I thought this was a great retelling of a classic story with a feminist bent. Also, I really liked how Lee modernized the Levin story to be much more interesting (to me at least, sorry Tolstoy) and to be very much a part of our time. I would really recommend this.

I do not like giving negative reviews, but I unfortunately did not enjoy this book at all. I loved Anna Karenina and have loved other takes on classic literature such as Eligible and Unmarriageable. However, I struggled to get through this book. It followed Anna Karenina too closely with modern characters, and it didn't make sense with MUCH lower stakes. These are 16 year olds in 2020, a relationship doesn't have the same stakes as a marriage in 19th Century Russia.

This book is delightful. I have never read Anna karenina, so I'm sure there are parts that would have been obvious nods to the original, but I couldn't recognize them. I loved the narration style and, as an NYC resident, enjoyed reading a book about the elite class that lives among us plebs.

This one took me a bit to get into, but around 50 pages I was hooked! This book had me going through all of the emotions and was so insightful! A great modern day retelling of a classic. I will be talking about this one to anyone who will listen!

NetGalley ARC | Anna K is like Kim Kardashian meets Crazy Rich Asians, Gossip Girl, Romeo and Juliet, and Tolstoy's Anna Karenina for young adults.

This March 2020 new release does not disappoint as you will find multiple love stories, over-the-top drama, and a modern take on a classic. Relevant and contemporary, Anna K.'s cast of characters will have you both charmed and laughing.

Find my full review on The Uncorked Librarian here: https://theuncorkedlibrarian.com/currently-reading-february-2020/

I never read the Leo Tolstoy story. However I still enjoyed this story. I definitely can see this being developed into a tv show like Gossip Girl.

A fun interpretation of Anna Karenina for an older teen audience or anyone who enjoys retellings and fans of Gossip Girl and Crazy Rich Asians.

(3.5/5) I've read a lot of Tolstoy adaptations, so when I saw this available as an ARC, I wanted it because to be honest most Tolstoy adaptations are pretty crappy, and I thought this one would be as well.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun <i>Anna K.</i> is. This young adult novel follows Anna K., a young, extremely Korean-American teenager, as she and her friends and family try to navigate the world of the high school elite in New York City. Anna seemingly has the perfect life, including the perfect boyfriend until she meets Alexia Vronsky who throws her world into a tail spin.

Lee's writing is not Tolstoyian. It's still a young adult novel, and that shows through. What she does really well is taking the main issues of Tolstoy's novel and bringing them to a modern, young adult audience. Both Steven and Kimmie (the modern version of Kitty) are well written characters who show more depth than you would expect while Dustin (the Levin character) is the one that never really hits the elements of predecessor.

<i>Anna K. </i> was way more enjoyable than I expected it to be. The setting of high society New York private school works really for a modern version, and Lee has a lot of fun with the characters and the age group.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Definitely torn on this one: had I read Anna Karenina, I’d probably be obsessed with this modern update (AK did just get WAAYYY moved up on my reading list!). The story was so dramatic with crazy coincidences...like it was coming to us right out of the 19th century. 😉 This large cast of characters is also straight out of Victorian literature, and though I’ve never read the original (or any Russian literature for that matter), it definitely reminded me of other literature at the time.

However, I love Gossip Girl, and this is completely reminiscent of that: the Manhattan-elite private school clan living their lives of luxury, aka sex, drugs, and parties. I wish I had a way to comment on the update of this classic story, and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t plow through AK first, but I did enjoy this, and I LOVED Anna, much like I assume I’ll love Anna in the original.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Truth be told, I wasn't a Gossip Girl reader as a teenager, otherwise I'd definitely make more of a comparison here. I did, however, devour every book in The Clique series, which is essentially the middle schooler's version of Gossip Girl, and I still jokingly use the phrase "lip kissed" after my friends tell me about a first date, despite the fact that we're Very Much Adults™.

The strange thing about reading Jenny Lee's Anna K. as a grown-ass woman, though, is I realized just how much my own book interests have changed. Watching rich teens do a bunch of ridiculous shit just isn't as interesting or glamorous or enchanting as it was when I was a pre-teen growing up in a boring southern suburb. And at the same time, I think Jenny Lee did something that many novels I read in this genre as an actual pre-teen and teenager when I was growing up didn't: She gave her characters real depth in the midst of the gaudy absurdity of the wealthy. She validated the belief that teenagers' feelings and inner worlds are real and important.

Lee put together the perfect book for the teens of today—and for me, reading this novel became less about her words and more about some introspection. I think I've aged out of this genre. But it was a helluva ride to get here and quite the book to show me that.

Plus now I feel no urge to read Anna Karenina. I assume Jenny Lee's version is better.

I loved reading this book. At the start of covid 19 quarantine it provided such an enjoyable escape. I usually don’t like YA because it feels corny and patronizing. This was smart and sexy and fun. Very gossip girl. Loved the characters and the dialogue. It made me want to sit down with the original Anna Karenina, which I’ve never wanted to do.

This book was not at all as I expected. There was a great amount of alcohol, drugs, and sex from these rich and famous teens. The consequences of which were far and wide. Despite the terrible decision making skills of the teens in this novel, I did enjoy it, if only to gape at the lifestyles of these teenagers.

A fun (if you can believe it) YA retelling of classic Russian Novel Anna Karenina but this time it’s the high society of New York elite. With gossip girl vibes (it starts and ends at grand central station) and tragic story of love, loss, addiction, and many dead animals, this remix is not one to miss.

I enjoyed this retelling even though I have never read the original story. Anna K. Is a enjoyable story of love and heartbreak, of friendships and family. I enjoyed the modern twist on this, but felt it was a bit too lengthy and found myself skimming parts. Overall I’d give this one 3.5/5 stars.

4.17 out of 5 Stars

So this book was a lot of fun to read (until I was crying at the end but that's fine) and it was definitely an interesting mix up from the last book I read which was a mystery/thriller. The narration had a near-flippant, gossipy kind of tone to it, which I really enjoyed and I think fit perfectly for the story. Anna K was a little on the long end, but from looking at my own copy of Anna Karenina, that book was a long one too so the reimagining fits the original perfectly in that regard. Admittedly, I haven't read Anna Karenina, so I can't make any other comparisons to the inspiration for this book.

Plot:
The story follows a lot of extremely wealthy teenagers in high-society Manhattan. There were times it was insanely fun to see how they spent their money and the kinds of things that they would be able to do, who they knew, etc., etc. For example, it's crazy to think they could have a dinner party with like five new celebrities and then throw an all-out party with tents and themes, but damn was it fun to read. And then there were other times that I thought the display of wealth was a little too over the top. Then again, they're wealthy teenagers with close to zero parental supervision, so I could still believe it.

What I really enjoyed though about the plot was that it took an extreme (kids with crazy amounts of money), and brought those characters closer to the average person by connecting them through common courtesy, friendships, pets, and awkward teenage interactions. Yeah, they had some pompous airs about them, but like, Bea is going to look out for Murph to make sure he's having a good time at her party. Those little details of these kids' awareness about their surroundings really brought a nice touch to the story.

Characters:
There were soooo many freaking characters. It was almost frustrating at times because while it was all third person, we would go from Anna to Stephen to Lolly to Kimmie to Dustin to Bea to Vronsky and honestly it was a little maddening. Just as one character's chapter started to really get me hooked, the next chapter would be someone else's plot entirely.

The characters had pretty interesting dynamics but oh my God, Anna and Vronsky-
Definition.
Of.
InstaLove.
For real, if you don't like InstaLove, you will go insane over this relationship. This is also what ultimately led to me crying of course, but at the beginning, I remember chuckling and thinking, **** is happening, these kids just met. Not all of the relationships are like that though. Stephen and Lolly certainly aren't and Kimmie has a really interesting arc throughout the book, so not every relationship is instantaneous. They actually all had different nuances that they were trying figure out for themselves, both as individuals and as couples, and it made for a good coming-of-age.

Writing:
Right when I started reading, I imagined the narrator sitting back, taking all the attention from the room, and going, "All right, here's the tea." The tone just fit perfectly for the story, being completely lighthearted when things were going great, drawing out the tension when there was drama going on, and taking the hard stuff serious. I really enjoyed it. I could see where some people might think it is an immature narrator, but to me it sounded like a teenager embellishing a story to a group of friends. Maybe a bit over the top, but the story itself is about kids who can drink away $700 dollars in a single shot, so again, it fits.

I'm so excited for the HBO adaptation of this! Where it might fall short as a book, I think a TV show can really bring out the crazy and the nuances even more, without seeming like the story is taking too long. Plus, it's HBO, so I am going to have high expectations and I think they'll do a really good job with it in general.

Thanks for reading!

I want to preface this with I've never read Anna Karenina, so my opinion may be skewed based on that.

I liked this book -- I thought it was an awesome YA book and focused a lot on trials that regular teenagers face, minus the HEAVY coke usage, which I found to be a little much. It was hard to believe that these high schoolers were tripping acid or doing coke every weekend. I really loved Kimmie and how NORMAL she seemed -- her dealing with tragedy and heartbreak through therapy really normalized therapy in my opinion. I also loved Anna. I thought she felt the most real and well-rounded out of all the characters, and I felt like I could really relate to how she felt stuck. I thought the storyline was great, but it did feel way too long, and then WAY too rushed at the end.

Overall, a cute novel that I think would appeal to a lot of young adults!

This is a modern retelling of Anna Karenina (Tolstoy original) likened to Gossip Girl. While I can see how they got to that comparison, this fell very very flat for me. I’ve said it before, I am a huge dialogue reader and this was severely lacking in that aspect. The writing felt geared towards a younger audience but the content certainly was not. The main focus of this story felt more about drugs, sex, and partying than anything else. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. None of them were relateable and we switched perspectives so rapidly it was difficukt to keep things straight. It was a struggle to finish this book and I had zero emotional reaction to anything that happened because I didn’t care about the characters.
As always, I encourage you to read the book yourself and form your own opinions. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book at all.

Anna K is a modern day retelling of Anna Karina. It reminded me so much of Gossip Girl. I loved every minute of reading it (once I got past all of the designer name dropping).

Anna Karenina is one of my favorite books of all time so of course I was looking forward to this modern adaptation. Plus I loved Gossip Girl so my expectations were super high before reading this and guess what? It exceeded all my expectations. This is definitely a must read and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to read it. Tolstoy knew what he was writing about and Jenny Lee is a genius to incorporate his themes to modern times! Great adaptation!

In this modern re-telling of Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina,” a group of wealthy NYC teens navigates love triangles, family drama, and the pressures of society. Anna appears to have the perfect teenage life, complete with her Greenwich-based dogs and horses, long-time boyfriend, and impeccable reputation. Everything begins to unravel, however, after she meets the magnetic Alexia Vronsky. Meanwhile, Anna’s brother Steven is trying to salvage his relationship with his girlfriend, Lolly, and their friend Dustin is harboring an unrequited crush on Lolly’s sister, Kimmie.⁣
•⁣
This book definitely fits into what the hosts of Bad on Paper Podcast call the “rich, unsupervised teens behaving badly” genre, with plenty of drugs, sex, and scandal. Just like in the original story, there are also moments of tragedy. I’ve seen the movie version and know the basic storyline of “Anna Karenina,” and from my limited knowledge, I think that Jenny Lee did an excellent job updating the story for 2020. I do think that I probably would have enjoyed this one more if I had read Tolstoy’s original work, though. There were several passages throughout the book where it seemed as though Lee was referencing the original book that went over my head.⁣
•⁣
Despite this, I enjoyed the sweeping, epic feel of the story and the large cast of interconnected characters. Several of the characters didn’t totally feel like real people to me, but I definitely don’t run in high society circles like these teens. Overall, I think that fans of more mature YA books will enjoy this clever re-telling. And it sounds like I need to read “Anna Karenina” now!⁣