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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Oh, this was a wonderful read—slow and meticulous, with a tendency to make my brain quiver, but wonderful all the same. There is just so much atmosphere to it. It's easy to follow why Sasha does what she does, even though it should defy all logic. She's also a really relatable character, even in such an alien environment. There were some interesting side characters, who all played important roles and the story kept me on the edge of my seat.
I would have liked to know a bit more about the other students' experiences, to see how they differed from Sasha's. But I understand that it would have been difficult to do, since the POV was fairly consistently focused on Sasha and it would have felt awkward to suddenly shift.
Now, this isn't a book where the answers are easily given to you. You have to do a little mental work to figure things out. As an example, after finishing the book I went straight to bed. (I'd stayed up to read it.) I crawled under the blankets thinking, 'but I don't really know exactly what happened. I understand the broad strokes of it, but was it a happy ending?' I was a little distressed by this. But as I put it out of my conscious mind and attempted sleep, the subtler details rose to the surface and I realised, yes, I do know exactly what happened. But it took the mental sifting for me to grasp it. I love books that do that!
At times the narrative got a little clunky or staccato, but I think this was the result of the translation. (Not to suggest the narrator did anything but a great job. I think sometimes there just might not be a concise way to express in English the original Russian thought.) For the most part however, it read smoothly and was surprisingly well edited.
I strongly suggest picking this one up. It's a great read. I know I'll be on the lookout for more of Maryna & Serhiy Dyachenko's works. It's just a shame so few of them have been translated. If anyone has a petition going around begging for more, please send it my way so I can sign.
I would have liked to know a bit more about the other students' experiences, to see how they differed from Sasha's. But I understand that it would have been difficult to do, since the POV was fairly consistently focused on Sasha and it would have felt awkward to suddenly shift.
Now, this isn't a book where the answers are easily given to you. You have to do a little mental work to figure things out. As an example, after finishing the book I went straight to bed. (I'd stayed up to read it.) I crawled under the blankets thinking, 'but I don't really know exactly what happened. I understand the broad strokes of it, but was it a happy ending?' I was a little distressed by this. But as I put it out of my conscious mind and attempted sleep, the subtler details rose to the surface and I realised, yes, I do know exactly what happened. But it took the mental sifting for me to grasp it. I love books that do that!
At times the narrative got a little clunky or staccato, but I think this was the result of the translation. (Not to suggest the narrator did anything but a great job. I think sometimes there just might not be a concise way to express in English the original Russian thought.) For the most part however, it read smoothly and was surprisingly well edited.
I strongly suggest picking this one up. It's a great read. I know I'll be on the lookout for more of Maryna & Serhiy Dyachenko's works. It's just a shame so few of them have been translated. If anyone has a petition going around begging for more, please send it my way so I can sign.
I have a love affair with books I only half understand.
It's difficult to find words to express my reaction to this book. Sasha's plans to study philology (in the sense of language as used in literature) seemingly get sidetracked-but then, not really. Maybe philology as taught at the Institute of Special Technologies is the knowledge of society or culture as understood through language. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis always intrigued me in college, as did philosophy classes. This book brought me back to both experiences with Sapir-Whorf gone gobal (an inadequate word) and philosophy at advanced classes that I never took. For me, this was a fascinating and challenging book. I greatly enjoyed the characters and the story line but I wish I could have better appreciated some of the mental gymnastics involved. I suspect that reading this in Russian would have provided a different experience, but I also think that the translator, Julia Meitov Hersey, deserves great praise and expressions of appreciation for what must have been a Herculean task. I completely understand the review extremes for this book and, for that reason and others, I would hesitate to recommend it to family and friends. Sometimes I tell folks that they will know by the first several chapters if a book is for them, but not with this one. I think this is a very individual "like/dislike" and I can easily understand the extremes. I can only say that I'm very glad I gave it a chance.
Fucking amazing, what else can I say? The fact that a book that honestly doesn’t have a very clear plot or structure or characters can be so goddamn thrilling is insane. Most of the philosophical stuff went over my head but I was in for the ride anyway and what a ride it was!
started this thinking it was weird, finished it thinking it was very weird.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced