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A review by timinbc
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
4.0
The book's covers give you an idea that this book is going to stand in a category by itself, no matter what classification system you use. Sort of like Sasha does in the book.
I can't disagree with the idea "Harry Potter written by Kafka."
The book does to us what the school does to Sasha - each one reveals just enough at each step to stop the reader/student from going "GGAAAAAHHHH THIS IS STUPID" and getting on with life.
You probably won't be surprised to learn that handwaving philosophy is an important part of this story. You might be surprised to find yourself NEEDING to finish the book anyway, Once again, the reader's path is that of the Torpa student.
We do not find out who runs the school, or why. Is it to create workers for some task we can't understand? To save the world from the loose cannons the students will become? We do not find out why the lesser students also need to attend the school.
We do not find out what would happen if the process brought forth TWO Sashas- but look, if the authors ever read what I just typed they would probably high-five each other.
Sasha's believable. The tutors are suitably enigmatic. Nothing is explained, but we readers come to believe that we couldn't understand it anyway.
If there's another book, I will read it, but ONLY if we are promised an explanation of Farit, and just what he can and can't do.
We are left with a strange echo of the learning process Sasha went through. It appears in our world as a shadow, where things seem impossible until they aren't, then they seem obvious. The classic example is riding a bicycle (unless you're Calvin.)
I can't disagree with the idea "Harry Potter written by Kafka."
The book does to us what the school does to Sasha - each one reveals just enough at each step to stop the reader/student from going "GGAAAAAHHHH THIS IS STUPID" and getting on with life.
You probably won't be surprised to learn that handwaving philosophy is an important part of this story. You might be surprised to find yourself NEEDING to finish the book anyway, Once again, the reader's path is that of the Torpa student.
We do not find out who runs the school, or why. Is it to create workers for some task we can't understand? To save the world from the loose cannons the students will become? We do not find out why the lesser students also need to attend the school.
We do not find out what would happen if the process brought forth TWO Sashas- but look, if the authors ever read what I just typed they would probably high-five each other.
Sasha's believable. The tutors are suitably enigmatic. Nothing is explained, but we readers come to believe that we couldn't understand it anyway.
If there's another book, I will read it, but ONLY if we are promised an explanation of Farit, and just what he can and can't do.
We are left with a strange echo of the learning process Sasha went through. It appears in our world as a shadow, where things seem impossible until they aren't, then they seem obvious. The classic example is riding a bicycle (unless you're Calvin.)