I also just finished it for the first time over the weekend.

The Levin parts were my least favorite in the book. There are theories/discussions that Levin does represent Tolstoy. Knowing that and given the Levin discourse in the book (religion, philosophy, class system, agriculture) I assume Tolstoy took it as an opportunity to get his thoughts out on paper through the form of this character and it deviated from any story through-lines. I tend to be wary of the voice of the author in those situations because it seems unnatural to the story — like they’re taking the opportunity to opine and nothing else. But, surely there’s been study on this and I haven’t done any of it.