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alia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
rpych2's review against another edition
2.0
The concept for this book was fantastic, but the execution was so lacking. So much of it seemed barely connected if at all, and I struggled to see where the story was going at times. Thankfully it was a short and quick read so I didn’t have to spend too much time on it, because it was a slog.
chillcox15's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars. I think Boullosa is doing something interesting here with the interrogation of Tolstoy's novel on multiple different planes, but it clearly relied on more context than I had at hand, and it wasn't clear if it would have been made clearer if I had that context either. Just not an enjoyable reading experience as it was.
sarapalooza's review against another edition
3.0
Very interesting concept, but the book did not speak to me upon reading it. I love capturing the books I encounter, regardless of my feelings on them, so I’ll click “read” on this one and leave it at that!
hannahbright's review against another edition
4.0
Very post-modern, very meta, very experimental and also surprisingly hilarious. I enjoyed because Anna Karenina is my all-time #1 but I think you need at least a baseline interest in AK to sift through this one. Was it what I thought it was going to be? No. But did I wholeheartedly enjoy it? Yes. Quick little page turner, felt it did justice to the legacy of Anna and I really enjoyed the confusing bits about Seregei acknowledging being a character while his wife was real. I enjoyed all the sub-plots, the musings about Vronsky, and the Tolstoy cameos a lot! A fun, inventive read by someone who is obviously a huge Anna and Tolstoy stan (the sections about them talking in French so their servants couldn't understand)
lidenbrock_82's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Nunca antes había leído un relato inscrito en otro relato. El juego de elementos literarios hacen que lo real se funda con lo bizarro, y lo bizarro se torne tan profundo y complejo como la realidad misma.
Difícil de leer en ciertas partes pero tiene un desarrollo, a mi parecer, muy bueno.
Difícil de leer en ciertas partes pero tiene un desarrollo, a mi parecer, muy bueno.
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Book of Anna is a sort of sequel to Anna Karenina, one with a very meta angle since Tolstoy himself appears, albeit in a dream, and his characters (most especially Anna’s son Sergei) are very aware that they are characters written by him, leading them to wonder about whether they actually have any agency of their own. Anna Karenina’s legacy is present in the form of a portrait the Tsar requisitions, and the discovery of the manuscript for a fairytale she wrote. This story is centred around the time of the 1905 Russian Revolution and it does a nice job depicting the class divide that led to it. I enjoyed the playful aspects of this book such as the way it poked fun at Tolstoy’s tendency to have multiple characters with the same name. I loved what Clementine brought to the story, the way she showed both the contribution of and constraints faced by female revolutionaries. I do feel like some of this book went over my head and I wonder how much I missed because my reading of Anna Karenina was more than a decade ago and many details are more than a little hazy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
bookworm_marija's review against another edition
3.0
Before you read this book, you have to have somewhat knowledge of the characters in Anna Karenina and how the story ended to follow how the characters have moved on, or should I say pretty much just one character that wasn't a dominant role in Anna Karenina moved on. The concept is interesting and mostly a lot of internal and political struggles occur here. But because the book is pretty short, not too much of a full story was developed.
frantomas's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0