Reviews

Anna K by Jenny Lee

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elkiebear's review against another edition

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dark funny lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

HOLY CRAP did I absolutely adoreeee this book!! Gossip Girl x Crazy Rich Asians in less than 400 beautiful pages. I'm really glad I haven't read the original Anna Karenina, which is what this book was based on, because I probably wouldn't have been as surprised by certain things as I was. I really appreciated the omniscient third-person narration, as it made it easier to keep track of all the characters. (The character description list at the beginning of the book helped, too!) Each character was pretty well-developed, too, so once you see past their superficiality due to being wealthy, you'll quickly get to know each one on a deeper level, baggage and all. I felt so connected to almost all of the characters throughout the entire novel, and the ways everyone eventually interact with each other made it a fun read as well. There are surprises, hard-hitting topics, a ton of gossip, and a lot of romance. It was all so well-crafted, and I would definitely reread this in the future!

rnshack's review against another edition

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3.0

3 stars

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. Now I should admit I’ve never read Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. I’ve tried more times than I can count but have never been able to make it past 100 pages.

This book was good but not great and I didn’t hate it. So…neutral? I ran the full range of emotions while reading this book. From smiling, to disgust, to sadness, to WTF so maybe that makes for a good book but I found that I just really didn’t care all that much about the characters. Most of them were either unlikeable or forgettable.

Maybe that was the issue. Either way it was a miss for me. The real question though is will I read the second one?

Why yes, yes I will.

The book gets 3 stars because the author’s writing was fantastic, easy to read, and had me blazing through this book in only a couple of days. Fingers crossed I like the sequel better than this one.

annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition

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3.0

Natuurlijk had ik dit boek de afgelopen weken voorbij zien komen op social media. Ik had zelfs ergens meegekregen dat het gebaseerd was op het beroemde boek Anna Karenina. En ik weet dat dat boek een van de lievelingsboeken van een vriendin van me is. Dus toen mijn boekhandel gisteren vroeg of ik dit boek wilde lezen en van een recensie wilde voorzien zei ik volmondig ja. En toen ik vandaag ineens toch vrij was, was dat het perfecte moment om te beginnen.

Helaas was dit boek uiteindelijk niet helemaal wat ik gehoopt had. Ik vind het heel lastig om mijn vinger erop te leggen wat het probleem was en waarom het niet werkte. Er is niet echt een ding wat eruit sprong. Het allerbelangrijkste: Ik voelde het niet. Niks. Ik voelde voor geen enkel karakter iets, ik had niet het gevoel dat ik echt met hen meeleefde, dat ik hen echt heel goed kende, dat ik meegesleurd werd in hun tragische geschiedenis. Ik las alles wel, maar het kwam eigenlijk niet echt bij me binnen.

Ik vermoed dat de schrijfstijl er misschien iets mee te maken heeft. Hoewel het boek echt als een trein leest, voelt de schrijfstijl wat mechanisch. De gebeurtenissen worden wel beschreven en de gevoelens worden wel benoemd, maar het show gedeelte en het echte pure gedeelte lijkt te ontbreken. Emotionele conversaties worden benoemd maar niet helemaal uitgeschreven, andere momenten worden dan weer actie-technisch uitgeschreven, maar elke emotie ontbreekt.

Daardoor komen de karakters, voor mijn gevoel, net niet helemaal lekker uit de verf. Het is duidelijk dat er veel interessante karakters in het verhaal zitten, met elk hun eigen geschiedenis, twijfels en emoties. We komen veel over ze te weten en toch heb ik niet het gevoel alsof ze ons echt dichtbij laten komen. Het voelt aan alsof ik de krant lees of naar het journaal kijk. Ik hoor het allemaal wel, maar het wordt heel feitelijk gebracht.

Als ik lees dat de schrijfster van oorsprong in de televisie-scene werkt verklaart dat voor mij wel heel veel. Dit voelt inderdaad als een uitgeschreven filmscript, met informatie voor de acteurs waar zij dan vervolgens iets mee moeten doen. Helaas kent een boek geen acteurs om een verhaal echt tot leven te brengen, dat zullen de woorden moeten doen. En helaas is wat mij betreft juist dat niet gelukt.

msilkwolfe's review against another edition

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4.0

I might be a little generous with my star rating? I'd say a solid 3.5 from me. It was fun though! Kept me engaged from page one. Some of the writing and dialogue made me cringe, but I was able to sort of overlook it. I'd describe it as a YA version of "Gossip Girl meets Tolstoy meets contemporary fiction."Overall it was a fun read and I'm glad I got around to it!

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review

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5.0

5/5

Loved this book so much! I had some low expectations going into it. I mainly just knew that it was somewhat popular on Booktok. The book was really well done in my opinion though I wouldn’t be caught dead doing some of the things that happen in this book. I did enjoy the characters and I was surprised when I wasn’t confused by all the multiple POVs

hortongr's review

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2.0

This book was my first book from Book of the Month Club and I was beyond excited when it came in the mail. I chose this book specifically because the two books I had read just before it were both extremely dense, difficult, and emotionally draining. I thought this sounded like it would be a nice change of pace and a break from the sadness. I was half right ‘:)

This book was definitely an easier read than my last two books. It seemed to be written at a lower level more palatable for readers of all ages, especially as the characters were in high school (I assume that was the target audience).
It’s content (for the most part lol) was also much lighter. I appreciated the diversity in race and sexual orientation included in the characters of this book. It’s something I feel we always need more of in literature. I also like the way it portrayed sex, as an idea, from a number of perspectives, all in an equally positive light. The ideas of having sex with a partner right away or waiting until the right moment were both presented as choices of equal value and validity which I appreciated bc if this book really is aimed at young people alleviating some of the stigma around being sexually active or not is important. I appreciated the emphasis on individual choice.

I was wrong, however, in assuming this book would not be emotionally draining. A gut-wrenching, almost horrifically dark twist came at the very end that I was not at all prepared for. My roommate was in the room with me when I got to that point and I’m pretty sure I gasped loudly and then nearly shouted “What the F***?!”. It was crazy.

All in all, I think I made a good first BoTM pick. Even though it wasn’t necessarily my favorite book ever and I wouldn’t be inclined to reread it, I found it super funny (audibly laughing at a number of scenes) and felt good enough about it to recommend it to a friend (with a number of content warnings, that is).

“Every happy teenage girl is the same, while every unhappy teenage girl is miserable in her own special way.”