The Lady with the Dog

Throughout my lifetime I've read my share of love stories--some of which were good, some of which weren't so good. When I first read The Lady with the Dog I was expecting a stereotypical happy-ending love story. I figured the man would divorce his wife, Anna would divorce her husband, and the man and Anna would live together happily ever after. Of course, like every love story the two characters faced a number of trials and tribulations throughout their relationship. None of that was surprising. In my opinion the most shocking part was when Anna left the man for her husband when her husband wasn't feeling well--I didn't see that coming. Again, not surprising the man chased after Anna after some time. I expected her to welcome him with open arms, as long as her husband wasn't aware, so when she sent him away I was surprised yet again. The whole story, for me, was kind of sad and tragic; I found the ending neither hopeful nor promising--it didn't seem like the man and Anna's relationship was going to work out in the long run, which is ironic seeing as it was the main focus of the piece of writing. To me, it seemed like the whole story was a build up of the man and Anna's relationship, only to have it crash and burn at the end, which isn't like the majority of love stories.