Anna K

CW: set aside a few minutes for this one lots of detailed sex scenes, self-harm, statutory rape of minor, heavy teen drug use, death by unintentional overdose, death of loved one, parental neglect, marital affairs, cheating, child pornography through release of sex tape of minor (revenge porn), non consensual sex tape, underage drinking, slut and sex shaming, misogyny, animal death, depression, horse being hurt and dying due to poor horse riding, suicidal ideation including planning and discussion of method, mention of eating disorder

Well I don't really know where to begin but I think I'll start with ... Oh Dear.

Let me also start off by saying I could not stop listening to this. You know those horrific situations where you just can't show more look away? This was like that for me. I enjoyed the narration style and seeing into the minds of multiple characters. Sometimes it almost felt like a documentary and I imagined David Attenborough, in his gentle voice, describing the fascinating mating rituals of privileged rich brats in their natural habitat. At the end of the day though, it is a story about a very wealthy group of entitled teens and their gossip girl type dramas. I have not read Anna Karenina but from my understanding it is a reasonable modern reimagining of that classic piece of literature but without the social commentary. The characters are all very melodramatic and there is an 'end of days' type attitude if your love is not reciprocated. I'm talking Gothic literature levels of woe. Romeo and Juliet was also referenced so by that you can gauge the tone of this lengthy novel. The parts I had real issues with were the lack of acknowledgement of the fact that there was a statutory rape that went completely unchallenged, the normalisation of serious drug and alcohol use, and the comments about girls being sluts and boys likened to studs if they bed lots of girls. FYI, the cast is all between the ages of 15 - 18. The parents also seemed mostly absent during all this partying, drug taking and sex scandals. It felt like trash. Highly addictive trash. There you go. I don't know if I liked it or hated it to be honest, but it was gripping regardless. Absolutely senior fiction in a high school.

I've just remembered the name of the movie I think it is very similar to. Cruel Intentions. Yeah, it's exactly like that. show less

I have received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through a giveaway hosted by the publisher. This has not affected my rating in any way.

Trigger Warnings: Incest, self-harm, rape of a minor, underage drug usage, graphic underage sex scenes, child and revenge p0rnography.

This is what Anna K. should’ve started with.

Don’t get me wrong, this book was somewhat enjoyable. Maybe someone who has actually read Anna Karenina (or at least watched the movie) would’ve enjoyed this more than me. Maybe all of the things I listed above actually happen in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, but if it is I think it’s fucked up for the author to include these things in a novel published in 2020 for God’s sake.

Let me get the most upsetting thing out show more of the way. The author wrote a whole page about Vronsky’s “sexual awakening” being an adult woman raping him after a party when he was 13. Then it’s never brought up again. Like it never happened.

HELLO JENNY LEE, you cannot casually write a whole page about a minor being RAPED and then move on for the ENTIRE BOOK. What the FUCK.

Second thing I need to talk about: the sheer amount of incestuous shit that goes on in this book with Vronsky’s family. First, he shamelessly watches his brother have sex with a woman. Then his cousin Bea is all into him and wants him sexually?? Like what the fuck is wrong with this family???? I don’t know if this happens in the original book, but once again, IT’S 2020. THIS NASTY SHIT COULD’VE BEEN LEFT OUT.

Kimmie’s self-harming scenes hurt a whole lot. She needed help and her parents were too prideful to give her what she needed the most?? Like come on, rich people! And don’t get me started on the obscene amount of sex and cheating and drugs going on with these kids. Is that all rich people do?? Trust me, I wouldn’t know.

Lastly, the UNDERAGE revenge porn. FUCK ELEANOR. God bless America, these sorry kids.

Now, why did I give this book two stars instead of one? Partly because this book kept me interested enough to the end. Another part, I liked Dustin and Kimmie’s love story. Anna and Vronsky, or Steven and Lolly, not so much. Though, I felt for Anna when Vronsky died. I know what it feels like to lose someone you love, so I understood what she was feeling.

Call me a prude or whatever. If all of the bullshit had been left out, retelling or not, this would’ve been a much more enjoyable story. show less

Wow what a fun read! All the juicy drama of Anna Karenina, but it happens to teens so no long-lasting implications. I was so impressed with this author’s pace and wit! You can totally tell she has written for TV. Gosh, I’ll be thinking about this one for a while!

First confession – I haven’t read Anna Karenina although I’m sure I have a copy. I vaguely know the plot and that there was a movie with Jude Law (haven’t seen that either). So why read a YA novel of the story moved to (almost) present day New York? Well, why not? This is one for the Gossip Girl fans or those who still miss Sex and the City. It’s brash, dripping in money and the intensity is dialled up to full as emotions run riot. Second confession – when I saw the ARC (gold penguin cover of the original novel with the new title and author in bright pink slashes), I fell in love. A good-looking book that promised me luxury, brands and retelling of a classic? Hit me.

Anna is now Anna K., who is half-Korean and seventeen years show more old. Her family, like most of the others in the novel, are fantastically wealthy. Anna attends school in Greenwich so she can be with her dogs and horses while her brother Steven lives the high life in New York. Both are at school with Anna being the perfect student and Steven moving his way around New York’s top schools. He’s being tutored by Dustin to improve his marks but is also tortured that his girlfriend Lolly has found out he’s cheating on her via his Apple watch. Dustin, a much poorer and smarter boy, has his eyes on Lolly’s sister Kimmie (who has just returned to New York after a career ending ice skating accident). Kimmie is desperately in love with Alexia ‘Count’ Vronsky, a notorious playboy. But then he meets Anna and her perfectly ordered world is changed. She is no longer content with her staid long-term relationship with the Greenwich OG or having to put up with his annoying half-sister Eleanor. She and Vronsky start a secret relationship, which of course implodes. Can they pick up the pieces and be together? Or will Anna choose to be alone?

Anna is a little annoyingly too perfect initially. She’s sweet to the heartbroken Lolly, while maintaining an appropriate line with Steven. She is so super nice to Kimmie, that Kimmie gets a bit of a girl crush on her. But as the story continues, Anna’s flaws are revealed which make her much more likeable. (Some of my favourite lines are when Anna lets loose on Eleanor, easily the most annoying minor character in a novel for decades). All the characters are very well detailed and easy to tell apart, although I couldn’t really tell you how similar or otherwise they are to Anna Karenina. All I can say is that having Anna K in my reading memory will make it easier for me to follow the original when I get to it eventually. Steven is a bad boy with a heart who turns over a new leaf after being shocked to the core by his mother. Vronsky does have a heart too, which comes through sporadically. I can’t say that I was #TeamCount (more #TeamDustin) but I would take nearly anything over the Greenwich OG who was a 70-year-old man in a young man’s body. So boring and strait-laced. Dustin was the most real and I felt had quite a lot to overcome during the course of the novel (which of course he did with gold stars).

There is a lot of extreme partying in Anna K, including sex, drugs and varying forms of music. I felt that the drug use was covered very sensitively, as a number of characters don’t have a good time with some pretty nasty side effects. (Remember Mr Mackey, drugs are bad mmmmkay). Sex is covered carefully too, with characters either making informed decisions or the reader seeing the outcomes of no-so-good decisions. I don’t read much YA but I think Jenny Lee explores a lot of teenage/young adult issues brilliantly. As an adult, I really enjoyed the story too. The feelings are incredibly intense, both good and bad. I really enjoyed being immersed in Anna and Steven’s world, where relationships and friendships are Dramas and a good time is paramount. Seeing this book pitched as Gossip Girl meets Crazy Rich Asians is bang on the money.

Thank you to Penguin for the ARC. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less

This book heavily reminds me of The Clique series by Lisi Harrison, books I used to be obsessed with as a young reader because their spoiled and dramatic main characters were so unlike anyone I knew in real life, and I loved the glitz and over-the-top-ness of it all. "Anna K" has the same vibes; the blurbs calling it the contemporary "Gossip Girl" retelling of "Anna Karenina" are spot-on.

There were points I thought I might hate this book because of certain characters and actions, but the character growth really comes through in this one. It's not like everyone is a saint at the end, but I was pleasantly surprised with how things wrapped up. For example, I came to love Kimmie's character, and thought she was a really accurate and show more heartfelt portrayal of a 14-year old girl trying to be her own strong self and learn how to be a feminist.

I would also mildly argue that "Anna K" might be more likable if you have read or seen the real "Anna Karenina". Although this retelling is a bit on the nose at times, there are certain plot points that I think just might seen totally bizarre if you don't know what they're echoing. I saw a few people complaining about the ending, but having already seen the movie I personally was waiting for that to happen, so having that knowledge is just going to change your reading experience!

All of March I've been in a horrible reading mood and only read one other book, and "Anna K" got me out of that slump. The story is just the total opposite of my headspace right now during self-distancing, so maybe part of why I enjoyed this was the escapism factor. Either way, I thought it was a really fun read! show less

Anna K: A Love Story has been this daunting book on my bookshelf for quite some time. My friends hyped it up SO much that I was nervous to start it. Do you ever have those books that you're scared that they were over hyped and now will be a let down? Anna K. was that for me. I was so nervous but I finally decided to jump in.

Jenny Lee crafting an intertext for Anna Karenina was what really drew me to this book. I haven't read the original (but I truly need to), but I thought it'd be a cool read. I think if I read the base text I'd appreciate this story SO much more, so I definitely recommend that to any reader coming in.

Taking away the intertext, this book was.... interesting. I personally did not like the writing style. It's definitely show more written in an older, slower paced style that felt reminiscent of books from the 1800s. It was beautiful but struggled to keep my attention. But, that's also just me! I'm the kind of reader that needs a fast paced book with very fun writing styles to keep me engaged. Jenny Lee's writing style is very beautiful though, so don't take that as a hit against the book.

The story itself was incredibly engaging, which is what kept me going. There's lots of high society drama among the American-Korean crowd. All of the main characters in this book are teenagers (it's a YA book, obviously), but they go through as much drama as a Real Housewife - cheating, drugs, alcohol, and like... where was I when this happened in high school? (Staying inside and reading books, so obviously I missed out). It seems so out of touch for what I knew from high school but from my understanding this definitely was there.

I'm not going to get too much into the plot since I read it during a very exhausting week. Essentially, Anna K., our lead, is one of the top ladies of society and she has the world's perfect boyfriend. She then meets Vronsky who sets her heart on FIRE. She goes after him and starts to ruin her reputation. Meanwhile, her friends and family are also having their lives fall apart in various ways. Cue (and queue) the drama.

I might not have connected well with the story, but I did enjoy reading it. Is it my favourite? No. Should I come back to this after reading the source material? Yes. I think I will appreciate it more then.

For now, lovely read! Truly interesting and I think it's audience will ADORE it.

Three out of five stars. show less

I've read a few fairy tale retellings but this was my first millenial retelling of a classic fiction and having not read the classic, I went into this oblivious to any similarities that the story may have to the OG.

Anna K is a modern retelling of Anna Karenina and from what I've read up on it, this is a really good one at it.

The book had extremely short chapters but there were a lot of them divided into three parts. Each part starts with a catchy quote and it's from multiple POV's.

It took me quite some chapters to get into it because it's the first time I'm reading a book with multiple point of views in the same chapters. Also, authors are nailing the annoying parts of teenagers in a lot of books I've read recently and the same goes show more for a few characters in this one.

What I liked is the balance that the author managed to create between the classic story and the current lifestyle of teens. She managed to get across the varying personalities of the kids and also showed us how we can learn from the mistakes and grow.

The biggest take away for me from this book is it's never too late to learn to choose yourself first. And being unfamiliar with the original storyline, I don't know if the ending matched the OG but I am not a fan of certain things in the ending.

After all this, somehow, the book also managed to leave away a few important lessons along its pages and I ended up connecting with a few characters emotionally. It made me cry.

I rate the book 3.5/5

What I liked about it:

- short chapters
- easy and fast
- very frank and relatable
- doesn't beat around the bush or try to be righteous
- some extremely good lessons to be learned from it


What I did not fancy:

- took me really long to get into it
- there is a chance of the book being shelved
- the ending seemed unnecessary and it changed the entire course of the story but I haven't read the book it's inspired from so I can't be the judge of that for others show less