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More copies of this ISBN:What Happened to Anna K.by Irina Reyn
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments: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. Review:"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, nave 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 migr 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." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Irina Reyn's sly wit and perfect-pitch dialogue make this modern-day retelling of Anna Karenina a delight to read. Reyn is a cunning writer who knows her subject — Russian-Jewish immigrants in New York City — inside out, and casts a skeptical glance at their habits, aspirations, and thwarted destinies. Readers should love this novel, whether or not they know the original Anna."-- Lynne Sharon Schwartz, author of Ruined by Reading and Leaving Brooklyn Review:"Irina Reyn has done the impossible: she has reimagined one of mankind's very best novels, and made it beautifully her own. That she has not diminished Tolstoy but updated him — freshened him for the strange, sensuous time in which we live — is as wondrous a feat as I can recall in contemporary fiction."-- Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng and The Real McCoy Review:"This intricately woven and, frankly, bedazzling novel is more than a retelling of Anna Karenina. It's a laser-sharp portrait of the contemporary Russian-American dream, New York style. Irina Reyn's voice is sophisticated and street smart, and once I became acquainted with her characters I could not put this novel down."-- Frederick Reiken, author of The Odd Sea and The Lost Legends of New Jersey Review:"What every émigré community deserves is a few fearless, insightful, and penetrating young voices both to announce an arrival and sing an elegy. Irina Reyn is one of those voices, and her first novel is as charming as it is sad, as funny as it is revelatory."-- Tom Bissell, author of God Lives in St. Petersburg and The Father of All Things Review:"Irina Reyn's debut offers a feisty reimagining of the original tale, with contemporary Russian-Jewish characters in Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn brought to vividly detailed life — and with the conundrums and consolations of immigration itself rendered compassionately and smartly."-- Martha Cooley, author of The Archivist and Thirty-Three Swoons About the AuthorIrina Reyn is a fiction and nonfiction writer who divides her time between Pittsburgh and Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in anthologies and publications such as The Forward, San Francisco Chronicle, The Moscow Times, Nextbook and Post Road. Born in Moscow, Irina was raised in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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