Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee

16 reviews

elizkacz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, and Racial slurs

Minor: Confinement, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Cultural appropriation

nicoreads333's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Very well-written and engaging. I love the original story of Anna Karenina and I wasn't sure what to expect, but the Jenny Lee did such a great job making it modern. It almost reminded me of the OG Gossip Girl series, especially taking place with Manhattan's elite. I loved how diverse the cast of characters was, too. There was a lot going on and a few different intertwining storylines to follow, but it was surprisingly easy to do so. I also really love her writing style and the use of an omniscient narrator. It's been a while since I've read something that I liked this much. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Sex, drugs, and other misbehavior from the young, rich, and vapid.  It was a little dull at first since I knew the story of Anna Karenina, but it ended up being better than I expected as I grew to know the characters.  I enjoyed the difference in the ending from the classic.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mari_library's review against another edition

This is a soft-DNF but I am as bored as I was when I was reading Anna Karenina (and honestly I think I had more fun reading Levin talk about farming for 50+ pages). I think there was a lot of lost potential here. None of the character's felt flushed out. A lot of them were just a list of character traits with no connection. I wasn't connected nor cared about any of them, and to be honest, I forgot a lot of characters/things that happened to them because I wasn't invested. A liked a few of the storylines but I think that - given the source material - there was so much more that could've been given. I think this reimagining of Tolstoy would've benefited if the characters actually used modern devices (you're telling me none of these characters had a YouTube channel or a TikTok?? Sounds fake but okay). Like if Anna and Vronsky texted, we would actually have some high stakes here. It doesn't help that Anna lacks a personality (which sucks given that she was my favorite in the original story). Also because they are in high school, it is hard to take anything seriously, you know? 

Plus the amount of unchecked sexism and racism is getting to me.

oh and let's not get into how Vronsky was fucking horrible talking about the homeless guy and then try to turn face and give him money. And when Anna was like "I saw you give him money", the bastard was like "I wanted you to see it because I want you to see that I do care". Like boy, eat dirt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, and Classism

ludivinev's review

lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism and Sexism

carlyhearts's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, and Racism

redsea's review against another edition

what the actual fuck was that. getting past the expressed INCEST, constant sexism, racism, shitty males, watching ur family members have sex and so much more, the writing is horrible and i hate every single character (except dustin, and maybe count and anna) ESP FUCKING STEVEN. i had such high hopes and i’m sorely disappointed. i was going to stick it through but the bea saying she would kiss her COUSIN disgusted me. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

decklededgess's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

trigger warnings: sexual content (characters are under 18), drug and alcohol abuse, addiction, overdosing, rehabilitation, depression, suicide ideation, suicide attempt, self harm mention, vehicle accident, death by train, animal harm/death, emotionally abusive parents, infidelity, sexual harassment and cyber bullying, vomit, fatphobia, racism, classism, slut shaming, emotional incest


Idk who or what have me the idea but this book is not sapphic? There is one sapphic character who is like basically background. No wlw here in the main cast. 

Other than that disappointment this book was phenomenal. A very xoxo Gossip Girl touch to Anna Karenina which seems apt from what I know about the original text. 

The wealth disparity and lack of relatability of thee wealthy ass kids made the trauma a but more distant so I could read the book without internalising too much. 

It’s beautifully written and I loved the chaos that third person omniscient pov provided to the narrative. 

Excited for the next one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, and Alcohol

Moderate: Racism and Blood

rynicolereads's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Anna K was an impulse grab from the library, but I really liked it! I attempted reading Anna Karenina a few years ago and really struggled with it so I was curious to see how I would feel about a modern retelling. It was fun, fresh, and full of drama!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use

Moderate: Animal death and Death

Minor: Racism