What Happened to Anna K.: A Novel | Irina Reyn | WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ANNA K is a great first...

What Happened to Anna K.: A Novel | Irina Reyn | Anna K

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What Happened to A...

	What Happened to Anna K.: A Novel Irina Reyn Touchstone, 2008 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 34 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A mesmerizing debut novel that reimagines Tolstoy's classic tragedy, Anna Karenina, for our time

Vivacious thirty-seven-year-old Anna K. is comfortably married to Alex, an older, prominent businessman from her tight-knit Russian-Jewish immigrant community in Queens. But a longing for freedom is reignited in this bookish, overly romantic, and imperious woman when she meets her cousin Katia Zavurov's boyfriend, an outsider and aspiring young writer on whom she pins her hopes for escape. As they begin a reckless affair, Anna enters into a tailspin that alienates her from her husband, family, and entire world.

In nearby Rego Park's Bukharian-Jewish community, twenty-seven-year-old pharmacist Lev Gavrilov harbors two secret passions: French movies and the lovely Katia. Lev's restless longing to test the boundaries of his sheltered life powerfully collides with Anna's. But will Lev's quest result in life's affirmation rather than its destruction?

Exploring struggles of identity, fidelity, and community, What Happened to Anna K. is a remarkable retelling of the Anna Karenina story brought vividly to life by an exciting young writer.

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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ANNA K is a great first novel. Highly recommended!

Although it has been years since I read ANNA KARENINA, I remember much of the story and was impressed at a male Tolstoy's understanding of a woman's inner mind. I was happy to read Reyn's more modern version, WHAT HAPPENED TO ANNA K., to see how an up-to-date Anna might be portrayed. I loved Reyn's prose--what an extraordinary first novel. Also, by placing Anna in a Russian Jewish community in Rego Park, New York, Reyn was able to modernize the re-telling of this story while still presenting Anna with societal constraints. Anna's community was conservative and still had old fashioned expectations of its women.

It appears that Anna is really quite vacuous. In order to know what one wants, one has to have an inner core; something it seems Anna lacked. She's out of synch with her surroundings and has unrealistic expectations. For instance, she sought a relationship with someone who could finish her sentences for her and based her expectations of a mate on fictional characters. After leaving her husband she thought about how she never asked him about his interests. She loves her son abstractly. Her yearning for him was on the same level as her yearning for a soul-mate, more subliminal than real perhaps?

An inability to make realistic choices is obvious by the time she's questioning David's devotion to her--rather than concentrate on her future, perhaps without David, she's thinking about taking Russian lessons! The most telling clue to Anna's personality can be found after she sneaks and reads the now rubber banded and turning yellow manuscript David wrote, using Anna as the lead female character. Anna thought the book was excellent; she enjoyed the plot and appreciated all his characters except one. The lead character. The lead character, the one he based on her, was flawed.

Reyn did an excellent job of projecting Anna's personality as well as Lev's who is the male counterpart to Anna in the book. He too is a little out of synch with the community and relates to French movies better than to most women he dates. In contrast to Anna's inability to do so, when given the choice Lev faces reality and chooses to stay in "real life" with his wife and son. Anna couldn't face her choices, none seemed suited to her according to her way of thinking; hence, the ending was to be expected.

It isn't necessary to read ANNA KARENINA to enjoy this book. It stands alone and I highly recommend it. My only complaint, and it's a mere quibble, is that a glossary would have been helpful for those who were not familiar with Russian words/phrases used in the book.

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Anna K

This is a very well written book. We all know pretty much what it is about so this new title to writing it again is a nice change of pace and is easy to follow the story line. It is very clear what is happening at all times so you do not feel like you got lost in the story line or the characters. It is just simply a nice read with a great story that all should enjoy.

Do we care what happened to Anna K?

"Choices had never been kind to Anna K." This is the basis of the story.

First, I need to admit I never managed to finish the original Anna Karenina, so my review will be different from those who have read the Tolstoy classic.

What worked for me was the story of a woman who is struggling in relationships and trying to find her place in modern America. Defining yourself as a woman in this country is hard for just about every woman I know, so Anna K's story is a familiar one. I sort of felt that Anna was two dimensional given the nuances of a life for a modern woman in America. Since Anna was the daughter of immigrants, I feel that there should have been more depth to what was driving her to make the decisions that ultimately led to her demise.

I'd recommend this book for fans of Tolstoy, new writers, and modern day New Yorkers!

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Unflattering View Of New York Russian Jews

I rarely read fiction and never read Anna Karenina. The author's portrait of New York Russian Jews was so unflattering, I wasn't sure I was even going to make it through this book. I just wanted to get away from it, to get away from the characters in it. But somewhere along the line, I began to wonder how it would end for Anna K. and for everyone else. I guess I began to care for them a bit. So, I stuck with it...the ending was quick...it was suddenly all over...another person crushed by day-to-day reality...and by her own narcissism. But were those who judged her really any better? In my opinion, no. I simply did not like anyone in this book!

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Good Intentions, but Inconsistent Quality

What Happened to Anna K. is Irina Reyn's modern interpretation of Tolstoy's classic Anna Karenina set in New York City. The quality of both the plot and writing are very inconsistent; here are the highs and lows.

What You Will Enjoy:
- The concept is intriguing and unique; someone with the courage to put their work up for inevitable comparison with a great classic should be given at least a little bit of credit
- The pacing of the story is done well and artistically
- Anna K. remains a tragic character; Reyn doesn't try to romanticize her decisions

What Earned the Book Only 3 Stars:
- The writing is average; Reyn's style of writing isn't unique, nor is it terrible
- At times this book seemed borderline "chick lit" to me; many descriptions of clothing, sales and longings for unavailable men
- A majority of the characters were not well-developed; simplicity can be effective if it is done right, here it is not. The characters end up reading as one-dimensional
- Although I am not Russian-American, I would not be very flattered if I were; the novel paints a picture of them as lacking business skills, style, the ability to communicate and often intelligence

This is the type of book you take on the airplane with you; a quick read that the screaming kid next to you won't ruin, since you don't have to concentrate very hard to understand it.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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