Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Vita Nostra

Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko

21 reviews

solouncapitulomas's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

“What a depressing way to go through life, hoping for ideas.”

I am still not sure about the rating but wow, this book was an experience

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naomi_k's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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fireside_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

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cynicalraven's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The end was the biggest mind blowing (in an almost literal sense) and I loved every second of it.

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ivana's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I legitimately expected to DNF this pretty early in. The back cover didn’t sound super great (the “school where the lessons can’t be memorized” was the only intriguing bit), and I was very concerned about the adult man making a 16-year-old girl do “potentially scandalous” things. (If you’re concerned, it’s uncomfortable for Sasha but not inappropriate). The only reason I picked it up at all was because I’m trying to read new ideas from voices I don’t often hear and this book was a bestseller in Russia. I was kinda curious what a Russian bestseller would be about, but I didn’t have high hopes.

This is going to be more of a list of the things I don’t understand. Starting with the genre – I think magical realism is the closest, but strong arguments could be made for low fantasy, psychological horror, or even contemporary. The back cover is pretty lame, but like the mentioned lessons defy memorization, this book defies categorization. I described it to my husband as “a magical school narrative, but if Hogwarts was a brainwashing cult,” and that’s close but still fails to capture the full essence of this novel.

It’s impossible to adequately describe this book, the experience of reading this book, in words. It’s a first-person narrative of a girl falling into madness such that you don’t notice how mad she is until other characters point it out. It’s a first-person narrative of a girl whose eyes are opened to the true power within her and transcends her mortal form. It’s bizarre, surreal, uncomfortable and unsettling, and somehow made my reality outside of the book seem just a little bit off-kilter every time I put it down. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to stare at all wall for a while until you process what you just read. For a while I didn’t understand, and then I sort of understood, and by the time I finished I still didn’t really understand but I loved it.

I still don’t know whose “side” the Institute is on, if they’re good or bad, or if those terms even apply. I still am not entirely sure if the deadly consequences that seem to happen whenever Sasha and her schoolmates fail are truly orchestrated by these people or if they’re all just terrible coincidences, though by the end I, like Sasha, tended towards belief. I still don’t know if I entirely “liked” this novel, but I do know that I was completely and utterly enthralled. Baffled, disturbed, and unnerved, yes, but also engrossed, captivated, and desperately curious to continue, to be in this book and this story and this … whatever exactly it is. The Dyachenkos have created an experience in reading that is akin to Sasha’s experience at the institute. It defies understanding, it defies explanation, it defies review, but all I wanted while reading was to continue to be immersed in this surreal and fantastic story.

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luckykosmos's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

I can barely explain what happened in this book, but I was entranced and continually compelled to come back for more. There are so many moving pieces, but many of them seem to remain in stasis until the end, when everything clicks together for a beautiful existential crescendo. I rarely find a book like this, certainly not in the sphere of Magic School Lit, and I suspect it'll be a long time before I find another.

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the_rainydayreader's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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natashasf1's review

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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genny's review

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

Goodness, how do I even begin to review this book? I expected a weird magic system, but this went beyond anything my mind was prepared for. It's actually funny to look back through my reading notes; I went from confused and depressed (nearly DNF'd around 40% in), to strangely compelled to continue (Part Two was the turning point for me), to calm acceptance and even enjoyment. I think it's because the authors are very skilled at getting the reader into the protagonist's headspace - my own feelings reflected Sasha's, as we watch her transformation from a terrified freshman at the Institute, to an almost-broken version of not-quite-herself, to something beyond human that she has learned to be proud of.

It's very difficult to explain the premise without spoiling the plot, but the gist of it is that language is the "magic system" in place. The fact that this deals so heavily with speech theory must have made this a beast to translate. I can't help but feel that this book was written for someone smarter than me, ha! I read some discussions about this after I finished, which helped solidify my interpretation of it (especially that vague ending). It's a book that begs to be discussed, really. It'll be sitting in a dark corner of my brain for quite some time. Now I need a light, fluffy read to decompress!

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