Anna K by Jenny Lee

Challenge #4 ~ “A book set in a place or time that you wouldn’t want to live.”

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

My opinion in three sentences:

I’ve not read Anna Karenina, the classic of Russian literature of which this is a retelling, and so I won’t go into too much depth on the slow, lengthy plotline that seemed to never-end, as that is likely similar to its source material. The characters (in their abundance) were well-written, but difficult to relate to, and lots of the themes they brought up were left unaddressed. Furthermore, the different perspectives were a little too numerous and muddled that it took a good while to quite establish who was who and how they all related to one another.

(Without spoiling anything) the best bit:

There was a story with drama and several twists which, I guess unless you’re rather familiar with Anna Karenina, you won’t see coming. The representation of the rich classes of New York was a novel take too, and translated well to the plot (although, I fear it will become quickly dated given how many pop culture references were crammed in!)

A warning for the book:

Lots of the elements, whether harking from the original classic or inventions of Lee’s own, are there for shock value. Now, I don’t mind the odd element as such, but I mean the odd element. The abundance of racist/homophobic/otherly offensive or highly dodgey language that arose in conversations came across as crass and immature, and the casual interactions with serious themes of self-harm, substance (ab)use and more, which were then left completely unaddressed by the novel, was remiss. I’m all for staying true to an original in your re-adaptation, but equally idealising and/or leaving such important topics unaddressed or without signposting for further support, especially in a young adult novel, feels irresponsible.