Reviews for What Happened to Anna K.

The average rating for What Happened to Anna K. based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-02-27 00:00:00 Katherine Hogoboom 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.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-08-16 00:00:00 Chris Pelley Where to begin...I am an ardent fan of the original Anna Karenina, written by Tolstoy who can deftly balance tragedy and simple beauty without coming off as maudlin or overwrought. The idea of bringing Anna into modern day New York was very interesting to me, and I was excited to see how Irena did this. It turned out to be a cute book, a quick read, a good "book for the time being until something really good turned up". Not one of the characters were likeable, they were all horrible twittering dopes. The Lev character, who was based very loosely on Levin, was a galoot who fancied himself cerebral because he would hide in theaters watching French films for hours at a time, he had no true redeeming qualities. I was sort of glad to be finished with the book.