Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by scunareader
Whatever happened to Anna K. by Irina Reyn
2.0
I've never read Anna Karenina. This novel is a modern twist on a character based on the Anna Karenina of Tolstoy's imagination. Here's what I liked.
The idea that the character can be placed anywere in time anywhere in the world and still be believable.
The milieu of the characters and the Russian Jewish immigrant community of the NY boroughs, of which I am a product.
The fact that not all readers of this novel will have an inkling of the "inside jokes" written herein. Things like, zakuski, or the way Russian Jewish immigrant women tend to wear overpriced, underquality ostentatious clothes that don't fit their bodies, or how Russian Jewish immigrant men are sort of selfish but protective, how business schemes are always just that: schemes.
Here's what I didn't like:
The story hit too close to home for me. It was as if I was sitting with my mom and she was basically telling me the story of someone we know. As I said, I know the community, lived in it, and still find myself there when I visit my family.
I didnt like how the characterization of Jewish Americans within the Russian Jewish immigrant community are there to "visit, but would never buy a home there" type of mentality.
But then again, maybe it hit too close to home for me. Coming out of this, I feel a bit depressed. And, I have no interest in reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. If in the original character, she is as selfish and myopic as in this novel, then she is not someone I'd want to get to know.
Then again, maybe it hit me too close to home.
The idea that the character can be placed anywere in time anywhere in the world and still be believable.
The milieu of the characters and the Russian Jewish immigrant community of the NY boroughs, of which I am a product.
The fact that not all readers of this novel will have an inkling of the "inside jokes" written herein. Things like, zakuski, or the way Russian Jewish immigrant women tend to wear overpriced, underquality ostentatious clothes that don't fit their bodies, or how Russian Jewish immigrant men are sort of selfish but protective, how business schemes are always just that: schemes.
Here's what I didn't like:
The story hit too close to home for me. It was as if I was sitting with my mom and she was basically telling me the story of someone we know. As I said, I know the community, lived in it, and still find myself there when I visit my family.
I didnt like how the characterization of Jewish Americans within the Russian Jewish immigrant community are there to "visit, but would never buy a home there" type of mentality.
But then again, maybe it hit too close to home for me. Coming out of this, I feel a bit depressed. And, I have no interest in reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. If in the original character, she is as selfish and myopic as in this novel, then she is not someone I'd want to get to know.
Then again, maybe it hit me too close to home.