Jenny Lee has taken on an interesting project of adapting Anna Karenina for a modern audience. Rather than simply retelling the story in this new setting, she has modified certain elements that nod to Tolstoy's work while also making it feel fresh and updated. For example, setting the story among the elite 1% of NYC mirrors the opulence of the Russian aristocracy while also feeling relevant to many other stories today. I appreciated the inclusion of the diverse characters, particularly the half Korean Anna, which made the book feel updated and more realistic. However, maintaining other elements of the original, particularly "Count Vronsky" as a character name, felt clunky and I wish that had been handled differently.

I honestly enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. The beginning was slow and I felt disconnected from the characters. However, as I got more into the drama, I was hooked. I went into the book knowing that it had been compared to episodes of Gossip Girl, but I was pleasantly surprised at how it was less superficial and dealt well with some difficult issues like revenge porn. The characters felt one-dimensional at times, but the primary ones like Anna and Vronsky were more developed. I liked the changes that Lee made to the story, for the most part, particularly the plot lines that differ from the original work. That said, you don't need to have read Anna Karenina in order to appreciate Anna K. The latter is more a hat tip to the original Russian work, rather than an exact retelling.

Overall, I felt that Lee's work was a clever reinterpretation of a classic that captures the essence of Tolstoy without making it feel old fashioned.

TW: Suicide ideation; death; heavy drinking and drug use; revenge porn; assault

3.5-4 stars