What Happened To Anna K.

By Irina Reyn

Anna Roitman is approaching her late-thirties when she marries Alex K., a Russian-Jewish immigrant like herself. He has become a successful businessman in New York and Anna quickly learns that she enjoys the ease of living a wealthy life. A son is born to the couple but Anna feels withdrawn, allowing the nanny to completely fill the maternal role. Instead, Anna focuses on preparing her postpartum body for an upcoming party; she wants to be the center of everyones' attention.

At the party, she meets her cousin Katia's boyfriend, David. Anna gives in to her weakness for writers and soon begins an affair with him. At the New York City Marathon, she feels the sudden need to confess the affair to her husband.

"What Happened To Anna K." is a depressing book. I remember feeling a constant sorrow while reading "Anna Karenina," and experienced the same feeling while reading this novel by Irina Reyn. This is not to say the book is bad. On the contrary, if a book can create that much tension in the reader's mind, it is possibly a very good book. If an author can paint such a desolate picture for the reader, then they have done their job.

"What Happened To Anna K." is a retelling of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina;" the difference being that the newer book is set in present times. One must feel sorry for Anna, in a way, but she also is quite the villainess. She basically lures men right out from under other women's noses. Ironically, the men in this story are portrayed as weak and incompetent. They are unhappy before they are married, and they are even unhappier after they get married.

The reader is made aware of the males' weaknesses, as well as exactly how Anna K. operates. At the aforementioned party, Katia has been delaying David's introduction to Anna, for fear Anna will charm her way into his heart. At last, the introduction can not be put off any longer:

Katia allowed herself to be led away, but she never took her eyes off Anna and David. She knew him, yes, she did, she knew him well enough to read every sign. She knew what his gestures meant, the way he tipped his head to the right, listening to Anna intently. Every time she looked back, they were still rooted to the spot. She watched David lift a bottle of wine off the table and pour Anna a glass. He handed it to her by the stem, holding it just a second too long, as if to verify that it would not come crashing to the floor. From his face, she could tell they were talking about books, books Katia had not read but Anna probably had. Nabokov novels no one had heard of (more obscure than Lolita, even Katia had tried to hack away at that one after David mentioned how much he loved it). Maybe David was trotting out his beloved Brodsky or that Polish Szymborska. Why else was the usually shy David so translucent, practically trembling with charm.

Katia looked around for Alex K., but he was lost in conversation with another man. Should she draw his attention to the scene, or was it not her place? Turning back to them, Katia recognized the old Anna K., the one whose existence she had always known about but denied, her small, peaceful actions of flirtation, almost unobtrusive, the invisible ways in which she controlled a man's attention, then swallowed it whole. In the past, Katia had admired this quality of Anna's, her enviable composure. Didn't Katia have the smallest crush on all that, if she were to be completely honest?

But there they stood. Why, she was almost as tall as he was, and they were leaning into each other. Was the music too loud, was that why they had to whisper? Why did the momentum of their conversation generate speed, whirring, one picking up where the other left off, sentences left unfinished, unarticulated? He nodded, he kept on nodding, agreeing with her, nodding, while Anna appeared composed, polite, even. But Katia read the pinkness of her cousin's chest--- it was this that gave her pleasure away, her deep, red enjoyment in the conversation.

"What Happened To Anna K." is an intriguing book, full of Russian Jewish ideals and practices. It places a certain value on the sanctity of marriage, and gives the message that sometimes, it is truly best to work through marital problems first, with your spouse. To be able to do this, one must be able to identify one's self. Which "Anna K." character are you?

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