Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Anna K : a Love Story

I was going to DNF this but saw someone say they liked the audio version so after about 20% I switched to audio and managed to finish. There were elements of this that were interesting enough to keep me hanging in (subtle commentary on microaggressions, representation of a very priveledge world...) but everything else was just not right for me. The way the characters spoke didn't ring true to my conversations with/around teenagers... They were shallow even in the plot lines that were meant to show depth of character. I think the problem for me was not necessarily shallow characters but shallow writing. I can see why this worked for a lot of people, and I love the idea of a more diverse retelling of a classic, but this wasn't it for me. I did like the author's note though.

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sierranorgan's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny relaxing sad medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was wild in many different ways. It had such a gossip girl vibe to it that I enjoyed, and the audiobook narrator was really playing that up! But sometimes the characters and situations were so absolutely ridiculous that I wasn’t to smash my head into something 😂 maybe it’s things that I’m missing from it’s source material? I’m not sure. But overall I enjoyed being brought back to that gossip girl feeling that I’ve missed!

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carlyhearts's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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sydapel's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I feel really conflicted about this one. I went in with really high hopes (I've never read Anna Karenina, but I'm a big fan of the movie), and while I think it's a really good retelling, there's a couple things that deeply bother me. The first is the writing style. You can tell the author is trying to portray the style of Tolstoy, but it feels clunky and overdone. Not to mention the "teenager speak" made me cringe. Hard. Upon learning the author has written for a lot of CW/Disney shows, these choices begin to make sense, but the overall writing style directly took me out of the realism of this story. Secondly, and more controversially, I'm not sure how I feel about the romanticization of "dying for love" that comes with the book's conclusion, especially in the context of teenage love and lust. I'm happy about the direction the author took here, but the underlying note it leaves us on is slightly problematic, especially given the YA audience it's intended for.

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tracygravy's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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kennie's review against another edition

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funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

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decklededgess's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

trigger warnings: sexual content (characters are under 18), drug and alcohol abuse, addiction, overdosing, rehabilitation, depression, suicide ideation, suicide attempt, self harm mention, vehicle accident, death by train, animal harm/death, emotionally abusive parents, infidelity, sexual harassment and cyber bullying, vomit, fatphobia, racism, classism, slut shaming, emotional incest

Idk who or what have me the idea but this book is not sapphic? There is one sapphic character who is like basically background. No wlw here in the main cast.

Other than that disappointment this book was phenomenal. A very xoxo Gossip Girl touch to Anna Karenina which seems apt from what I know about the original text.

The wealth disparity and lack of relatability of thee wealthy ass kids made the trauma a but more distant so I could read the book without internalising too much.

It’s beautifully written and I loved the chaos that third person omniscient pov provided to the narrative.

Excited for the next one!

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