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A review by literaryelephant
Anna K by Jenny Lee
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This was my first Anna Karenina retelling, and it was a lot of fun rediscovering those characters in a modern setting and seeing how their traits and predicaments translate onto supperrich Manhattan teens. It's over-the-top ridiculous in a way that makes it feel more campy than the obvious Gossip Girl comparison, but Lee commits to the bit in a way that keeps the story rolling.
Two downsides, imo: 1) I can't really imagine this holding up without the classic it leans on; doing a mental compare/contrast with Anna Karenina was 90% of the draw for me here and I would not recommend picking it up without first reading the original. And 2) these characters are incredibly shallow in a way that's not fully explored within the text. We've got teens giving Pre-Emptive Guilt Gifts and getting nose jobs and ranking girls on a Hot List; men are forgiven for cheating and general promiscuity while women are condemned. There's *some* self-reflection and challenging of unfairness here (Anna in particular is a stronger and more sympathetic character) but those moments are few and far between compared to the general glamour and excess coating every page. The presentation without commentary feels like a missed opportunity, and in a book marketed as YA it's a little worrying to me that there seems to be plenty of room for taking any of the sexist/elitist/self-destructive details at face value.
But I see Lee has a sequel coming up, and I suspect the need to go off-script there will push the story in some new, more interesting directions. Oh, and a warning: despite the smiling girl on the cover and the "A Love Story" tag under the title, this is still a tragedy, not a cute romance. The jacket had me fooled, but the classic ending is... not entirely eliminated.
Two downsides, imo: 1) I can't really imagine this holding up without the classic it leans on; doing a mental compare/contrast with Anna Karenina was 90% of the draw for me here and I would not recommend picking it up without first reading the original. And 2) these characters are incredibly shallow in a way that's not fully explored within the text. We've got teens giving Pre-Emptive Guilt Gifts and getting nose jobs and ranking girls on a Hot List; men are forgiven for cheating and general promiscuity while women are condemned. There's *some* self-reflection and challenging of unfairness here (Anna in particular is a stronger and more sympathetic character) but those moments are few and far between compared to the general glamour and excess coating every page. The presentation without commentary feels like a missed opportunity, and in a book marketed as YA it's a little worrying to me that there seems to be plenty of room for taking any of the sexist/elitist/self-destructive details at face value.
But I see Lee has a sequel coming up, and I suspect the need to go off-script there will push the story in some new, more interesting directions. Oh, and a warning: despite the smiling girl on the cover and the "A Love Story" tag under the title, this is still a tragedy, not a cute romance. The jacket had me fooled, but the classic ending is... not entirely eliminated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal death