing the entire novel this Saturday, December 6th, from 3pm-4pm. 

    To a lot of readers, Anna Karenina doesn’t immediately scream “holiday read!”, but this long book is full of wintery scenes perfect to read during long winter nights. We’re supposed to be getting snow tonight and tomorrow, so it’s perfect timing to stay in and read about the drama of other people’s lives. Taking place in imperial Russia in the 1870’s, Anna Karenina is a tale of passion, betrayal, faith, and societal expectations. 

    If this is more of a film season than reading season for you, the book has been adapted into a film starring Keira Knightly, Jude Law, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. 

    Join me next week where I’ll be discussing Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the novel. Looking forward to discussing it with you in the comments! You can watch the trailer below:

  • Killers of the Flower Moon, Week Four

    Welcome back to Week Four discussing the final part of Killers of the Flower Moon; Chronicle Three, The Reporter.

    Chronicle Three opens with the author David Grann traveling to Pawhuska in 2012 and follows his various visits to the Osage Nation through 2015. When visiting a museum, Grann sees a large wall-sized photograph of prominent local leaders and the tribe in 1924, with one person’s face missing. He’s shown an original copy of the photograph with the missing man’s face – William Hale. The museum Director Kathryn Red Corn explains to Grann, “the devil was standing right there,” and that they didn’t remove him to forget, but because they can’t forget.  

    Do you think there’s power in making a choice like the one the museum staff made to remove Hale? Is there a right or wrong way to process the actions of a “problematic” historical figure, for lack of a better term?

    Grann met Mollie’s granddaughter Margie Burkhart, the daughter of Ernest and Mollie’s son “Cowboy”. We learn a new disturbing part of her family’s story: Mollie and Cowboy were supposed to spend the night at the Smith’s house the night it was bombed, but Cowboy had an earache and they stayed home.

    Mollie died aged 50 in 1937, only several years after winning the right to overseeing her own money and no longer be a ward of the state. Later that year Ernest got out on parole after only serving a little more than a decade of a life sentence. He robbed an Osage home and went back to prison. In 1966 he applied for a pardon to be able to return to Oklahoma, citing his confession and cooperation being the main reason Tom White was able to solve the case, and it was granted. Ernest died in 1986 with a wish to be cremated and have his ashes scattered in the Osage Hills. Margie said, “Finally, one night my dad got real mad and took the box and just chucked it over a bridge.”

    Could you imagine living with the knowledge that your father was willing to murder you, along with your mother, in order to inherit a fortune?

    William Hale was released after twenty years due to his age of 72 and record as a good prisoner. He was forbidden to go back to Oklahoma.

    The rest of Grann’s research went in to as much detail as possible with the limited resources he had about additional deaths and murders in the tribe. After Hale’s arrest, there were more potential murders by poisoning. Some of the people who were murdered, like Mary Lewis, were killed before the official timeline of the Reign of Terror (1921-1926). There are so many questionable deaths that weren’t investigated as homicides, and so many families who don’t have resolution; only suspicions of what happened and who did it. He ends the book with the quote, “This land is saturated with blood… the blood cries out from the ground.”

    How are you feeling now that we’ve come to the end of the book? There is no “happily ever after” for anyone involved. As we just discussed, many of the families still have no closure. There were so many details I left out while discussing the chapters in order for brevity in these posts, and I imagine that an in-person book club could talk about this one for hours.

    David Grann’s line “history is a merciless judge” hit me hard as I read it. On a smaller scale, it makes me think about my ancestors and what my future family down the line will think of me when I’m gone. On a larger scale, I wonder what future generations will think of the 2025 world, what parts of history get to be remembered for the decades to come, and if the Osage’s Reign of Terror will be more than a footnote in history books.

    Has this book inspired you to read more indigenous stories? November is National Native American Heritage Month and I’ve made a list of fiction and nonfiction books available to check out here.

    Watch author David Grann’s interesting discussion about his book being turned into a film below!

  • Killers of the Flower Moon, Week Three

    Welcome back to week three discussing Chronicle Two: The Evidence Man in Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. This section focuses greatly on Tom White, a former Texas Ranger who joined the Bureau in 1917. He and his younger brother J.C. “Doc” White were known as “the Cowboys” and didn’t exactly live up to Hoover’s idealized image of what his team should look and act like.

    When Tom takes on the case he’s aware that many of the former agents involved were fired or killed while investigating. Honestly, why do you think Tom accepted the case? Did he have a choice? If you were in Tom’s shoes would you have investigated the murders or would you have quit?

    I enjoyed Grann’s descriptions of Tom’s character. We learn that he’s no-nonsense and that he doesn’t stand for the mistreatment of others, including prisoners. While technology is improving in their field he also relies on the most basic methods of gathering evidence. “As White strove to be a modern evidence man, he had to learn many new techniques, but the most useful one was timeless: coldly, methodically separating hearsay from facts that he could prove.” He definitely had his work cut out for him in separating hearsay from facts.

    By the time Tom and his team are involved there’s very little physical evidence remaining from the crime scenes, and not much paperwork to go off of. In Anna’s case, the undertaker secretly kept her skull because he felt uneasy about the investigation and crime scene. Tom’s team starts with many members of the team going undercover in the town posing as ranchers, business owners, and John Wren, the only American Indian on the team, as a traveling medicine man.

    In order to gather more information, Tom recruits an informant named Kelsie Morrison. Kelsie ends up playing an important role throughout the rest of the story. Do you think you’d ever be able to trust someone like Morrison? What if your life depended on it? Soon after Morrison gets involved, Tom learns that Rose Osage lied in her original statements. She admits that a white man came to her house with a statement and forced her to sign it. This makes the team realize “the conspirators were not only erasing evidence, they were manufacturing it.”

    After a lot of work, Tom and his team learn that the private investigator William Hale had hired wasn’t supposed to solve Anna’s murder, he was supposed to come up with an alibi for Bryan Burkhardt, and that when he would meet with Hale and Bryan there was almost always one other man there: Ernest Burkhardt. We eventually find out that Hale received headrights to other local men like Henry Roan, had forced his employees to set fire to his own fields to get insurance money, and was a known enemy to Bill and Rita before their deaths.

    It was so frustrating reading how little concrete evidence there was to tie Hale to the Osage murders, along with his influence he had over politicians. Even when he and Ernest are both arrested and the trials start it was nearly impossible to get a jury, attorney, and judge who would not be bribed or influenced by Hale. After numerous trials and juries Ernest, Bryan, and Hale are given life sentences. Do you think it’s ever truly possible to get a fair trial in a small town?

    My heart broke for Mollie over and over again. Grann describes how she was essentially an outcast from both the Osage and white communities, sitting alone during the trials. It took a long time for her to believe her husband Ernest had knowingly been involved in any of the murders, or had taken part in making her ill. One of her daughters died at four years old and Mollie returned to the courthouse after the burial. When Ernest was on the stand at Hale’s trial he admits that Mollie’s only living relatives are the children they share together. It was a relief to read that within a few years she fell in love again and remarried a man named John Cobb and that they fought to end the corrupt guardianship system that played a large part in the murders. As of 1931, Mollie was no longer a ward of the state and could spend her money as she wished.

    Years after the case ended, Tom accepted a position as warden of Leavenworth prison in Texas. Soon after, Hale and his coconspirator Ramsey ended up at the same prison. In December 1931, seven of the prisoners took Tom hostage and tried to escape town. Tom was shot and left to die while trying to protect children they came across in the escape. In the end, none of the convicts escaped town, were sent back to prison, and Tom survived.

    When all was said and done, Hoover never publicly thanked or honored his team for closing the case of the Osage murders, but he used the case to showcase his methodical and successful organization. The Osage Tribal Council thanked each member of Tom’s team with a resolution citing each person’s name.

    Now that we’ve reached the end of Chronicle Two and finished the primary part of the story, what do you think of Mollie and Ernest’s relationship? Do you believe their connection was a natural one, or do you think William Hale planned this series of murders with Ernest from the very beginning?

    If this was a fictional story, would you have criticisms that the amount of drama is unbelievable or over-the-top?

    Come back next week to discuss the final part of the book, Chronicle Three: The Reporter.

  • Killers of the Flower Moon, Week One

    The Online Book Club, if you’ve never joined us before, is a book discussion group that takes place entirely online. Each week, I write a new blog post that talks about different aspects of the book, and you can interact directly with me and other readers by leaving your comments. Check back each week and see what new topics we’re talking about.

    Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann follows one of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s first major homicide cases in the 1920s.

    In the 1870s, the Osage were driven from their land in Kansas onto a reservation in northern Oklahoma. Within a couple of decades, oil was discovered under their new land, and by 1921 the Osage became the richest people per capita in the world, opening the door to a series of sinister acts against them. At the center of Grann’s story is an Osage woman Mollie Burkhart, her white husband Ernest Burkhart, their families, and the Osage community. Many were targets of terror, calculated murder, and racial injustice.

    We’ll be reading through Chronicle One: The Marked Woman for next week (chapters 1-7), so make sure to check it out before coming back to the next blog post. I look forward to hearing from you in the comments!

    If you want to follow along with us but you aren’t interested in reading the book, you can always watch the film adaption starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro on Apple TV+. Don’t have a subscription to Apple TV+? No problem! You can request one of the Roku Express 4K+ Streaming Devices at the library. Check out the trailer above if you want to get a feel for the how the story plays out on screen. Feel free to still leave comments on the blog posts, even if you’re only watching the series and not reading the book.