fihli 's review for:

Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko

5.0

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By verbally identifying an object, by giving it a name, we alter it. And at the same time we prevent it from changing. A name is like a forked stick that we use to hold a snake on the ground.

5 stars
This was great!
The writing was superb. The concept was interesting and creative, unique and definitely different from other books in the genre.
The execution was even better. The pacing was on point. The setting in modern day Russia felt real and neither too romanticized nor too pessimistic.

Sasha was a great character. She felt real, her emotions were almost palpable. At times she was too stubborn for my taste, and I didn't always understand why she acted in the way she did (especially in year two) but in the beginning she was great, as well as in the end. She was hardworking and strong, her feelings of confusion and slowly understanding what was happening mirroring my own.

What I loved even more than her though, was the relationship dynamics she had with other characters. I loved Kostya, and I loved Kostya and her. I loved their relationship, I liked them as friends from the moment they stepped off the train and I shipped them from the moment she missed her one-on-one session with Portnov. I found

Spoiler

their breakup

really bittersweet and while I didn't want that for their characters, it seemed to fit perfectly. It was the natural progress of their time at the institute, of the different speed of their growth. Even then they just seemed like the (almost) perfect fit.

Her relationship with Yegor I also really enjoyed, less in the beginning where I felt impartial to him and more in her third year when he started to understand her more. Sasha showed her emotional maturity in their relationship, and her helping him was a big move on her part.

The relationship she has with her mother at the start of the story was very sweet as well, and her feeling disconnected to her and her new family reflected her change in a nice way (well, not nice for her as a character). I really felt for her and the need to protect her family while not being able to ask for help. Her mother coming to visit - being one of the only parents to actually come - showed how what a great person she was as well, and how concerned she was.

Except for Kostya, I felt that the other characters could have been fleshed out a bit more. We learn to varying degrees about them. Lisa seemed a bit clichéd and one-dimensional, especially in the beginning. With the second year, she started to grow on me and I wish there had been more interactions between Sasha and her. Same goes for Zakhar who seemed to be a kind person.

The plot was interesting and innovative. I'm still not sure how I feel about the last chapter though. The book ends rather abruptly and (at least to me) somewhat confusingly at first ok ok, I'm going to admit that I didn't understand it and had to read the explanation for it in the answered questions about Vita Nostra. But now I feel stupid for not getting it earlier.
While the ending was satisfying, I felt that Kostya and Sasha's relationship wasn't completed (although that might have been the point, and I don't know what I would have preferred). Maybe I'll change my mind about it - about the ending as well as the entire book -, but as it stands Vitra Nostra is definitely a new favorite.

(Also, this is the first book of a trilogy which I hadn't realised until after I finished it. This is a real shame, as the English translation for its sequel isn't out yet.)

Edit: Reviewers who say that this is what would have happened if Kafka had written Harry Potter aren't wrong. Vita Nostra isn't a book for everyone, so you should consider if you like such a concept before picking this up.