Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee

Summary:

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 a 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.

Dazzlingly opulent and emotionally riveting, Anna K.: A Love Storyis a brilliant reimagining of Leo Tolstoy's timeless love story, Anna Karenina―but above all, it is a novel about the dizzying, glorious, heart-stopping experience of first love and first heartbreak.

Review:

So, like the summary states, this is a retelling of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.  As someone who has not read that book, I went into this blind.  Literally all I knew about Tolstoy's book is that there was a character named Anna.

This book is Anna Karenina meets Gossip Girl.  I've only seen the first episode of Gossip Girl, but I've heard lots about it, specifically that it's about upper-class New York teens.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book.  I liked the story, I liked getting to know all the characters. There were quite a few "main" characters, but by the end of the book, I was rooting for most of them.  One person, I was definitely NOT rooting for, but I won't spoil the book for you.

Okay, so basic plot here.

Anna is the apple of her Korean dad's eye.  She can do no wrong.  She's perfect.

She's dating Alexander, also known as the Greenwich OG.  He's like 3 years older than her.  She's in high school, while he's attending Harvard.

For the most part, they have a happy relationship.  Sure, it's a bit boring, but Anna's not unhappy, so what's the harm in that?

Soon, we meet Alexia Vronsky, or Count Vronsky as he's known.  The main thing that you need to know about him is that he's a playboy who has slept with LOTS of girls.

Anna and Vronsky meet, and it's love at first sight.  The only problem is that Anna is with Alexander, and she loves him, right?

There's lots of other characters who are intertwined throughout the story.  There's Anna's brother Steven, who's not as perfect as her (but an awesome big brother), and his girlfriend, Lolly, who takes him back after he cheats on her. (I don't think this is a spoiler because the book literally starts with Lolly finding out about it)

Then there's Dustin, Steven's tutor and childhood friend (he's not upper-class nor does he go to one of the fancy private schools like everyone else).  He ends up meeting Lolly's sister, Kimmie, and he's instantly in love with her.

The problem is that she's obsessed with Vronsky, but like I mentioned, he's into Anna.

There's also Bea (Vronsky's cousin), who becomes important later in the story, as well as Dustin's older brother, Nicholas.

There's so many characters, but I think Jenny Lee does a great job giving them their own personalities, and making them recognizable.

I really only have one critique of this book, and it's something that she does somewhat frequently.

There will be times where two characters are having a conversation, and instead of writing it out, she'll summarize it in one big paragraph.  I'm not sure why she does this, but I found it kinda weird.  After the first couple of times, I got used to it, but it's still weird.

I think, sometimes, it did work.  Sometimes characters would reference conversations that happened before the book started, or that certain people weren't there for.  It was probably easier to write it like that.  It felt like I was reading gossip, which is exactly what it was.

But why did she have to do it so much?? It was weird.

Like I mentioned, I haven't read Tolstoy's original novel, so maybe that's something he does?  If it is, maybe she was trying to emulate what he did.

One thing I will say is DON'T READ THE SUMMARY FOR THE SEQUEL BECAUSE YOU WILL SPOIL THE ENDING OF THIS FOR YOURSELF. I did this lmao, so I'm warning y'all.

Something that Jenny Lee did in this book was constantly reference brands that the characters were wearing, or were buying, and that felt realistic to me. Like, I feel like rich kids are always bragging about the name brand clothes they have haha

Overall, this was a good book! I liked all the characters, I liked all their storylines, and I just liked everything about it.

This is a YA book, so if that's not something you're into (like, you're older than the target audience), then this might not be the book for you. But if you are a young adult, I definitely recommend this book. :)