Okay, so how do you not pick up a book with a title like this one? And when you add in one of Russia's most revered authors, I wasn't going to pass this one up. Not after studying Russian literature at university for two years.
And I didn't regret it. I read the whole thing in an afternoon, not wanting to put it down. Luckily we had a public holiday Monday and I had the luxury of time to do just that.
Tash is a vlogger and has been working with her best friend on a web series based on Anna Karenina. They're pretty proud of it, but they're not getting a lot of views until a superstar vlogger mentions their web series and things take off.
Suddenly their little series is blowing up with subscribers skyrocketing, fan art appearing online and discussion boards filled will speculation about where the story might go next. And when the show is nominated for a Golden Tuba, things get even more exciting.
Especially for Tash who has been online flirting with fellow vlogger, Thom. Suddenly their text-based relationship has a new layer of possibility because they will have the opportunity to meet in person at the Golden Tubas.
The characters in this were all very well drawn. I didn't always like Tash, or her best friend Jack, but they were real and flawed and behaved as badly as people in real life.
I also really liked Tash's struggle with her sexuality. I haven't come across many asexuals in YA literature, and it's a shame because I thnk there are probably other people out there struggling to figure out why they just don't have sexual feelings for people of either gender. I also feel like asexuality is seriously misunderstood and books like this might change the perception that finding the right sexual partner will 'cure' asexuals or that they have only ever had bad sex.
So I would definitely reccommend this one.
But here's the blurb so you can make up your own mind.
After a shout-out from one of the Internet’s superstar vloggers, Natasha “Tash” Zelenka finds herself and her obscure, amateur web series, Unhappy Families, thrust into the limelight: She’s gone viral.
Her show is a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina—written by Tash’s literary love Count Lev Nikolayevich “Leo” Tolstoy. Tash is a fan of the forty thousand new subscribers, their gushing tweets, and flashy Tumblr GIFs. Not so much the pressure to deliver the best web series ever.
And when Unhappy Families is nominated for a Golden Tuba award, Tash’s cyber-flirtation with Thom Causer, a fellow award nominee, suddenly has the potential to become something IRL—if she can figure out how to tell said crush that she’s romantic asexual.
Tash wants to enjoy her newfound fame, but will she lose her friends in her rise to the top? What would Tolstoy do?
I think it's so cool that you studied Russian literature :). And I definitely want to read a book with an asexual MC. It's always just treated as a joke or a weirdness...
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