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Title details for What Happened to Anna K. by Irina Reyn - Available

What Happened to Anna K.

A Novel

by Irina Reyn
Karen White
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 8, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400128242
      • File size: 272553 KB
      • Duration: 09:27:49

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Karen White brings sensitivity to Irina Reyn's modern retelling of ANNA KARENINA. Her empathy is helpful--as protagonist Anna K. can be as infuriating as Tolstoy's original. Amid the Russian-Jewish community of current New York, Anna K. attempts to enliven her life with an affair that threatens to destroy those around her. For the most part, the plot works well. White has a cool, pleasant tone that helps calm the over-the-top emotions of the story, and she reads crisply, moving the story along. One wishes that she had a greater vocal range, as her pitch is rather high throughout. Nonetheless, this is a dramatic, emotional, and well-read book. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 2, 2008
      Set among early 21st-century Russian Jewish immigrants in New York City, Reyn's debut beautifully adapts Anna Karenina
      's social melodrama for a decidedly different set of Russians. Anna, 30-something with a string of bad relationships behind her and a restless, literarily inclined soul, is wooed into marriage by the financial stability and social appropriateness of Alex K., an older businessman with roots in her Rego Park, Queens, community. As Anna chafes at her unromantic life, trouble hits in the form of David, the hipster-writer boyfriend of her sweet, naïve cousin, Katia. The furiously flying sparks between Anna and David provide cover as Katia is quietly pursued by Lev, a young Bukharan Jew who, like Anna, is a dreamer whose relationship with the émigré community is fraught. Reyn's Anna is perhaps even harder to sympathize with than Tolstoy's original, but Reyn's sparkling insight into the Russian and Bukharan Jewish communities, and the mesmerizing intensity of her prose, make this debut a worthy remake. Lev's and Anna's divergent trajectories and choices illuminate how perilous the balance between self and society remains.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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