Tag Archive for ‘short chapters’

Short Chapters

Anna Karenina is more than 800 pages long. So why does it feel shorter than many 300-page books? As I read this novel recently I noticed that Tolstoy cuts his long scenes into short chapters, usually no more than two or three pages. He often ends a chapter in a moment of suspense – a door opens, a provocative question is asked, a contentious group sits down to dinner, characters who’ve been circling each other finally begin to talk – [...]