Vita Nostra

I think it\’s inevitable that people will compare this to Harry Potter or Lexicon – but I argue that the similarities are entirely superficial. Vita Nostra is an original take on an intriguing (if not entirely unique) theme, and the writing is absolutely beautiful. The attention to detail is just exactly enough to paint a crisp picture of each scene without short-changing your imagination. The characters are all so good, ranging from sympathetic to frightening. The atmosphere is pretty dark, for sure, but it\’s inviting and threatening in equal measures. I felt this story in my head and in my bones, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I hope Julia Meitov Hersey is already working on translating the Dyachenko\’s other works, because I\’m definitely ready for more!

Kept me hooked thru the very last page. Isn\’t always a comfortable story. The story is cerebral, experiential, it will work your empathy and expand your mind. Since finishing the book I\’ve thought about it\’s themes and moments daily and at length. This book is wonderful. I\’m a sucker for magic and magic systems, and that influenced me liking this book so much.

This is a brilliant fever dream of a novel. We meet Sasha as a 16 year old who lives with her Mum, loves swimming and wants to be a philologist when she grows up. Which is appropriate because fate, in the form of a man who wears dark glasses, seems impervious to time and will never ask her to do anything “impossible” takes her by the throat and shoves her toward her destiny, which is all about the words. This intricate mind bending book is very well written and well read. Fair warning. There is a magical school, but it’s not Hogwarts by a long shot and a “grown up Harry Potter” this is not.

It\’s difficult to find words to express my reaction to this book. Sasha\’s plans to study philology (in the sense of language as used in literature) seemingly get sidetracked-but then, not really. Maybe philology as taught at the Institute of Special Technologies is the knowledge of society or culture as understood through language. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis always intrigued me in college, as did philosophy classes. This book brought me back to both experiences with Sapir-Whorf gone gobal (an inadequate word) and philosophy at advanced classes that I never took. For me, this was a fascinating and challenging book. I greatly enjoyed the characters and the story line but I wish I could have better appreciated some of the mental gymnastics involved. I suspect that reading this in Russian would have provided a different experience, but I also think that the translator, Julia Meitov Hersey, deserves great praise and expressions of appreciation for what must have been a Herculean task. I completely understand the review extremes for this book and, for that reason and others, I would hesitate to recommend it to family and friends. Sometimes I tell folks that they will know by the first several chapters if a book is for them, but not with this one. I think this is a very individual \”like/dislike\” and I can easily understand the extremes. I can only say that I\’m very glad I gave it a chance.

Overall, this book is okay. I do like the everyday life feel of it, even though Sasha’s life is anything but ordinary. At first, the plot of Sasha entering a mysterious school was intriguing. However the endless parts with Sasha doing impossible mental exercises got realllllly boring. I’m just meh about this book. The narrator was really nice; she has a beautiful voice and managed to make each male character’s voice distinct.

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