"Tash Hearts Tolstoy" by Kathryn Ormsbee

Do you like books about web series adaptations of classic literature? Are you an asexual reader looking for some representation within today's diverse catalogue of young adult narratives? Are you a high school senior who's trying to distract yourself from the daunting task of applying to colleges and figuring out what you want to do with your life? Do you like following protagonists that are creative and driven and go after things they want with the people they love by their side? Tash Hearts Tolstoy may just be the book for you.

I was eager to read this as soon as I heard about the web series concept. Modern media adaptations of classic literature that keep the themes of the original text while adding something new to the story and the way it's being told — especially those classic teen movies like 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless from the '90s — have a special place in my heart, especially when it comes to web series. Shows like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Carmilla have showed me what can be possible with online literature adaptations, so while I was sad that I couldn't actually see what this web series looked like, that special place in my heart was satisfied with reading about the behind-the-scenes aspects of managing a fictional project like this one. This, combined with the fact that the main character, Tash, is ace, was enough for me to grab the first available copy I could find at my local independent bookstore. How did I like it? Let's find out!

How long did it take for me to read this?

August 23 - 29, 2020

What's the book about?

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?

(Summary from Goodreads)

Positives:

+ The fact that the plot was hinged around the trials, successes, and creative passion of adapting a classic piece of literature into a fictional web series, something that is so ambitious and that I really admire.

+ The interactions and general camaraderie between the cast and crew of "Unhappy Families." Each scene that involved them kept solidifying how much of a theater-kid family they really were through the highs and the lows. ❤️

+ How there were scenes where Tash identifies, deals with, and where we see past moments where she wrestles with her identity as a romantic asexual, but how the story isn't focused on Tash as her sexuality. Yes, she's ace, but she's also an aspiring filmmaker and a sudden Internet sensation and a soon-to-be-college-student and a daughter and a best friend. It makes her character feel human, and I really appreciated the care that Kathryn took to tell this part of Tash's story.

+ Jack Harlow, Tash's best friend. I love the dynamic she has with Tash and how they work together to get "Unhappy Families" out in one piece. Her personality and interactions with the rest of the characters was an abrasive breath of fresh air.

+ There wasn't a twist to who I thought the user of a particularly negative review of "Unhappy Families" actually was. It would have been really easy to reveal towards the end that it was the person I was thinking it might be or have the actual person come up to Tash somewhere in the plot and have some sort of a scene together, but I'm glad that Kathryn kept things realistic and left their true identity completely anonymous.

Negatives:

- There was a somewhat-predictable plotline where Tash thinks x guy is the one who is right for her, but it turns out that it was y guy all along. It didn't really bother me enough to distract from the rest of the story, but I could see the end result coming from miles away.

- The summary. It covers most of what happens to Tash throughout the book, but it's only about Tash. The book jacket synopsis leaves out a couple of key players in the ongoing plot of Tash Hearts Tolstoy; Jack Harlow, her best friend (as mentioned earlier) and co-creator/editor of Unhappy Families, and Jack's brother, Paul, Tash's other best friend and a key player in the plot that follows, not to mention her mom, dad, and older sister, Klaudie. Granted, it might be accurate to her perspective and transformation throughout the book or it might just be the best summary that could present all of the key information to the general public is possible. Either way, I'm still miffed at how basic the summary was.

Reality Check:

Very minor: money troubles, college tuition, stress about college acceptances

Content Warning: one moment of aphobia, recurring cancer affecting a family friend

Is it a truly immersive experience?

Despite the Negatives that I listed above, I would say that it was an immersive experience for me. It distracted me from the current-world for a bit, so I would call that a success. It was just the right amount of fluff, with the interactions between the cast and crew of Unhappy Families, the scenes between Tash, Jack, and Paul just hanging out and interacting with one another, the scenes where she's sending text conversations to Thom and crushing after him hard, and the moments where she's scrolling through the #Kevin posts on Tumblr to keep me satisfied. If you find mild fluff to not be your thing or if some of the things mentioned in the Content Warning section that might take you out of your litassociation experience, that's cool; you do what you feel is right for you. However, if you think that Tash Hearts Tolstoy is just the right amount of light-hearted, shiny narrative that has just enough elements of the real world to ground it enough from shooting into the candy-colored stratosphere, this might be the next read for you.

Tash Hearts Tolstoy can be found at your local library and/or your nearest bookstore.

Final rating: