Anna K

I am very happy to have a chance to share my honest review with you all.

The first time I read Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy , I was stumped. I didn't get it. I couldn't cope up with the ending. I was young then and it took me a long to appreciate this great piece of literature for what it is. So if you have read Anna Karenina before then you know that it does have no happy ending. Also there are so many things to learn from one single piece of literature. When I saw this YA version of Anna Karenina with such a beautiful cover, I was naturally very curious about how Lee could recreate this great piece of literature for teenagers. I am very glad to report that she did an wonderful job with Anna K. Teen Socialite Anna and her love affair with Alexis Vronsky in modern day NYC is a total gem. I didn't expect it to like this as much as I did. The modern plotline , characters , bustling city of New York and ofcourse coming of the age Anna and Alexis. I have to warn you all for it is not going to be pretty but it's already a great piece of women's fiction. Through the course of the entire book our Anna K is going to learn a lot about life and what it feels to be loved more than you love. I learned that too. Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for I highly recommend it to all book lovers. It's a fantastic retelling of Tolstoy'sAnna Karenina and I literally couldn't put it down. This is my first ever book of the talented television writer and producer Jenny Lee but certainly not my last. I am really looking forward to more of her books in the future.

I recommend a lot of tissues Ladies cause you all are going to need it. Get ready to explore the young and rich society of Anna K and a love story that won't leave your heart. Hope you all like it as much as I did and also hope that I did a good job to encourage you all to read it at least one.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK Children's Penguin for this Advance Reader's Copy and a chance to share my thoughts. Happy reading.

4.25/5 Stars

This was so much fun to read! I didn't know how much I needed a YA retelling of Anna Karenina until I read this one. I believe the perfect way to describe this book is to tell you to imagine a mix amongst Gossip Girl, Crazy Rich Asians and Anna Karenina. That's pretty much it and I mean this in the best way possible.
I think the author was a true master in capturing the essence of the original novel and bringing it into life into this book that's set in the 21st century. Some things were definitely over the top, but most of the time it didn't feel forced at all.

The characters were very diverse which was such a nice thing to see in a retelling of such a classic. Also, I loved the fact that the author decided to use multiple perspectives, it worked so well with the novel and it definitely kept the narration flowing.

I didn't enjoy some of Anna's family dynamics, mainly the one regarding her parents and their deep involvement in their children's lives. I won't spoil the ending, but I must say I expected a little more from it.

If you've never read Anna Karenina, you can totally read this one without feeling lost at all. You'll only miss the references, but other than that you'll be fine.

Oof, this book. Still reeling.

I’ve read Anna Karenina and I loved this 21st century YA retelling. The changes the author has made to the story really work, and although I initially thought setting it at high school age was a bit off it ended up being a great choice. I also really liked the gender/culture talking points-sometimes the gender observations felt a little heavy handed, but they were appropriate to the plot. The first quarter was hard going, it felt vacuous and I wasn’t as gripped as I was hoping to be. But I’m so glad I stuck with it! It’s a slow builder, which is as it should be for such a classic story.

It’s hard to talk too much about the book without spoiling it! I suspect it’ll be pretty polarising, I can’t imagine anyone being ‘meh’ about this book. I think if you hate the idea of Anna Karenina being retold, there’s not much convincing you otherwise. But if you like the story, or if you’re completely new to it, I would prepare to lose a weekend to Anna K.

This was such a sumptuous read, full of brilliant characters and it was fascinating to sneak a peek at the opulent life of the elite.

Meet Anna K. At seventeen, she is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and Newfoundland dogs); she has the perfect (if perfectly boring) boyfriend, Alexander W.; and she has always made her Korean-American father proud (even if he can be a little controlling). Meanwhile, Anna's brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Lolly, are trying to weather an sexting scandal; Lolly’s little sister, Kimmie, is struggling to recalibrate to normal life after an injury derails her ice dancing career; and Steven’s best friend, Dustin, is madly (and one-sidedly) in love with Kimmie.

As her friends struggle with the pitfalls of ordinary teenage life, Anna always seems to be able to sail gracefully above it all. That is until the night she meets Alexia “Count” Vronsky at Grand Central. A notorious playboy who has bounced around boarding schools and who lives for his own pleasure, Alexia is everything Anna is not. But he has never been in love until he meets Anna, and maybe she hasn’t, either. As Alexia and Anna are pulled irresistibly together, she has to decide how much of her life she is willing to let go for the chance to be with him. And when a shocking revelation threatens to shatter their relationship, she is forced to question if she has ever known herself at all.

I must admit, I've never read Anna Karenina, but Anna K makes me want to! It was a lovely modern reimagining of a classic romance that I was really rooting for. The chemistry between Anna and Alexia was so explosive on the page, despite everything. However, it does involve cheating, which is pretty much the dominant theme of the book and I really liked the discussion around this and forgiveness. Lee particularly draws attention to the gendered double standards around cheating in a really thought-provoking way. Similarly, the story involves a lot of drug use, but discusses this in a nuanced and considered way.

Anytime a book promises to examine the elite, I'm drawn to it and Anna K delves into the seedy underbelly behind the dazzling facades. Exploring the darker facets of privilege and how it intersected with racism and culture made this such an interesting book, prompting me to really re-examine my initial thoughts. Through the story, Lee discusses different aspects of racism and classism in a brilliant way. It is smart, but playful and bittersweet at the same time.

There's quite a large cast of characters, but they all felt distinctive and had their own voice. They all had their own stories to tell as part of the larger narrative and I liked how we got to see at least a snippet of their perspective through the narration.

Full review will be up on my blog nearer publication date.

This was an excellent novel that I had a great time reading. Exquisite character development and fast flowing story make this book a success

At first I thought that this book would be a bit fluffy for my taste, particularly as I don't often read YA novels. I was intrigued by the premise of it being based on Anna Karenina, although it's many years since I read that book so I can't comment on the similarities or otherwise. However it‘s really quite dark in places as you might expect from a novel based on Anna Karenina. Lee stated that she wanted the book to be ‘soapy and fun and girlie and exciting, while also imparting a strong female message...‘ and I think that she achieved this, whilst also showing that 'rich kids' don't have it all and are, in fact, often quite miserable.

One word of warning, for a YA novel, there‘s some rather explicit sex, as well as a lot of drug use.

A fun take on the classic Anna Karenina, this is a must for any young adult fans. Characters are engaging and the story feels fresh and new

This was a wonderful reimagining of Anna Karenina in modern day America. I found it thoroughly enjoyable, very reminiscent of Gossip Girl, and every interpretation of the original felt solidly grounded in contemporary issues and cultural expectations. I also loved that it had a happy(ish) ending. Anna K was very empowering as a character, and the romantic connection between her and Vronsky was so well written I could feel the love through the pages! The author really conveyed that Romeo and Juliet-esque idea of star-crossed lovers throughout. I can't wait to see what she writes next!

I love Gossip Girl, The Thousandth Floor and Crazy Rich Asians so this book was clearly for me!
I didnt realised it was an Anna Karenina retelling until the end which makes me just want to re read it.

I loved the characters, and felt like I was following them around watching their lives, I sympathised with them for having meddling parents and kinda wished it was a world I could visit, just for a week!

Like the author, I love Anna Karenina and couldn’t resist a YA re-telling, even though I don’t like reading YA.

She’s done a pretty good job. I like the author, after checking her out on social media. So it’s hard to be critical and I’m rounding up to 4 stars, because I think her heart was in the right place. Most of it sort of works. It’s easy to read. It takes a stab at some big current issues, including class, sex, love, race and feminism. And I hope it gets young adults to not give a f and be who they are. Even if they aren’t fabulously wealthy.

However, it needed a bit more editing for it to be truly great. I found the way some of the characters talked to be unbelievable. Especially Geneviève. It was trying to be too 19th century and failing. And it was painfully on the nose. It could have been finessed to show not tell more.

ALSO GOD DAMN HIGH TEA IS JUST DINNER. It’s afternoon tea she meant. This is a massive pet peeve of mine.

I’m super happy that Anna didn’t die in the end. But thought Vronsky dying was too much after Nicholas. I was moved by the letter he wrote to his brother.

I like the intertwining stories and Kimmie and Dustin were great. It made me think how Tolstoy doesn’t sacrifice Kitty because she was a ‘good girl’.

Read it if you like Anna K or not. Lee is funny too (I loved the line ‘ virgitarian to carni- whore.’). It could have read a bit more modern, but overall, I liked it. I had a few late nights where I’d read it for hours. It made me think of when I was in Moscow up all night reading Anna Karenina.

WOW. I hadn't read 'Anna Karenina' before I went into this book so that ending destroyed me! I was 100% not expecting what happened and had to reread the Grand Central Station paragraph just to make sure I hadn't read that wrong. I absolutely LOVED this book! It was like a Gossip Girl throwback and although all of the characters were VERY flawed in some way or the other, I really grew to love them.

Thank you so much for the review copy!

So this is a Anna Karenina retelling. I didn’t remember much about Anna Karenina, just some things about the ending but of course I also just ignored what I knew and pretended I knew nothing. So I went into this book, not having any expectations really but… woah. This book was a retelling yes, but it could very well be an entire season of Gossip Girl.

At first, I really had quite a few problems with this book. I couldn’t stand any of the characters at first, they all were kind of bratty rich kids from New York high society who just threw around their money and having sex with anything not up on a tree by three. Parties, drugs, expensive clothes and cars. And nobody really reflected on what they were doing until the bad stuff starts to happen.

The thing is, there was some amazing character development there. And while I couldn’t get into the story at first, my opinion completely changed and I ended up loving the book.

The story is centered around Anna, her brother Steven and their friends. The story starts out with Steven cheating on his girlfriend Lolly. He doesn’t know what to do, so he calls his sister for help, his perfect sister who has the perfect boyfriend, the perfect reputation, the perfect grades.

So except for Anna and Dustin, I found every single person in this book to be horrible at first. I got so annoyed at them. At one point I actually ranted to friends and called the book a „misogynist shit show“. But. And here comes the big but. I did not expect it to become so good? I wasn’t looking at the book as a whole at that point and I actually feel bad about it. So, before I ramble on, let’s bring some more structure into this.

The whole group are teenagers from 15-19, with Anna’s boyfriend Alexander being the oldest at 19. And you know what? On an emotional level they totally act like teenagers. Which is annoying while I read it but in hindsight I actually liked it? Does that make sense? They’re rich, privileged teenager and they totally act on it. They’re spoiled and selfish and think the world is turning around them. They’re gorgeous, they’re all powerful in some way. But you know what they say: the higher you climb, the lower you fall.

But each and every single person has something happening to them that opens their eyes in some ways. The development was amazing and so well written. I definitely did not see it coming. They grew so much and actually became quite wise. The youngest in the group became the wisest and also my favourite character. Everyone in the group learns so much during the story, they suddenly have a lot to put up with and deal with actual problems.

I totally loved the group dynamic. loved their drama and the romances that awaken and die and I especially enjoyed the love between siblings and between friends. The journey from almost-strangers to a tight knit group was just so much fun to read.

The only thing I was constantly annoyed with was the writing. While the writing style wasn’t bad, the choice of words sometimes made me cringe so hard. I don’t know if younger people really talk like that but bruh. I had to read „I transformed from virgitarian to carni-whore“ and boy do I not ever in my life want to read that again. I also don’t want to see another „V-train leaving the station“. I’m sorry but no. Just no.

So all of that said and my initial problems, I very much enjoyed Anna K. I’m a sucker for character driven stories and I love seeing character development (it’s one of the most important things for me in a story) and there was so much of it. There were so many emotions, love and heartbreak, happiness and anger, sadness and hope and I suffered through all of them alongside the characters. This is an incredibly well woven story.

Anna K by Jenny Lee was a book that caught my attention from the beginning. It was so engaging and I almost forgot it was based off a classic novel! The corruption of the upper 1% and their world really interested me as a girl that has never even peered into their ways of life.

Even though Anna was the protagonist, the characters of Vronsky and Anna's family really immersed me. This is definitely a good stepping stone to actually reading Anna Karenina at one point. Thanks so much for this ARC and I thoroughly enjoyed it xx

I haven't read Anna Karenina since I was the age of the characters in this book, so Anna K was a really interesting way to return to this story. I loved all the little hints to the original, but also the very fresh modern twist Lee gives her retelling.

Anna K is a story of love, luxury and letting go of who the world expects you to be. Here are three reasons I would recommend it:

1) I loved all the main protagonists and was never disappointed when the viewpoint shifted - everyone's story line was unique and interesting, and I enjoyed them all. Having an insight into everyone's thoughts meant I was never suspicious of characters having ulterior motives. It was also great to see so much diversity in the characters - this is Gossip Girl for the 2020s.

2) This novel is full of moments of astute social commentary, addressing difficult topics which affect teenagers today, in particular mental health and social media. Kimmie's story arc was particularly strong from this point of view, but I also loved Steven and Lolly's discussions about the gender imbalance when it comes to cheating. Drugs featured quite prevalently in Anna K, but the novel explored their less glamorous, sometimes devastating, side to great effect.

3) The ending took me completely by surprise - which is saying something as the ending was probably what I could remember most vividly from the original.

Anna K was utterly addictive and a lot of fun, retaining the spirit of the original but bringing it firmly into 2020.

This is Jenny Lee's debut YA novel based on Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

The story centers around the titled character Anna K. who is beautiful, rich, sociable and a reliable teenager unlike others in her life. She is half Korean and takes pride in being the perfect girlfriend, daughter and student. However, her true love and time is spent on her dogs and horses.

Anna's life spins out of control when she unexpectedly meets Alexi 'Count' Vronsky a gorgeous rich playboy while helping his mother. Both are taken back by each others beauty and the story continues about their trials of trying to be together despite all odds.

There are other characters that are key in this story and the author gave an insight to them as well as their relationships.

The story itself is written in 3 parts. At the beginning of the book, there's a list of the main characters that helps you the reader. At the back there's author's notes when Jenny met Anna, which gives you a better understanding of the story behind Anna K.

I found the story appealing because it reminded me of the TV show 'Gossip Girl.' However, there were some acronyms that I didn't quite understand so I feel a younger adult reader would find it more relatable.