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Tash Hearts Tolstoy Paperback – June 26, 2018

by Kathryn Ormsbee (Author)

4.3 124 ratings

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From the author of Lucky Few comes a “refreshing” (Booklist, starred review) teen novel about Internet fame, peer pressure, and remembering not to step on the little people on your way to the top!

After a shout-out from one of the internet’s superstar vloggers, Natasha “Tash” Zelenka suddenly finds herself and her obscure, amateur web series, Unhappy Families, thrust in 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 40,000 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 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?

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Editorial Reviews

Review

★ "Whip-smart, funny, flawed, and compassionate, these are characters readers will want to know and cheer for." (Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW)

★ "It's beyond refreshing to see an asexual character, and the complexities of Tash's relationships with Thom, her friends, her sister, and, yes, fame make this a home run. The flip, irreverent tone, literary references, and peek into the creation of a web series are just icing on the cake." (Booklist, STARRED REVIEW)

★ "Funny, well written, and compulsively readable." (School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW)

"[A] spot-on narrative voice, make this a compassionate and frank look into challenges that can seem to fly at teenagers from all directions." (Publishers Weekly)

About the Author

Kathryn Ormsbee grew up with a secret garden in her backyard and a spaceship in her basement. She is the author of The Water and the Wild, The Doorway and the Deep, and The House in Poplar Wood and the YA novels Lucky Few, Tash Hearts Tolstoy, The Great Unknowable End, and The Sullivan Sisters. She’s lived in lots of fascinating cities, from Birmingham to London to Seville, but she currently lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Tash Hearts Tolstoy One
Here is the first thing you should know about me: I, Tash Zelenka, am in love with Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. That is his official name, but since he and I are so close, I get to call him Leo.

I met Leo in a bookstore when I was fourteen years old. It was the beginning of the school year, and I had ambitious goals for myself. Freshman English was too easy for me. After two weeks, I was already bored senseless. So I googled a list of famous novels, and I made a short list of the books I would read that year. The first on the list was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. You might say it was Anna Arkadyevna Karenina who introduced us.

It was love at first line. In case you’re curious, here is what that line was: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Isn’t that perfect? Leo knows just what to say to sweep a girl off her feet. That night, I stayed up until 3 a.m. reading the first twenty chapters of Anna Karenina. I was infatuated, and have been ever since.

Leo and I have a bit of the Romeo and Juliet thing going on. Talk about some majorly crossed stars. For one thing, my father doesn’t approve of Leo because he is so very Russian. Dad would rather I be infatuated with a nice Czech author like Václav Havel or Milan Kundera, who are perfectly decent boys and all, but have you tried reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being? More like The Unbearable Pretension of Pretentiousness, am I right?

Another obstacle: Leo is dead. Very dead. He’s been pushing daisies for 107 years.

The course of true love never did run smooth.

Here is the second thing you should know about me: I’m a filmmaker. Or at least, a filmmaker-in-training. And no, I’m not trying to make the next Citizen Kane yet, but I do run a YouTube channel with my best friend, Jacklyn Harlow, and right now we’re in the midst of filming a web series. And not just any web series—a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina. See? We’ve come full circle, and in case it wasn’t clear before, now you know: My man Tolstoy is a major part of my life.

“Can we run that again? Starting with Eva’s line, ‘I know what it says.’?”

It’s late Friday afternoon, and we’re at my house, shooting a pivotal scene in the series. I’m situated behind the DSLR camera, while Jack is monitoring sound levels. Jack’s older brother and my other best friend, Paul, stands off camera, holding a boom mic over the heads of the talent—George and Eva.

Today’s shoot isn’t complicated, exactly, and it only requires two of our seven-person cast. Still, it’s absolutely vital we get everything right, because this scene reveals a huge plot point that’s been dozens of episodes in the making.

And it is a kissing scene.

Filming a kissing scene is not as awkward as you think it is. It’s ten times more awkward. For one thing, you are asking two people who are not in love to make out as though they were. For another, you are sitting on the other end of a camera, recording it all like a demented voyeur. Which is particularly funny in my case, because I don’t even find that kind of thing appealing. And for another thing, you’re asking these two people to kiss multiple times. Like, Oh sorry, you didn’t move your lips in exactly the right way, or Oops, there’s a bit of saliva just there, we’ll have to do another take.

In this particular case, we’re on our fourth try. I’m uncomfortable, but I’m trying to be professional. That’s my artistic creed: professional under all circumstances. But this would all be a lot easier if George and Eva weren’t in the middle of a fight.

“Hang on,” says George, after I give my direction. “I need a minute.”

“Oh my God,” says Eva. She plops her head in her hands as George launches into a breathing exercise, followed by some elocution practice.

He’s looping “bah, boh, buh, beh” through puckered lips, when Eva cuts him off, yelling, “We’re not even talking, we’re making out!” Which causes Paul to snicker so hard that the boom lowers into the frame, quivering from his laughter.

I’ve begun to despair. At this rate, we are never going to capture the golden shot—that take where everything comes together and the actors’ performance seems like the most natural happening in the world. Usually George and Eva get along really well. This tiff of theirs came about all because George insulted Eva an hour earlier by saying her breath smelled and she’d have to suck on some mints before he would film with her. And while this was admittedly a dick move on George’s part, I wish Eva would let it go, because though she might be a good actress under normal circumstances, she cannot pull off a besotted gaze right now, when there is murder in her eyes.

“Do we need to take five?” Jack asks, tugging off her headphones.

I nod. “Yeah. Okay, take five, both of you. Walk around or something. Get it out of your system.”

Eva doesn’t need to be told twice. She hops up and leaves the room in a flurry. A moment later, I hear the sound of the tap turning on in the kitchen. George remains where he is and continues his elocution practice as though nothing has happened.

I turn to Jack with a “kill me now” expression. She shrugs. Jack can be infuriatingly chill sometimes. I know she’s got to be frustrated too.

Our series, Unhappy Families, isn’t doing too well. I don’t mean monetarily, because we don’t make a cent from our YouTube site. I mean our fan base isn’t what we hoped it’d be when we first started this project last December. Our goal was to hit one thousand subscribers, which was definitely a reach, but reasonable. It’s nearing the end of May, and we’re at a measly four hundred, not even half our target.

It’s not that Jack and I expected to become an overnight Internet sensation à la Bieber, but we did think we’d get, I don’t know, a little more attention. As things stand, we’ve got some faithful viewers who leave comments on our biweekly videos, but that’s about it. No fan network. No clamoring calls for the next episode. No thousand subscribers. Jack and I haven’t said as much out loud, but I think we’re both pinning our remaining hopes on this episode between George and Eva. Because if anything is going to give our web series a shot in the arm, it’s a kissing scene. As Jack once put it, “Masses love the kissy face.” Which I don’t get, but hey, I will play by the rules.

George is running through a tongue twister (“red leather, yellow leather”) when I lean forward and tap his knee.

“Hey.”

He gives me a look, like he’s affronted I would dare interrupt his solemn thespian ritual, but he stops and lifts his brows, expectant.

“Um, do you think you could apologize to Eva?”

George looks even more affronted. “Why?”

“Because you were kind of harsh earlier, and she’s mad at you, and none of these kisses are believable.”

“I’m not sorry, though.”

I push out a sigh, trying to remain calm. Sometimes directing is like babysitting preschoolers—it requires a lot of patience, a sturdy set of lungs, and the ability to coax egomaniacs into doing what you want.

“Right, I know you’re not,” I say. “And I completely understand. But could you do me a huge favor and act like you’re sorry? We’re not going to get a good shot unless you two make nice, and I’m asking you to talk to Eva because you’re always such a class act on set.”

I can feel Jack watching me—probably both impressed and disgusted by my shameless flattery. It’s no secret George considers himself the best actor in our cast, and while I’d usually deem his behavior worthy of the title “prima donna,” I can change that to “class act” for the sake of a good take.

George takes the bait. Just an additional “Please?” from me, and he gives a wordless nod, then leaves for the kitchen like a soldier marching up to the front lines.

Once he’s gone, Jack gives me a dramatic slow clap.

Paul says, “Masterfully handled.”

“Just doing my job,” I say. “Paul, you don’t have to keep holding the boom.”

“Really? Oh, thank God.” Paul lowers the boom pole to the floor, carefully leaning it against the living room couch, where George and Eva have recently been not convincingly kissing.

“Yeah, you’d better save your strength for tomorrow,” says Jack.

Tomorrow, Paul is graduating from our school, Calhoun High, along with my older sister, Klaudie. I’m trying not to think about that. It’s impossible to imagine Paul not being at Calhoun. At least he’s staying in town for college.

There’s a soft “ahem” at my back. I turn to find George and Eva in the doorway. He looks a little annoyed, but pleased. She looks a little annoyed, but placated. That’s an improvement, at least. I can work with a little annoyance.

“Okay,” I say. “Ready to try this again?”

George and Eva get back in place, sitting on the edge of the couch in front of a game of Scrabble. Paul picks up the boom and assumes position. Jack snaps her headphones on and gets the clapper board ready, positioning it in front of the lens.

This time, it’s going to be better. This time, we’re going to get our golden shot. I can already tell. The energy between George and Eva has changed. The anger’s faded from Eva’s eyes. Our actors are finally ready. Now it’s just a matter of rolling the camera.

“From the top of the scene,” I say. I hit the record button and nod at Jack, who drops the clapstick and then pulls the clapper board out of frame.

“And . . . action!”

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (June 26, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1481489348
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1481489348
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL790L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,122,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #188 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Peer Pressure
- #859 in Teen & Young Adult Clean & Wholesome Romance
- #2,065 in Teen & Young Adult LGBTQ+ Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 124 ratings

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Kathryn Ormsbee

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Kathryn Ormsbee is the author of books for children and young adults, including TASH HEARTS TOLSTOY and THE HOUSE IN POPLAR WOOD. Her novels have been critically acclaimed, translated into seven languages, selected for the Indie Next List and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, and made “best of” lists at Amazon, BuzzFeed, and the Chicago and New York Public Libraries. She lives in Oregon with her wife and their dog.

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Emma the Bookworm

The Good, the Bad

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2018

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Grade: A
An e-galley was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: There are, as of right now, three YA books I wish I'd written that I often call "the books of my heart." This is one of them. I was drawn to Tash Hearts Tolstoy by the mention of a literary-inspired web series. Sometimes my gut instinct telling me a book sounds phenomenal is wrong; sometimes it is right.
Tash as a protagonist was wonderful. She grew in little ways and acted like a teenager to me. She tried to be a good kid and a kind person, and I appreciated that. The cast of supporting characters is a bit large, between Tash's parents, her sister, Thom (the crush), her best friends, Jacklyn (Jack) and Paul, and the cast of the web series. I did have trouble keeping some of the more minor characters straight, but Tash Hearts Tolstoy focused nicely on Tash, her family, Jack, Paul, and Thom. The friendship between Tash, Jack, and Paul was great. It wasn't idealized and perfect; Jack frustrated Tash at times (in fact, she frustrated me), but I think that comes with the growing pains of being seventeen/eighteen. I called certain spoilery things about Paul from the start, but I think I liked where that plotline went at the end.
The web series bits are great fun, and I wish Unhappy Families was real. The author previously worked on a web series, so her firsthand experience shows and really makes for authentic descriptions. Tash gives a lot of information all at once explaining how the show came to be, but it didn't feel like info-dump. Sometimes it's good to reveal all the information at once, just so readers aren't confused.
Tash Hearts Tolstoy is also about Tash watching her older sister, Klaudie, handle the summer between graduation and college, and then figuring out herself how her plans for the future might be changing. I liked how the Zelenka parents encouraged Tash to pursue her dreams...just reasonably. I also felt like I got to know her mom and dad pretty well, and they were great parents for a YA book.
It surprised me how long it took to get to the Golden Tubas awards show, but that ended up being the climax of the book, which worked nicely. Thom fits into the conflict, and I wasn't feeling too weird about him until then, so maybe a few hints earlier on might've been nice (besides Tash's friends feeling uncertain about him).
As far as I know, the scenes about Tash's asexuality were good and accurate. It was revealed slowly, with little hints, and I thought the on-page reveal came about quite organically instead of it being a forced thing where Tash is basically just telling the readers.
Another thing I noticed: the tone and narration voice are different from Kathryn Ormsbee's Lucky Few, and I liked the tone in Tash Hearts Tolstoy better. I liked Lucky Few, too, but I connected with Tash Hearts Tolstoy more.
The only things that keeps me from giving this five stars is the amount of foul language (not my thing, y'all) and the focus on Buddhism; I appreciate the religious diversity, but Buddhism just isn't my thing either.

The Verdict: Quiet, but in the best way possible. Also, my desire to read Anna Karenina has grown exponentially.

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Sarah

Wonderful and Heartwarming

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2017

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Tash Hearts Tolstoy was such a wonderful and heartwarming story. I really came to love all of the characters. I will admit though, the first couple of chapters were a bit slow and hard for me to get into. I also think the synopsis is a tad misleading, or at least to me it was. I thought the majority of the book was going to take place at the awards show but it doesn't. Once I realized this I flew through the story. However, looking back I'm glad the synopsis doesn't reveal too much of what happens in Tash's life because I liked discovering it at the same time she was.

I really loved the characters of this book. Tash was well meaning and determined, Jack, though it took a bit for me to warm up to her, was a great friend and sister. Paul was wonderful and amazing and I wish he was real. I enjoyed seeing them film their webseries and read about what goes into making it. I also really liked the fact that Tash was asexual and that it was given a good part of the story to be talked about. It's great having this kind of representation in YA for those struggling.

Overall, Tash Hearts Tolstoy was such a delight. I can't wait to reread it someday and read any future books of Kathryn's.

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Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense

Near Perfect Contemporary

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2017

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Kathryn Ormsbee’s Tash Hearts Tolstoy is the kind of book that quietly sneaks up on you and by the time you’ve finished, you realized you’ve fallen irrevocably in love with its characters. The only thing Tash may love more than Leo Tolstoy is filmmaking. Tash and her best friend Jack have been working on a web series adaptation of Anna Karenina and though they only dreamed of it being a success, nothing prepares the girls for what happens when they get a shout out from a popular vlogger. Overnight, they go from a few hundred subscribers to thousands. Handling Unhappy Families suddenly popularity is much harder than Tash ever expected and if she isn’t careful, it may cost her the most important people in her life.

Tash is like a breath of fresh air. Her voice comes across so clear on the page that it isn’t hard to imagine her as a living, breathing person. Ormsbee has created a character whose greatest strengths tend to work against her. Though driven and imaginative, Tash’s focus can sometimes eclipse the opinions of those around her. Her relationship with her sister Klaudie is a great example of this. Tash is used to being second best. She knows she’s not as smart as her sister and tends to use this difference in intelligence as a way to judge Klaudie. Throughout the course of the novel, Tash and Klaudie’s relationship slowly moves past sibling rivalry. Tash begins to see her sister as an individual with pressures and expectations of her own. She’s struggling just as much as Tash to find out who she is when everyone around her is so sure they know better than herself. This is also the first novel I’ve read with a asexual protagonist and Ormsbee addresses so many aspects of this identity. Tash is still working out how to express who she is while also dealing with feelings of inadequacy and isolation, as well as dealing with erasure and aphobia from those who around her.

The minor characters in Tash Hearts Tolstoy are so well-developed, but also leave room for further exploration. Jack is one of the most moody characters I’ve come across. In many way, she’s the opposite of Tash. More introvert than anything else, Jack isn’t one to let other people know how she feels, but she can also be incredibly abrasive and almost too ready to share her opinion. Her personality adds a lot of balance to Tash’s enthusiastic one. Jack’s brother Paul is also a constant in Tash’s life. More gregarious than his sister, Paul is the one that Tash finds it hard not to be honest around. I personally really liked the dynamic between these three characters. They grew up together, but are still figuring out how to relate to one another as each of them grows into adulthood. Aside from Tash’s family, Jack and Paul make up such a huge part of Tash’s world. Her growth as a person hinges on how she relates to these two just as much as how she relates to her sister or parents.

With a charming protagonist and a heavy focus on family and friendship, Tash Hearts Tolstoy is a must-read for the contemporary fan and those who love web series adaptations of classic novels.

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Autumn Melody

Good

Reviewed in India on June 16, 2023

Verified Purchase

Enjoyed this a lot. Wish I got to read this book when I was a lot younger. Loved the characters except Thoooom 😒 Tash getting mad at her friend and then doing meditation where she pictures her as a fluffy puppy (the fluffiest) is when I knew I'd like this book.

makingoutwithbooks

don’t ever get embarrassed of who you’re !!! you’re loved💗

Reviewed in India on June 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

~This is the first book i’ve read which deals with the ace spectrum featuring heteroromantic asexual main character named Tash.
~Few stories always keep reminding me how beautiful & yet how complicated lives can be, even those minor changes lead to major chaos that we cannot digest no where to end
~This book was captivating with so many characters with different perspectives, ideologies & diverse representations
~Tash is obsessed with Leo Tolstoy all her life & she’s the director of the youtube web series Unhappy Families which is the morden adaptation of the book Anna karenina by Leo tolstoy, co-written & co-produced by her best friend Jack
~One day their youtube channel gone viral with more than 40K subscribers now with this little fame Tash & jack have got new issues to deal with
~soon tash had a lot to deal with internet( fans as well as haters )& she didn’t believe when her web series got nominated for golden tuba awards but there’s something else tash’s is really getting close to this guy named Thom on internet who’s a vlogger & also a nominee at golden tuba awards
~But here’s the actual thing how do tash get to explain bout how does she really feel about guys about her being asexual, can she ever even understand truly herself ¿!
~This book is filled with a lot of humor in it & it was such a fun ride with the cast & crew members of unhappy families
~The most beautiful thing i adore in this book is friendship between tash jack & paul(especially paul & tash tbh it made me feel things), i want more of them and never want it to end. the best bff trio ever
~I wish the book had focused on Ace spectrum into much more detail but nonetheless it was fine at it’s best
~I also wanted more of paul cuz he’s the reason who kept me hooked with this book......ending was pretty predictable but beautiful & heartwarming indeed ❤️

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