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nerdicwalker 's review for:
Vita Nostra
by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
To discuss this book is difficult It is a whirlwind of ideas concepts and structure. It is magical metaphysical and fantasy It is also deeply rooted in christian orthodox ideas of fear, suffering, life and death, sprinkled with classical philosophy (I was thinking Plato’s cave) Combined with recognizable ingredients - the train/school a in Harry Potter The changing as in Kafka’s metamorphosis as well as a bildung from a young girl.
It took me a while to let this book fully sink in and to fully appreciate it. It had to grown on me. As Sasha is being pulled into a path that she did not choose but was chosen for her and accepts and starts to be come engrossed in the subject, I was pulled into this book following her journey.
The book starts almost too simple as a run of the mill Yong Adult fiction book. However it quickly becomes more it becomes dark, it becomes weird and yet recognisable. Quickly it became a book that went from an easy read in bed story a book that made that I went to bed earlier to read a bit more and longer. A book that I really wanted to read further. So much so that I have put it on my to re-read shelf as well I need to rad this again knowing what I know now about the ending to gain new insights into what i happening:
Sasha grows initially from a young girl toward a woman, but the path is not standard Her path is that of freeing herself from expectations Expectations of family friends, but also the expectation of fellow students, teachers and the paths decided or expectations by others for her.
The backbone from a novel perspective is classic All people help her to become who (?) and what (?) she is. They teach and mentor and try to shape her board their idea of what she should be. She embraces the ideas that others teach and taught her but takes what is best for her and ultimately rejects the parts she does not agree withand becomes her true self. Her environment finds that hard to accept. In that aspect it is a classical bildung But to be honest to describe the book only like that is not doing it any justice. The writers in the epilogue do refer to their own daughter growing up during the writing of the book and as such I can see the parental struggle of letting go of a loved child to adulthood written into it and I found that both endearing and enlightening
The book itself though has a certain darkness which is surrounding it all the intriguing not knowing where the path goes the concepts of using words and grammar as a metaphysical hyperbole are fascinating to the extend that I ended up googling grammar rules again!
In the end the book makes complete sense, provided that the reader has a some concept of the biblical orthodoxy with using language and words to describe the metaphysical creation. I found a review describing it as Harry Potter as if it would be written by Tolstoy. I like the analogy but it is more and deeper than Harry Potter ever was/is and the ending is more positive than Tolstoy.
And there in the end the book has made me ramble and happy. Perfect!
It took me a while to let this book fully sink in and to fully appreciate it. It had to grown on me. As Sasha is being pulled into a path that she did not choose but was chosen for her and accepts and starts to be come engrossed in the subject, I was pulled into this book following her journey.
The book starts almost too simple as a run of the mill Yong Adult fiction book. However it quickly becomes more it becomes dark, it becomes weird and yet recognisable. Quickly it became a book that went from an easy read in bed story a book that made that I went to bed earlier to read a bit more and longer. A book that I really wanted to read further. So much so that I have put it on my to re-read shelf as well I need to rad this again knowing what I know now about the ending to gain new insights into what i happening:
Sasha grows initially from a young girl toward a woman, but the path is not standard Her path is that of freeing herself from expectations Expectations of family friends, but also the expectation of fellow students, teachers and the paths decided or expectations by others for her.
The backbone from a novel perspective is classic All people help her to become who (?) and what (?) she is. They teach and mentor and try to shape her board their idea of what she should be. She embraces the ideas that others teach and taught her but takes what is best for her and ultimately rejects the parts she does not agree withand becomes her true self. Her environment finds that hard to accept. In that aspect it is a classical bildung But to be honest to describe the book only like that is not doing it any justice. The writers in the epilogue do refer to their own daughter growing up during the writing of the book and as such I can see the parental struggle of letting go of a loved child to adulthood written into it and I found that both endearing and enlightening
The book itself though has a certain darkness which is surrounding it all the intriguing not knowing where the path goes the concepts of using words and grammar as a metaphysical hyperbole are fascinating to the extend that I ended up googling grammar rules again!
In the end the book makes complete sense, provided that the reader has a some concept of the biblical orthodoxy with using language and words to describe the metaphysical creation. I found a review describing it as Harry Potter as if it would be written by Tolstoy. I like the analogy but it is more and deeper than Harry Potter ever was/is and the ending is more positive than Tolstoy.
And there in the end the book has made me ramble and happy. Perfect!