Morally, I feel like I should have given this less than three stars. I can't, in any way, get behind this story or these characters at all. Not even under the guise of good writing. But three stars feels like an apt rating because it's a bit of a non-committal rating. And I definitely do not know how to feel about The Kreutzer Sonata. On one hand, I find it kind of despicable and (as a woman) dehumanizing. On the other hand, it blatantly acknowledges (even if it excuses) the glaring hypocrisy, sexism and dehumanization of women that permeates the story and late 19th century Russian society as a whole. The theme of infidelity within marriage(and the double standard when the infidelity is committed by a woman) is dealt with in almost the exact opposite manner as Tolstoy's previous work Anna Karenina which just leaves me confused as to Tolstoy's feelings and the message he's trying to convey in both works. I just don't really know how to feel.
