What Happened to Anna K.? (2008)

What Happened to Anna K? by Irina Reyn


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is book 5/10 from my Entertainment Weekly list of ten outstanding books of 2008.

Somehow my education did not contain exposure to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and maybe in this instance it's a good thing. Those who knew the original did not seem to like What Happened to Anna K.? as well as I did. I found the story engrossing and an interesting portrait of a beautiful young Russian immigrant in New York City who has the perfect life but always needs something more. She only defines herself through her conquests, each one supposed to solve the problem of her life. As she begins aging, her world falls apart.

It reminded me of a Stephen Sondheim song that wondered what was behind the facade of a beautiful woman. "Sometimes when the wrappings fall, There's nothing underneath at all."


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