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A review by carringtonshaw
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is going to be so incredibly hard to review because of how unique and abstract it was, but I'll make an attempt.
I struggled with how many stars to give this, because I sensed all along that it was five stars, but this feeling was at war with my usual abhorrence for abstract works. Yet, like the main character, I found myself charging through incomprehensible, almost punishing content with something like a compulsion.
I don't know how to begin to describe to you what actually happened in this book. It's a school story--arguably or arguably not a magical school story when you eventually learn something more substantial of what they are being taught, but certainly an esoteric, metaphysical one. Because of that, it will face inevitably comparisons to Harry Potter, the most famous of magical school stories. So I will embrace that for a moment.
Imagine if Hagrid showed up to the tiny remote island where the Dursleys attempted to hide from magic and didn't so much as say but heavily implied, "Yer a wizard, Harry"--and then instructed Harry to show up to an incredibly bleak destination under threat of murdering everyone he had ever loved (not that Harry had had anyone like this, but stick with me). So Harry gets to this awful Hogwarts and is treated more or less like a slave--terrorized and forced to follow absurd lessons night or day, with no fun and very little sleep allowed, or else. Books with unintelligible writing in no actual existing human language--memorize them. Exercises with no explanation or concept of what the results should look like--perform them. Cruel teachers and constant threats, and upperclassmen who all appear to be dreadfully...not quite human. Physically and mentally damaged. One foot in this world and one in some hidden place. Psychological and body horror. This is nothing like Hogwarts, or the world or writing of Harry Potter. Don't enter it expecting it to be--you'll have a bad time.
There is nothing straightforward about this. Frequently, I found myself stopping to mull over a passage from one of their classroom lessons, or one of the many weird thoughts in Sasha's mind that she believes to have come from elsewhere. Due to the nature of the story and the writing (and probably the fact that it was translated from another language), I often found it difficult to conclude whether an action or a statement was literal or metaphorical, but I did my best to read and reread to glean what understanding I could and to learn along with Sasha.
If this book has flaws, they do not lie in my personal intolerance for abstractionism, which serves the story well here. It is slow, particularly in the beginning. It can feel repetitive. Still, these were not enough to hold me back. I enjoyed the short sections making it easy to find stopping places, and it wasn't until page 344 that I even realized this book had no chapters.
I did gradually begin to like, appreciate, and respect the school staff, as I suspected I must due to the cover flap's insistence that Sasha begins to love her lessons. After a while, they were just a point of familiarity and (when they encouraged and approved of Sasha or other students) light in an otherwise dreary place, and I wanted to see more of them, and to solve the mysteries enshrouding them.
The entire way through the book, I just kept thinking of drugs and wondering if this was really all a cult, if they were drugging these students somehow. I don't know a lot about recreational drugs, but I do know what it feels like to be drunk...to have seizures...to miss a seizure pill...to pass out...to be otherwise ill. Reading along as Sasha's lessons broke her down into nothing and began to rebuild her reminded me of this and almost felt like this. The changes to her body and mind when she encountered a breakthrough reminded me of this. Her "flights of fancy", as I'll put it so as not to give much away, reminded me of being very sick in the hospital and on heavy medication. I had a night that I always think of when people discuss astral projection where I felt like I was whisked away up into the air by a little tug from my stomach and flying over a darkened city. I still remember how much more real that moment felt than any dream I've ever had, and how it always makes me wonder if there isn't something to the idea of astral projection, before settling back on the rational explanation of the heavy medication doing strange things to one's mind. All of these experiences led me to think repeatedly of this whole book as one big metaphor for drugs.
When they begin to talk about time manipulation--setting up Now and Then anchors--it reminded me of many years ago now when I was going through a rough time, experiencing depression and a bit of derealization, and discovered that I could do this, so to speak, in the mornings of my awful 60-hour work weeks. In picturing the mornings before I started as a "Now" and then visualizing the nights when I finished as a "Then", I realized I could almost mentally time travel. By linking the two moments firmly in my head, I could successfully reach that "Then" every night and feel almost as though no time had passed at all--like I had simply jumped 10 hours into the future and the previous "Now" had happened only moments before "Then" (which was now "Now"). It was all very strange and felt like I was beginning to lose my mind. (And this without drugs! Just plain old depression. No more six-day work weeks for me!) All this to say, once again the weird psychology behind that experience and how much their methods of time manipulation resembled it made me think that perhaps their minds were being altered in some way.
I've probably rambled about this strange book long enough, so I'll conclude with this: The cover draws comparisons between Harry Potter, which I've already discussed, Lev Grossman's The Magicians, and Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy.
This bears absolutely no resemblance to Winternight. Zero. It's as if the publishers really struggled to find anything to compare it to, because it is is so hard to describe and so unique, and said, "What other books take place in Russia and have scenes with snow on the ground?" That is the beginning and end of the similarities between the two. I'm two books into Winternight and really enjoying it, but it is historical fantasy and adventure based on Russian folklore. This is modern-day fantasy with strong underlying sci-fi vibes and no connection to folklore. So don't read this expecting anything like Winternight, either.
The closest comparison tonally out of those mentioned is The Magicians, but even that, which is already often described as a dark Harry Potter, feels so light compared to the often hopeless vibes of this.
For some reason, I would say this reminded me the most of Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World. Maybe something to do with the mysterious way it begins and then continues with dispensing its lessons. I'd say a little bit of The Phantom Tollbooth, as well, but definitely for an older audience. Some hints of Alice in Wonderland, as well, for the absolute lack of explanation for what everything is and why it is happening, and the crazy-making behavior of the only ones in the know.
I highly recommend.
I struggled with how many stars to give this, because I sensed all along that it was five stars, but this feeling was at war with my usual abhorrence for abstract works. Yet, like the main character, I found myself charging through incomprehensible, almost punishing content with something like a compulsion.
I don't know how to begin to describe to you what actually happened in this book. It's a school story--arguably or arguably not a magical school story when you eventually learn something more substantial of what they are being taught, but certainly an esoteric, metaphysical one. Because of that, it will face inevitably comparisons to Harry Potter, the most famous of magical school stories. So I will embrace that for a moment.
Imagine if Hagrid showed up to the tiny remote island where the Dursleys attempted to hide from magic and didn't so much as say but heavily implied, "Yer a wizard, Harry"--and then instructed Harry to show up to an incredibly bleak destination under threat of murdering everyone he had ever loved (not that Harry had had anyone like this, but stick with me). So Harry gets to this awful Hogwarts and is treated more or less like a slave--terrorized and forced to follow absurd lessons night or day, with no fun and very little sleep allowed, or else. Books with unintelligible writing in no actual existing human language--memorize them. Exercises with no explanation or concept of what the results should look like--perform them. Cruel teachers and constant threats, and upperclassmen who all appear to be dreadfully...not quite human. Physically and mentally damaged. One foot in this world and one in some hidden place. Psychological and body horror. This is nothing like Hogwarts, or the world or writing of Harry Potter. Don't enter it expecting it to be--you'll have a bad time.
There is nothing straightforward about this. Frequently, I found myself stopping to mull over a passage from one of their classroom lessons, or one of the many weird thoughts in Sasha's mind that she believes to have come from elsewhere. Due to the nature of the story and the writing (and probably the fact that it was translated from another language), I often found it difficult to conclude whether an action or a statement was literal or metaphorical, but I did my best to read and reread to glean what understanding I could and to learn along with Sasha.
If this book has flaws, they do not lie in my personal intolerance for abstractionism, which serves the story well here. It is slow, particularly in the beginning. It can feel repetitive. Still, these were not enough to hold me back. I enjoyed the short sections making it easy to find stopping places, and it wasn't until page 344 that I even realized this book had no chapters.
I did gradually begin to like, appreciate, and respect the school staff, as I suspected I must due to the cover flap's insistence that Sasha begins to love her lessons. After a while, they were just a point of familiarity and (when they encouraged and approved of Sasha or other students) light in an otherwise dreary place, and I wanted to see more of them, and to solve the mysteries enshrouding them.
The entire way through the book, I just kept thinking of drugs and wondering if this was really all a cult, if they were drugging these students somehow. I don't know a lot about recreational drugs, but I do know what it feels like to be drunk...to have seizures...to miss a seizure pill...to pass out...to be otherwise ill. Reading along as Sasha's lessons broke her down into nothing and began to rebuild her reminded me of this and almost felt like this. The changes to her body and mind when she encountered a breakthrough reminded me of this. Her "flights of fancy", as I'll put it so as not to give much away, reminded me of being very sick in the hospital and on heavy medication. I had a night that I always think of when people discuss astral projection where I felt like I was whisked away up into the air by a little tug from my stomach and flying over a darkened city. I still remember how much more real that moment felt than any dream I've ever had, and how it always makes me wonder if there isn't something to the idea of astral projection, before settling back on the rational explanation of the heavy medication doing strange things to one's mind. All of these experiences led me to think repeatedly of this whole book as one big metaphor for drugs.
When they begin to talk about time manipulation--setting up Now and Then anchors--it reminded me of many years ago now when I was going through a rough time, experiencing depression and a bit of derealization, and discovered that I could do this, so to speak, in the mornings of my awful 60-hour work weeks. In picturing the mornings before I started as a "Now" and then visualizing the nights when I finished as a "Then", I realized I could almost mentally time travel. By linking the two moments firmly in my head, I could successfully reach that "Then" every night and feel almost as though no time had passed at all--like I had simply jumped 10 hours into the future and the previous "Now" had happened only moments before "Then" (which was now "Now"). It was all very strange and felt like I was beginning to lose my mind. (And this without drugs! Just plain old depression. No more six-day work weeks for me!) All this to say, once again the weird psychology behind that experience and how much their methods of time manipulation resembled it made me think that perhaps their minds were being altered in some way.
I've probably rambled about this strange book long enough, so I'll conclude with this: The cover draws comparisons between Harry Potter, which I've already discussed, Lev Grossman's The Magicians, and Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy.
This bears absolutely no resemblance to Winternight. Zero. It's as if the publishers really struggled to find anything to compare it to, because it is is so hard to describe and so unique, and said, "What other books take place in Russia and have scenes with snow on the ground?" That is the beginning and end of the similarities between the two. I'm two books into Winternight and really enjoying it, but it is historical fantasy and adventure based on Russian folklore. This is modern-day fantasy with strong underlying sci-fi vibes and no connection to folklore. So don't read this expecting anything like Winternight, either.
The closest comparison tonally out of those mentioned is The Magicians, but even that, which is already often described as a dark Harry Potter, feels so light compared to the often hopeless vibes of this.
For some reason, I would say this reminded me the most of Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World. Maybe something to do with the mysterious way it begins and then continues with dispensing its lessons. I'd say a little bit of The Phantom Tollbooth, as well, but definitely for an older audience. Some hints of Alice in Wonderland, as well, for the absolute lack of explanation for what everything is and why it is happening, and the crazy-making behavior of the only ones in the know.
I highly recommend.