Name: Shay's review of Anna K Away by Jenny Lee
Item: Anna K Away
Rating: 3
Author: Shay

Jenny Lee

The sequel to Anna K, set over the course of the next summer, as the characters come to terms with Vronsky’s tragic death How the mighty have fallen. Anna K, once the golden girl of Greenwich, CT, and New York City, has been brought low by a scandalous sex tape and the tragic death of her first love, Alexia Vronsky. At the beginning of the summer, her father takes her to the other side of the world, to connect with his family in South Korea and hide her away. Is Anna in exile? Or could this be her chance to figure out who she really is? Back in the U.S., Lolly has forgiven Steven for cheating on her, and their relationship feels stronger than ever. But when Lolly meets a boy at her beloved theater camp, she has to ask herself how well Steven will ever really know her. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, everything between Kimmie and her new boyfriend, Dustin, is easy—except when it comes to finally having sex. And Bea escapes to LA, running away from her grief at her beloved cousin’s death, until a beautiful stranger steals her heart. Is Bea ready to finally forgive Anna, and let herself truly fall in love for the very first time? Set over the course of one unforgettable summer, Jenny Lee's Anna K Away is full of the risk, joy, heartbreak, and adventure that mark the three months between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next.

Anna K Away

Shay

Meet Anna K! Every happy teenage girl is the same, while every unhappy teenage girl is miserable in her own special way... At seventeen, Anna K is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and 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 an 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 Story is 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.

A Love Story

Anna K

Bria

Briar's Reviews

Anna K: A Love Story has been this daunting book on my bookshelf for quite some time. My friends hyped it up SO much that I was nervous to start it. Do you ever have those books that you're scared that they were over hyped and now will be a let down? Anna K. was that for me. I was so nervous but I finally decided to jump in.

Jenny Lee crafting an intertext for Anna Karenina was what really drew me to this book. I haven't read the original (but I truly need to), but I thought it'd be a cool read. I think if I read the base text I'd appreciate this story SO much more, so I definitely recommend that to any reader coming in. 

Taking away the intertext, this book was.... interesting. I personally did not like the writing style. It's definitely written in an older, slower paced style that felt reminiscent of books from the 1800s. It was beautiful but struggled to keep my attention. But, that's also just me! I'm the kind of reader that needs a fast paced book with very fun writing styles to keep me engaged. Jenny Lee's writing style is very beautiful though, so don't take that as a hit against the book.

The story itself was incredibly engaging, which is what kept me going. There's lots of high society drama among the American-Korean crowd. All of the main characters in this book are teenagers (it's a YA book, obviously), but they go through as much drama as a Real Housewife - cheating, drugs, alcohol, and like... where was I when this happened in high school? (Staying inside and reading books, so obviously I missed out). It seems so out of touch for what I knew from high school but from my understanding this definitely was there.

I'm not going to get too much into the plot since I read it during a very exhausting week. Essentially, Anna K., our lead, is one of the top ladies of society and she has the world's perfect boyfriend. She then meets Vronsky who sets her heart on FIRE. She goes after him and starts to ruin her reputation. Meanwhile, her friends and family are also having their lives fall apart in various ways. Cue (and queue) the drama.

I might not have connected well with the story, but I did enjoy reading it. Is it my favourite? No. Should I come back to this after reading the source material? Yes. I think I will appreciate it more then.

For now, lovely read! Truly interesting and I think it's audience will ADORE it.

Three out of five stars.

alexandra

likely closer to 4/5 but reading the author’s note really upped it up. and now i want to read Anna Karenina and am fucking emo ;——;

Joana da Silva

Fifth book of my Covid-19 isolation. I really, really liked this book. Anna K. gave me all the Gossip Girl feelings I was missing. Perfect to take your mind off the madness that's going on in our pandemic world. However, I did struggle to connect with any of the characters. The author really tried to give them some depth, but I found it shallow and fragile. They're filthy rich teenagers with heavy drama in their lives, who hasn't seen that plot before? But it does the job when you're looking for something light and fun (yeah, even though it's an Anna Karenina YA retelling).

Anna K. is zeventien jaar oud en staat aan de top van de Manhattan en Greenwich society (alhoewel haar paarden en honden toch op nummer 1 staan). Alexander W. is haar perfecte, ietwat saaie vriendje, en haar bedwingende Koreaans-Amerikaanse vader is haar hele leven al trots op haar geweest. Ze lijkt het dus allemaal perfect voor elkaar te hebben. Terwijl haar vrienden het moeilijk hebben met hun alledaagse tienerlevens, lijkt Anna er altijd boven te staan. Totdat ze 'graaf' Alexia Vronsky op Grand Central ontmoet. Hij is een beruchte playboy die al jaren van kostschool naar kostschool hopt en alleen voor zijn eigen plezier lijkt te leven. Op papier is hij het tegenovergestelde van Anna. Maar vanaf hun ontmoeting wordt alles anders... Alexia en Anna voelen zich onvermijdelijk tot elkaar aangetrokken en Anna moet beslissen hoeveel van haar leven ze op wil geven om met Alexia verder te gaan. Maar dan dreigt een schokkende onthulling hun relatie te vernielen en Anna wordt gedwongen zich af te vragen of ze zichzelf überhaupt wel écht kent... Anna K. is een duizelingwekkend, buitengewoon en emotioneel geladen hervertelling van Tolstoys tijdloze Anna Karenina. Maar boven alles is het een verhaal over de ingrijpende én fantastische ervaring van een eerste liefde en een eerste gebroken hart. Bron: Flaptekst, uitgeversinformatie.

Anna K.

lisa roeling 

i had no clue what anna karenina was about, so the ending of this book was a complete surprise to me.
what a wild ride

The sequel to the national indie bestseller Anna K, set over the course of the next summer, as the characters deal with the fallout from Vronsky’s tragic death and Anna’s sex tape scandal. How the mighty have fallen. Anna K, once the golden girl of Greenwich, CT, and New York City, has been brought low by a scandalous sex tape and the tragic death of her first love, Alexia Vronsky. At the beginning of the summer, her father takes her to the other side of the world, to connect with his family in South Korea and teach his daughter about her roots. Is Anna in exile? Or could this be her chance to finally figure out who she really is? Back in the U.S., Anna’s brother, Stephen, and his girlfriend, Lolly, are falling even more deeply in love. But when Lolly learns about unexpected consequences from Stephen’s cheating the previous year, she has to consider how much she is willing to forgive. Lolly’s little sister, Kimmie, and her new boyfriend, Dustin, are thinking about having sex together for the first time. And Bea, Vronsky’s cousin, is having her own romantic and sexual awakening, though she hasn’t forgiven her ex-BFF, Anna, for her role in Vronsky’s death. Set over the course of a single, life-changing summer, Anna K Away is full of the risk, joy, heartbreak, and adventure that marks the three months between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next.

Kristen Claiborn

Like the kids in the story, this book seems to be a bit more "grown-up" than the the first one. This book focuses a bit more on Anna K herself, while still following the growth of Bea in L.A., finding love for the first time, and Lolly, trying to determine how she can find herself drawn to two very different...um...men (?). Dustin, Kimmie, and Steven have lesser roles in this book, but we still see them develop as well. 
 I did enjoy the first book, despite how I felt about it being billed as a young adult. This book doesn't have the same clever, witty writing, which left me wanting a bit more from Jenny Lee. While still not a book I would recommend to a teen, it is a bit less graphic in the sex and drug use. I thoroughly enjoyed Lolly's experience at theater camp, and I really hope that Lee follows up with a third book so we can get more of her story. This book, however, left me feeling slightly let down.

This book follows the lives of a bunch of wealthy high school kids over the course of a spring semester. That’s the easiest way to succinctly summarize what it is about. The reality is the story is far more complicated. While the book is called Anna K, it’s not solely about that one young woman. It’s also about her brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Lolly. It’s about Steven’s tutor and eventual best friend, Dustin, the object of Dustin’s affection, Kimmie, and it’s about Alexia. It’s about their wealth and affluence. It’s about their choices and what feels like a sad lack of consequences, save for the worst consequence. 
	I was completely impressed with this story from the very beginning. Lee’s writing brought out the pettiness and silliness most adults feel emanates from teenagers on a daily basis. It’s witty and full of conversation that feels like it’s real. That impressed me. So often I read books with commentary and conversations that would never actually be heard in real life and it’s annoying. Lee’s characters here are as complex as teenagers are, showing both the shallow and the deep of each of the kids. Unfortunately, because of their wealth, there was a lot of shallow. I don’t pretend to have any knowledge of what life is like for the ultra-rich, but if that’s what it’s like, I’m glad I’m not one of them. The sheer amount of drug use, sex, and don’t-give-a-shit that happened was mind boggling. The relationships amongst the characters was also written well, and the story was intriguing and multi-faceted from start to finish. It is a great story.
	Here’s my problem. I was all about giving this a raving 5-star review…until I saw that it was billed as a young adult. Nope. Not a young adult. This is in no way a book we should suggest to a young adult…not at all. There are some serious explicit sex scenes involving underage characters. There is a LOT of drug use, alcohol use, drug abuse, absolute insubordination of parents and other adults. These are decidedly not qualities we wish for in kids…at all. And it didn’t feel like there was any negativity surrounding the poor choices these kids were making, which made this not something I would want a young adult to read. However, I will recommend this to anybody who is past the angsty phase of their life…it’s a really good book.

Ariel Ramos Lopez

jess

I like retellings. So when I saw the pitch of an Anna Karenina retelling with a Korean-American main character, I found myself excited. However, I just couldn't get into this book due to the writing and my inability to suspend my belief that these characters were all teenagers. 

The characters are fun enough, I guess -- all of them are unsavory and pretty much terrible people, which was cool to see. I think it's fun to read about the dramas of spoiled rich kids. My problem was that, well, they were kids, and reading this book I genuinely feel like the book was originally written as a new adult book. There's just so much sex, drugs, partying, with parents and school being completely incidental, and look, I'm aware that teenagers do this stuff, but none of the characters felt like teenagers. I think this would have worked much better as a new adult book with characters in their late teens and early twenties. 

My second problem with this book was the writing. I feel like the author was trying to emulate the style of nineteenth century literature. The narration hops back and forth between perspectives often, sometimes within the same paragraph. The paragraphs are long, and there's a lot of description of characters thinking, feeling, or talking, rather than putting description into action. I get the concept, but I don't think it worked out, because it just created narrative distance and I didn't feel connected to any of the characters. The way the characters talk is also just ... strangely obnoxious with the use of online speech irl?

Anna K is an ambitious undertaking, but I don't think it lives up to its premise.

Steph L 

I started this the day it came out or around that time. I enjoyed it, and it was fun. I have seen the movie but not read the original book before reading this. I loved Anna and her story.

Saima A

evy 

the only thing that could have made this book more enjoyable was less dialogue that sounds like what adults think teenagers talk like. no one talks like that, and if they do, I do not want them around me. with that exception, this book, primarily the last chapters, were addictive.

Shan

This one took me a bit to get into, but around 50 pages I was hooked! This book had me going through all of the emotions and was so insightful! A great modern day retelling of a classic. I will be talking about this one to anyone who will listen!

Bryanna M

Eh this just felt like a long ramble and I didn’t really understand why it was written

Honestly??? This was so ridiculous and unrealistic and fun??? I loved it??? The drama??? The shallow and immoral characters??? Omg??? The ending???? Did not expect to love this so much but wow I had so much fun and now regret giving away my copy of Anna Karenina lol

'This entertaining debut relocates Anna Karenina to Manhattan's Upper East Side for the Tolstoy/Gossip Girl mash-up you never knew you needed.' I Newspaper Welcome to New York's Upper East Side: where privilege, partying and scandal rules. Anna K is the golden girl of New York high society. She's beautiful, she's kind, she's unbelievably rich, and she has the perfect boyfriend. Until she meets Alexi Vronsky. He's a notorious playboy, totally gorgeous, and he only has eyes for Anna. Despite everyone who matters in New York talking about her, Anna still just can't resist Vronsky. Even if it means her carefully crafted life could come crashing down. Perfect for fans of Crazy Rich Asians and Gossip Girl this is an addictive and subversive reimagining of Leo Tolstoy's timeless love story Anna Karenina. "A fresh and wickedly smart take on a classic story. Anna is even more scandalously fun now, in the age of stilettos and social media, than she was in 19th century Russia. I couldn't put this one down." Katharine McGee, New York Times bestselling author of American Royals

Kathleen Mullins

At first, I was really into the writing style of this book. It felt very classic in the beginning, but it quickly started bothering me a lot. I noticed that for being a book about relationships there wasn't a lot of actual dialogue, and the love interests didn't even talk to each other for more than a paragraph. I did like the idea of the plot lines, but the main one fell flat for me. I liked Kimmie's story better than Anna's, I would've enjoyed a book just about her story.

kes van leeuwen

** spoiler alert **
           Why does everyone have to die😭

This one follows the same main characters as they try to survive their summers. Anna had a very traumatic summer and was not only trying to recover from losing someone really close to her, but she was also trying to figure out who she is while being grounded, or at least their version of grounded. I still loved Anna's story the most and struggled with Dustin and Kimmie's section. I didn't really care for Steven and Lolly's story in this book, either. I think this book could've stood on just Anna's shoulders alone, but I really love Bea's story in this one. I think Bea was honestly my favorite and had the most fun in this book. I did go into this one kind of hesitantly because of how the last one ended, and to be honest, when I was entering the page count into Bookly, I saw Anna's letter, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, the death from the first book was fake and he was still alive, but that's not happening. I just feel like that would be something that could be pulled off in this book. I think these books are just fast and fun reads for the most part. I really love watching Anna's story unfold, and I don't know if there will be any more in this story or if I will pick them up going forward. I like Anna's story, but I liked it more in the first book. I love that she is finally standing on her own in this one, but it still had its issues, and I miss her love interest from the first book, but at the same time, I'm glad that she just didn't jump into a new love interest in this one. We'll see what I think if any more comes out in this world. 

So I went into this one because I've been desperate for a drama-filled book, kind of like Gossip Girl, and while this book is about the rich kids of NYC, this one didn't get to that scale of drama that I wanted. Don't get me wrong, and there was a lot of chaos in this book. But I think the many different POVs really threw me off. Towards the end of the book, I really didn't care about Dustin and Kimmie's stories anymore. They kind of ran their course at the beginning of the book. I do like the big scene with Kimmie after she comes home, but overall I just got tired of her POV. I absolutely LOVED Anna. I had so much fun with her story, and I loved following it. I would've enjoyed the book more if it followed just her life. Steven and Lolly weren't bad POVs; I just liked Anna more. Idk what kind of ending this one was because I had to read it like four times to grasp what was going on because of this ending fully! I'm curious about the second book, but at the same time, I don't know if this needed to be a series. I guess I have to read it to decide on how I feel about it being a series. 

A national indie bestseller! Meet Anna K: every happy teenage girl is the same, while every unhappy teenage girl is miserable in her own special way... At seventeen, Anna K is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and 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 an 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 Story is 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.

Kim 

Olivera Mitić

Znam da je treš, don't @ me. Sad kad smo to raščistili - ovo je zapravo bilo ekstremno zabavno??? Mislim, da se ne lažemo, nije ovo buduća školska lektira, ali ni ne trudi se da bude. A, kad pogledamo šta su obećali na poleđini knjige, stvarno mogu da kažem da su sva moja očekivanja ispunjena, ako ne i nadmašena. 

Dženi Li je zapravo uspela da zadrži sve važne tačke zapleta originalnog dela (osim pred sam kraj, tu se malo spetljala, ali bože moj, opravdano je računajući da su se društvena pravila izmenila od Karenjininog doba). Kad čovek malo zanemari činjenicu koliko je forsirala sa referencama na pop kulturu, da tinejdžeri zapravo ne pričaju tako (generacijski propust) i da nema potrebe da name dropuje sve te dizajnere i brendove, ovo je skroz solidno. Valjda se tu vidi i veličina Tolstojevog dela, jer je uspeo da ispriča poprilično bezvremenu priču, koja funkcioniše i van vremenskog okvira u kojem je prvobitno smeštena. 

Elem, da se vratimo na ono što je bitno. Neću biti toliko slobodna da Anu K preporučim svima. Ovo je doslovno roman za jaaako usku publiku i ako ne upadate u jednu od sledećih kategorija, bolje zaobiđite:

1. Čitali ste Anu Karanjinu, dopala vam se i sviđa vam se ideja da dobijete neku prepričanu, modernizovanu i pojednostavljenu verziju istog zapleta, samo da ima Gossip Girl vajb, a ne ruski klasik vajb

2. Čitali ste Anu Karenjinu, nije vam se preterano svidela, ali ste radoznali da vidite da li će možda biti bolje ako se uprosti i dodaju se treš elementi zarad lakšeg konzumiranja

Treće grupe nema, jer iskreno nisam sigurna da ovo uopšte može da prati neko ko nije čitao prvobitno štivo ili neko ko ga apsolutno mrzi. Em ima mnogo likova, em su neke stvari malo prilagođavane da bi se držale zapleta Karenjine, pa određeni postupci deluju besmisleno ili previše dramatično gledano iz današnje perspektive. Stil pisanja je pritom dosta čudan i zaista zvuči kao da neko u hodu prepričava kako bi Karenjina izgledala da se dešava danas, da žive kao bogataši u Njujorku i da su mlađi. 

Ako se i dalje dvoumite da li je ovo za vas, bukvalno pročitajte prvih nekoliko strana. Da, tako je pisano do kraja knjige i neće se poboljšati. Međutim, ako zažmurite na jedno oko u nekom trenutku se naviknete na stil i ne očekujete od ove knjige više od onog što može da vam pruži (što je doslovno samo zabava i koje kolutanje očima, ali na simpatičan način). 

Po pitanju same modernizacije, jedine dve zamerke koje imam su to što je izmenila kraj i što je izbačena ona scena gde se Ljevin i Ana upoznaju po prvi put. 

Što se tiče kraja, bio je previše "lighthearted" i zbog izmena koje su napravljene oduzeta je cela težina koju ima originalno delo. Naravno, ne bi to moglo tako da se završi u 21. veku (nadam se), ali moglo je da se napravi nešto slično ili bar dovoljno mračno da parira Aninom životu. Imala sam neke svoje teorije kako će Dženi Li to da odradi i nisam ni bila blizu tome da pogodim, ali zato moram da priznam da sam više zadovoljna svojim rešenjima nego autorkinim. To je nekako i glavni razlog što sam oduzela zvezdu. Da je poslednjih 15% knjige bilo po mom ukusu, ovo bi verovatno čak bila petica. (O da, znam da gubim svaki kredibilitet time što sam spremna ovakvim stvarima da dam tako visoku ocenu, ali bilo mi je lepo dok sam čitala i nekad je samo to bitno!!!!)

Ovaj drugi aspekt nije toliko zamerka, jer okej je ispalo i bez toga, ali lično mi je to bila omiljena scena iz originala i nadala sam se da će moći da održi to i ovde. U Ani K se fejk Ana i fejk Ljevin znaju još od ranije i rečeno je da se s vremena na vreme i ovako druže, tako da je potpuno uklonjena ta mogućnost konačnog prepletanja njihovih priča i postavljanja zanimljivih pitanja o tome šta bi bilo kad bi bilo. Tužno, ali šta je tu je. 

Nemam ništa više da kažem u svoju odbranu, osim da bih rado čitala još neki retelling ovog klasika u budućnosti, iako nisam baš sigurna da postoje. Sada bar znam da je Ana Karenjina fan fiction nešto što doprinosi kvalitetu mog života. 

Toliko od mene, adios.

Nikki van Zoom

This sequel was everything I couldn't hoped for! Anna K was my favourite book of 2020, and Anna K Away is currently taking the spot for my favourite book of 2021. Whilst the first book was more dramatic, sexual and emotional, the sequel provides more character development and hope. I've especially loved Anna's story. She handles her grief and personal growth like a total badass! But I did find Lolly quite annoying this time around. In the previous book, I felt bad for her because of the way Steven treated her. But now she is acting like a spoiled brat and overreacting about everything.

Jelke Lenaerts

This book has content warnings for drug use, drug addiction, drug overdose, depression, anxiety, panic attacks and death of a loved one.

I had heard many great things about this book but barely knew anything about it so I did kind of pick this up on a whim and I was so pleasantly surprised by it. The large cast of characters was a bit confusing in the beginning but once was able to wrap my head around it all I didn't even get why I found so confusing in the first place. I really liked the cast of characters. I mean there were some I thought were super annoying, but I think that was the point for those characters. I actually had a fun time reading this book and was completely sucked into it. I did have moments were we switched perspective and I would have preffered to stay with someone else but it's not like I disliked those charaters. It's just that some storylines were a bit more interesting than others. This book also had a great mix of more hard hitting moments and I just liked the way that was done. This has kind of made me excited to actually read Anna Kerenina, which is a huge acomplishement as that book is intimidating as fuck. Even though I think this book wraps up nicely I am excited to see what is coming for these characters next.

Welcome to the dizzying heights of New York's Upper East Side- where privilege, partying and scandal rules. And Anna K knows the rules by heart. Beautiful, rich and popular, she takes care to maintain her status as the perfect girlfriend, daughter and student. Then a chance encounter at Grand Central station with notorious playboy Alexi 'Count' Vronsky changes everything. Anna knows she needs to avoid Alexi, but sometimes fate has other plans . . . Soon Anna finds it impossible to resist him, and finds herself willing to risk everything she has to be with him - no matter the consequences. After all, the course of true love never did run smooth . . .

Charlotte Nelson 

A retelling with a hint of gossip girl and crazy rich Asian vibes! I adored the characters in this and the storyline kept me gripped throughout however I do think it was a little too long.

Shay &
Anna K Away by Jenny Lee

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