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A review by happi_mess
Anna Karenina by Gemma Barder
4.0
Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Everyone thinks that Anna Karenina has the perfect life. She was beautiful, young, rich, and belongs to a known family. In reality, Anna finds her life dull and boring even having a beautiful child and a respected husband. She is missing her younger days when she lived in the city. Anna went to Moscow, in an attempt to help her brother and her sister-in-law repair their relationship. There, she meets Count Vronsky, and her life turned upside down.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Rating: ★★★★.5
One word for this story:
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Okay, who is reading a classic and actually enjoying it?
Who’s getting the time of her life breezing through this classic while still understanding the basic essence of the story in a short amount of time? Can I get a woot woot?
I have always meant to read this classic, however, whenever I saw the book’s thickness and small fonts, I find myself looking at another book. But here I am! I did not want to read a shortened version of this classic in some summary I found on the web. It was such a joy when I found this easy-to-read version that had pictures on it! I never clicked faster in my life.
I wish more books like this would come out, I'd definitely check out the other ones that were already published.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
The things that I like
☽ The story in itself feels real. This kind of situation that Anna is in still happens to this day. Nobody can tell me that this does not happen in real life and present time. It deserves to be a classic as it is truly timeless. What happened to this characters in the end were justifiable and fitting to close the story.
☽ The characters were fully-realized. They were very conscious of every move they made. They had emotions. They felt real.
Comments about the adaptation:
☽ It served its purpose. It relayed the story in a shorter and more concise way. I got the whole story, not just simply the gist of it which I could easily get in Wikipedia. It is accurate as well.
☽ It made me excited to read other classics. If you are like me who is trying to check out all the to-read classics but is having a hard time with the ones with longer volumes, then I suggest that you pick up this book and the other ones in this collection. I think it's a great way to summarize without being too textbook like and still have that essence of having a story in your hands. With the use of this, I gained another level of adoration for classics.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
The things that I DID NOT like
☾ The missing emphasis. What I think was missing that the others were looking for was the emphasis for the message of the book. Anna struggled and Kitty got her happy ending. All of that complex emotion and thought process. But I would not blame the book because in the first place this was meant to be for all ages, which include children.
☾ Appropriation. It has pictures. It has a good story. But I do not think that the story is really applicable for children because of the sensitive topics about relationship and family. I think adults would better appreciate this piece of work. It would be great for this story to not be advertised for all ages.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
In sum: I think the original story and this adaptation is great. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I could not stop reading it. I gained a new perspective of Classic works. Now I know where to go if I'm struggling to get through a Classic. I could definitely say that I know what happened in Anna Karenina without having to read almost a thousand pages.
I recommend this to people who are trying to get into Classics, to people who have tried Classics but haven’t found joy and fun in it, and to people who would like to know Classics story but gets daunted by the length and the language. This is great stepping stone and a summary guide.
DO NOT READ THIS IF you are going to complain about the certain missing themes and highlights on the story. This is an EASY-TO-READ level of the original.
Anna smiled at the man. He had short, dark hair and dark eyes. He was dressed in a military uniform, which he wore so proudly it could have been finest fashion. He did not smile back at Anna, but stared directly in her eyes. He took her hand and kissed it. 'It is nice to meet you,' Vronsky said. They held each other's gaze for several seconds.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Everyone thinks that Anna Karenina has the perfect life. She was beautiful, young, rich, and belongs to a known family. In reality, Anna finds her life dull and boring even having a beautiful child and a respected husband. She is missing her younger days when she lived in the city. Anna went to Moscow, in an attempt to help her brother and her sister-in-law repair their relationship. There, she meets Count Vronsky, and her life turned upside down.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Rating: ★★★★.5
One word for this story:
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Okay, who is reading a classic and actually enjoying it?
Who’s getting the time of her life breezing through this classic while still understanding the basic essence of the story in a short amount of time? Can I get a woot woot?
I have always meant to read this classic, however, whenever I saw the book’s thickness and small fonts, I find myself looking at another book. But here I am! I did not want to read a shortened version of this classic in some summary I found on the web. It was such a joy when I found this easy-to-read version that had pictures on it! I never clicked faster in my life.
I wish more books like this would come out, I'd definitely check out the other ones that were already published.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
The things that I like
☽ The story in itself feels real. This kind of situation that Anna is in still happens to this day. Nobody can tell me that this does not happen in real life and present time. It deserves to be a classic as it is truly timeless. What happened to this characters in the end were justifiable and fitting to close the story.
☽ The characters were fully-realized. They were very conscious of every move they made. They had emotions. They felt real.
Comments about the adaptation:
☽ It served its purpose. It relayed the story in a shorter and more concise way. I got the whole story, not just simply the gist of it which I could easily get in Wikipedia. It is accurate as well.
☽ It made me excited to read other classics. If you are like me who is trying to check out all the to-read classics but is having a hard time with the ones with longer volumes, then I suggest that you pick up this book and the other ones in this collection. I think it's a great way to summarize without being too textbook like and still have that essence of having a story in your hands. With the use of this, I gained another level of adoration for classics.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
The things that I DID NOT like
☾ The missing emphasis. What I think was missing that the others were looking for was the emphasis for the message of the book. Anna struggled and Kitty got her happy ending. All of that complex emotion and thought process. But I would not blame the book because in the first place this was meant to be for all ages, which include children.
☾ Appropriation. It has pictures. It has a good story. But I do not think that the story is really applicable for children because of the sensitive topics about relationship and family. I think adults would better appreciate this piece of work. It would be great for this story to not be advertised for all ages.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
In sum: I think the original story and this adaptation is great. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I could not stop reading it. I gained a new perspective of Classic works. Now I know where to go if I'm struggling to get through a Classic. I could definitely say that I know what happened in Anna Karenina without having to read almost a thousand pages.
I recommend this to people who are trying to get into Classics, to people who have tried Classics but haven’t found joy and fun in it, and to people who would like to know Classics story but gets daunted by the length and the language. This is great stepping stone and a summary guide.
DO NOT READ THIS IF you are going to complain about the certain missing themes and highlights on the story. This is an EASY-TO-READ level of the original.