Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - Vita Nostra

Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko

16 reviews

meganpbell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Dark academia—but make it Eastern European! Welcome to the Institute of Special Technologies…Now enrolling fans of mysterious schools, linguistic magic systems, dark and ambitious speculative fiction, and over-achieving female main characters. This is one of the few English translations of the work of award-winning Ukrainian masters of science fiction, Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, championed in the U.S. by The Magicians author Lev Grossman. If brutal academies and arcane systems of magic speak to you, this is required reading!

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pbeeandj's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The Magicians but make it Kafka

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aileron'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? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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levifari's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I am just bursting at the seams with reflections on this book. The unhinderable acceleration from youth to adulthood, the deeply comforting nature of rigidity and rules, the ways (generously? critically? passionately? with indifference?) that we interpret and project ourselves and others, and how that feeds back into those very projections, the senselessness of everything just before the breakthrough, how our perception of the inaccessible fortifies it from our reach, how daily change stacks up and seems entire when you haven't been there to notice it all along... Everything in Vita Nostra is charged and layered and creeps up and attacks you. I gave myself a headache trying to decide how I hoped things would conclude for the protagonist midway through the book, which in itself led to a real personal reckoning about my craving for knowledge and what amount of autonomy we have a right to at different stages of our lives. I feel that the intent & derived meaning of the book is a reflection more of the reader's culture and personal philosophy than of the author's intent, and I felt that I too, alongside Sasha, balance on a sharp razor's edge in my conclusions.
I love the book's natural and subtle descriptiveness--it always felt easy to read, even when presenting complicated, almost nonsensical metaphysics, I think in part because Sasha often also can't make sense of what she's grappling with. And then, when she goes beyond the (or at least this!) reader's understanding, I just felt yearning, wishing to have that euphoric breakthrough alongside her.
But anyway, back to the friendly lilt in the translation's style--on vacation, foreign flora is not named, simply enjoyed in regular descriptive words (what 16 year old studies the flora local to their vacationing destination?). The inviting writing style is there in the imperfect recollection of a memory, in the taking-in of a traincar, in the quiet breaking apart of a relationship, the way people recede from Sasha's consideration altogether, and then crash back into her frantic and restless thoughts at inopportune moments. It all feels so real and convincing that you're almost unsurprised when

fish scales cover her face.

It is so easy and simple to feel for Sasha, even while she experiences something altogether alien.

I don't end reviews well so here's the ending :)

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thesawyerbean's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

How do I even begin to describe this book? I am sitting here trying to digest what I just read, awe-struck, troubled, befuddled.

This was more an experience than a book - you were drip-fed the tiniest morsels of information, learning as much as the protagonist Sasha did at each moment, never being explicitly explained the concepts and yet finding yourself enthralled and cognisant within them later on. You grasp and plead for meaning concurrently with Sasha, and unfurl another dimension of complexity yearning to be discovered.

This book was brimming with magic, dark fantasy, science, philosophy and metaphysical themes. I do not think I am intellectual enough to actually fully understand this novel, but it was certainly a delight to try. In parts I was very confused and had to reread whole sections, but honestly it kind of added to the atmosphere. Fans of dark academia like me would appreciate this read.

There are words that are simply trash, refuse, they turn into nothing immediately after they are spoken. Others throw shadows, hideous and pathetic, and sometimes gorgeous and powerful, capable of saving a dying soul.

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