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A review by podanotherjessi
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a hard book to review because I liked almost everything in the book; it's genuinely hard to pinpoint anything specific about it I didn't like. And yet the overwhelming feeling I had while reading was just boredom. Everything - including the weirdness - was just so mundane, which I actually think is a strength of the writing, but it did make for a dull read to me.
The concepts in this book were amazing. It took so long to really get to them, and I understand why, but I loved them. The first 20% was my favorite part because the stakes really felt there for me, and I was enjoying the mystery of what was going on, but then that faded which is where the boredom set in. The last 20% was also incredible; the pace picks up and the stakes were there again, and I was genuinely engaged and excited.
I liked all of the side characters, and I almost wish the book had a wider focus to more encompass them more. The moments when Sasha interacts with Lisa or Yegor or Kostya or even her mother were some of the highlights of the book.When her mom first said she was going to visit the school was when the stakes came back for me.
Sasha herself held very little interest for me. She's just special but the book takes far too long to explain why, so I just kind of didn't care. I needed to know why she was trying harder than her classmates (or see more from her classmates to know that wasn't true, just her perception). Why was she excelling where everyone else wasn't?
And the writing was really amazing. I don't know how it is in the physical book, but in the audio there aren't really pauses between scenes for a lot of the book, which creates a really disjointed feeling that I loved. Scenes never really end or start but flow into each other. And beyond that, it's beautifully written.
So I think it's a fantastic book, but I don't think I'll ever read it again.
The concepts in this book were amazing. It took so long to really get to them, and I understand why, but I loved them. The first 20% was my favorite part because the stakes really felt there for me, and I was enjoying the mystery of what was going on, but then that faded which is where the boredom set in. The last 20% was also incredible; the pace picks up and the stakes were there again, and I was genuinely engaged and excited.
I liked all of the side characters, and I almost wish the book had a wider focus to more encompass them more. The moments when Sasha interacts with Lisa or Yegor or Kostya or even her mother were some of the highlights of the book.
Sasha herself held very little interest for me. She's just special but the book takes far too long to explain why, so I just kind of didn't care. I needed to know why she was trying harder than her classmates (or see more from her classmates to know that wasn't true, just her perception). Why was she excelling where everyone else wasn't?
And the writing was really amazing. I don't know how it is in the physical book, but in the audio there aren't really pauses between scenes for a lot of the book, which creates a really disjointed feeling that I loved. Scenes never really end or start but flow into each other. And beyond that, it's beautifully written.
So I think it's a fantastic book, but I don't think I'll ever read it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit and Body horror