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| What Happened to Anna K.: A Novel | 
| Author: Irina Reyn
Publisher: Touchstone
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $13.97
You Save: $10.03 (42%)
New (41) Collectible (1) from $13.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 13917
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Touchstone Hardcover Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 5.9 x 1.2
ISBN: 1416558934
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781416558934
ASIN: 1416558934
Publication Date: August 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, August 2008: With her fresh reinvention of Anna Karenina, Irina Reyn finds her tragic heroine in the Russian-Jewish immigrants of New York's outer boroughs. As in the Tolstoy, an impetuous woman wasting in a sterile marriage succumbs to a destined-for-disaster love affair with a dashing young man, and is bitterly condemned by a society fraught with hypocrisy; like citizens of19th-century Russia, modern-day Bukharians don't take kindly to wifely infidelity. With an ear for witty dialogue and a knack for imagery both sharp and sensuous, Reyn gives a pixel-perfect depiction of Anna's world. Those caught in her undertow are equally multidimensional, most with their own struggles between loyalty to self and longing for community acceptance. Even those who haven't experienced Tolstoy will be rapt. --Mari Malcolm
Product Description
A mesmerizing debut novel that reimagines Tolstoy's classic tragedy, Anna Karenina, for our timeVivacious 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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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
 Not as good as Anna Karenina November 15, 2008
This book is really a retelling of Anna Karenina. As with songs, if a singer is going to remake a classic, they need to put their own mark on it or sing it better than the original. Sadly this rarely happens and doesn't here in this novel as well.
Set in New York City among early 21st-century Russian Jewish immigrants, Anna, a 37 year old with bad luck in relationships and a restless soul, is wooed into marriage by the financial stability of an older businessman with roots in her community. As Anna chafes at her unromantic life, trouble hits in the form of David, the hipster-writer boyfriend of her sweet, naive cousin, Katia. The sparks flying between Anna & David provide cover as Katia is quietly pursued by a young Jew named Lev.
 The cry of the human soul November 13, 2008
Inside all of us is a common experience. We wonder, we fear, we question, we love.Whether Russian or American, Christian or Jew. we have a first day in school, a first love, a distinct crossroad in life. If we are lucky, the duality of our soul does not present itself. We move forward with less friction and angst.
Anna. Anna K or Anna Karenina unfortunately is given this duality. There is the outward, agreeable person that moves in time with her place in society but there is also that inward Anna, the one that questions and yearns for those things that are not easily had. By visiting infidelity and lust, the split nature of personality is examined. Most people can accept that life is not a fulfillment of romantic fiction but a test in how well the lack of accumulation is born.
In the end, the Anna's are either weak or courageous. The readers must decide. Is courage the fight or the surrender?
These eternal questions are dealt with in equal classical approach by both the master Lev Tolstoy and his student, Irina Reyn. What Happened to Anna K. is a fresh, modern approach to age worn dilemma.
Tragic, but maybe for the wrong reasons November 7, 2008
"What Happened to Anna K" is, of course, a modern retelling of the class "Anna Karenina." I should assure hesitant readers, however, that you don't need to have read the latter to understand or enjoy the former. Irina Reyn has managed to distill Tolstoy's epic work down to a slim 244 pages that structurally function quite well as a stand-alone novel.
So why only 3 stars? Well, the main problem with "Anna K" is... Anna K. Anna, a Russian emigre, wants desperately to be a tragic heroine, a muse to an artist/lover who will depict her as she believes she deserves. But she's less tragic than pathetic, less a heroine than a harpy. Anna is completely unlikable, even to the reader, which makes one wonder why men are willing to risk so much for her. Her love story with David (aka Vronsky) is unconvincing, which makes it impossible to care as she sinks deeper into misery. The fact that we know her tragic end doesn't ruin the suspense of the final few chapters... but the fact that we kind of can't wait for it to happen does. All the characters are like this, in fact - one- (two- at the most) dimensional, grossly self-absorbed, and rather unsympathetic.
Reyn doesn't have Tolstoy's knack for skewering classism, either - which is a shame, since she tries to indulge in it so very often. But when Anna starts getting snobby, we can't escape the feeling that Reyn kind of agrees with her. I'm sorry, but I refuse to pay retail, and I also refuse to feel ashamed of it, as Anna (and by extension Reyn) seems to want me to do. The whole novel suffers from this tone, as Reyn can't decide whether it's a worse sin to be pretentious or unambitious. Again, very tedious.
What does work? Well, Reyn has done a magnificent job of capturing the tone of an entire community on the page. Her long passage on the "Russian soul" might have been expository as hell, but it worked. She's done a good job of making "Anna Karenina" accessible. In fact, once you've finished "Anna K.," you'll probably be inspired to read "Karenina." Maybe that's the best praise of all for this book.
Silky writing--limp story October 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
In her debut novel, Irina Reyn writes lovely, luminous prose in a gentle, intelligent style. What kept me anchored to this story was her eloquent narrative flow--her evocative passages and her penetrating look at Russian Jewish immigrant life in Queens. What ultimately fizzled and fell short for me was Reyn's rendering of the re-imagined Tolstoy classic. Rather than the bracing and exuberant experience I had reading Anna Karenina, I felt constricted, claustrophobic, hemmed in by this version.
I was grateful that the author did not write an exact parallel to Tolstoy's version; however, just knowing that it is a (departed) remake floated regularly in my mind--perhaps that added to why the novel failed for me--the continual tugging of 19th century Anna Karenina. I had high expectations of a sprawling epic and a passionate, enigmatic Anna manifesting a riveting, heroine's energy. Instead, this Anna embodied only the prosaic and pitiable aspects of Anna Karenina. Reyn described her very well, giving us an astute psychological portrait of a self-absorbed romantic, a harsh critic of others with a tendency to see the world in black and white (by her own estimation). She was contradictory--a feminist, but aspired to live in her romantic 19th century novels. Unfortunately, Anna K lacked the inherent drama and tragedy of Tolstoy's Anna; Reyn's Anna was static, descending into her madness only by her own limitations and self-entrapment. Tolstoy's Anna had 19th century mores to consider--her loneliness was deeply felt, even though she had a hand in her isolation. Anna K's behavior, choices, and subsequent desolation often strained credulity. Additionally, the story of her marriage was dull. She marries for financial security at age 37 because her dreams of a "Heathcliff" coming along are fading along with her looks. Her cynicism is blind-sided by a young writer, with whom she starts a lustful affair. Euphoria. Then cynicism and unhappiness strike again. This was not enough to make a novel. Anna did not have any interesting eccentricities or experiences to vitalize the story.
The author did a peerless job of depicting the Russian Jewish immigrant experience in Rego Park, Queens, including the characteristics of the Russian "soul." Their philosophies, insecurities, and provincialities resonated on every page. Reyn had enough nuggets of back story and minor characters to write a rich, rewarding novel beyond this modern-day but tired remake.
She also did an interesting twist to Tolstoy's version of the French influence on 19th century Russian politics. Reyn brought in the art of the French film and the impact it had on the character of Lev, another romantic and protagonist of the second narrative. He saw through the lens of Godard, Bardot, Irene Jacob, Jean-Paul Belmondo--Lev, like Anna K, felt special and unique (through art) and unable to fit in with the sensibilities of most people. Paradoxically, he thought that this made him more sophisticated, rare--life was supposed to mirror art. He was a legend in his own mind. Fortunately, he eventually emerges from his myopic worldview (unlike Anna K).
Of all the parallel characters in this modern-day take on Anna Karenina (Anna K, Lev, David, Alexei, Kitty), Anna K was the least appealing or compelling and the most frustrating. She went from potentially faceted at the story's beginning to cynical and flat by the story's end (while Lev and Kitty became riper). She never was a siren, or beguiling, like Tolstoy's Anna.
I would read another novel by this author, however--she is a skillful prose writer. I think she will impress me more when she writes a true original.
Writing: 4 stars
Story: 2.5 stars
Good Intentions, but Inconsistent Quality October 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
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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