Constellation Vital Phenomena Novel
The title of this wonderful book almost was a "turn-off" but I am so glad that I chose it from the Vine program. The explanation of the title comes midway through the book and the title does make sense.
The author's writing (and I find it difficult to believe that it is a first novel because it is so beautifully written) depicts Chechnya's ethnic strife vividly through the lives of a female surgeon who is the sole doctor in a bombed-out hospital, her sister who makes some life-threatening decisions),a young girl whose father has "disappeared", and the relationship between neighbors, turned into enemies. The story was so compelling that I didn't want to put the book down, but some portions were so heartbreaking that I was compelled to do so. This is one of the best novels I have ever read and I am eager to read whatever the author writes in the future. An absolute must read!
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This has been a great year for reading fiction for me and it's only one third over. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is also, for me, a very unique book because while it's about the Soviet Union, in particular Chechens and Russians living in Chechnya through the 1990s and 2000s, it's a very Western book in terms of attitude and style. The deep seated anguish and yearning, toska, that resides in anyone, including me, who has been touched by Russian culture is essentially absent. In Marra's novel, we get the absurd. We get the heightened operatic emotions of the West. But toska. It's not here. I don't think that absence is a flaw. Marra is, after all, writing for an American audience. But I've never read a book about Russia before that didn't have a Russian soul.
BalasHapusMarra has written a very inventive page turner of a novel in a style that's somewhere between Ann Patchett and Ian McEwan. While its subject matter, war in far off Chechnya, is obscure, A Constellation is a very accessible novel. There was clearly a lot of research involved in putting this book together, but Marra certainly rises well above all the reading and Chechen history he's accumulated. The language is at a fever pitch throughout. That's not a style that I particularly like, but here, like in the best of Ann Patchett, it seems to be almost necessary given all the emotional tugs between loved ones.
In A Constellation, two doctors try to sustain their humanity in the rubble of a constantly war torn region by healing the wounded and maintaining their tenuous ties with the frail and vulnerable people they love. It's essentially an impossible task, but somehow they both carry on in their own way. There's a lot of back story in this book, probably far more than in most contemporary fiction, and I would be tempted to edit quite a bit of it out. Not every character needs or deserves a twenty page treatise on how they got to the present. That said, Marra has created a full world of people with rich emotional lives. This book probably wouldn't fare well with a Russian audience - they wouldn't know quite what to make of it - but for a Western one, I think it's an exquisite, well told, mainstream story.
This young debut author is destined for great things as his first novel so beautifully and achingly illustrates. Being familiar with the Russian and Chechnya history and conflict made it easier to get into this novel but it's the author's lyrical and evocative prose that draws the reader into a largely unfamiliar world ravaged by years of conflict and at heart, a story of the human will to persevere and survive in the most terrible of circumstances. It brought to mind some of the heartbreaking accounts I've read in Holocaust-themed novels, that amidst the worst situations, there is always hope.
BalasHapusThe setting is Chechnya, a federal subject of Russia that has been engaged in conflict with Russia, fighting for its independence. The timeline spans the years 1994 through 2004 and the effects of these rebellions is explored credibly in this searing account, focusing on the impact upon the populace of a hamlet. Several characters serve as focal points - Havaa, an eight-year-old girl whose father has been taken away due to an informant and Akhmed, the incompetent doctor who saves her and hides her in an all but empty hospital. And there's the lone surgeon Sonja who is desperate to find her sister Natasha. As I read, I discovered the motivations of some of these characters, including the informer Ramzan, and as depressing as some parts were, there was also a sense of hope which alleviates the darkness. A recommended read.
The history of ethnic strife in Chechnya is long and confusing. Anthony Marra bypasses the facts and figures and takes us directly into the lives of ordinary people trying to make a meaningful existence amid the rubble and death and ongoing violence. Living in a state of constant trauma changes all the rules. Young and old, ethnic Russians and Chechen Muslims, the characters' lives intersect in such a way that they cannot hate each other with the intensity prescribed by their ancestors.
BalasHapusWith a complete absence of emotional manipulation, Marra takes us back and forth in the lives of the characters, moving along a timeline from 1994 to 2004. As they move in and out of periods of war, we see the events that led them to their current behaviors. Their choices begin to make more sense when we see how they have suffered, and the sins they have committed in the name of self-preservation. These are the sins for which they are now seeking absolution, whether from a higher power or from those they have wronged.
I'm a picky reader, and my friends tell me I'm a hard grader when I rate books. I'm always skeptical when I hear raves about an up-and-coming author who's supposed to be the latest writing phenomenon. I always have to give them a chance, though, because once in awhile they turn out to be as talented as promised. Anthony Marra is one of those who deserves all the praise he's receiving. If you like serious literary fiction, this is a novel you won't want to miss.
I want to add one more positive review. I cannot believe that this is a debut novel. Granted the author has some great credentials including an MFA from Iowa, but this debut floored me. It's not exactly a subject that will appeal to everyone, but it is so wonderfully written that one cannot help but be amazed.
BalasHapusThis is a story that plows into the nature of the human spirit. The author has crafted wonderfully realistic characters that are a joy to bond with. The events are harrowing and the main characters embody this amazing drive to survive against all odds, whereas others might have given up. The reader will be saddened and uplifted at the same time.
His writing style is amazing for a young author. His prose is spot on. Never does he fall into the pit of overly descriptive narrative or minutiae that many young authors tend to. His story is crisp and compact and it never deviates from the main story line.
Comparing this to 'The Tiger's Wife' is a disservice. This is one of the finest debut novels published since 2000 that I have read.
This heartbreaking story of a war torn area of the world reminds us that however annoyed we get with our own lives, we're far better off. I'd never have read about this tragic place and time if the writing had been less brilliant. It held me while I learned some hard lessons.
BalasHapusSeveral years ago I reviewed novel excerpts in the Amazon Shorts Writing Contest and one author's writing impressed me so much I saved part of his entry and his name. With talent like that, I was sure he was headed for great things. I ran across the entry recently and searched to see if he'd been published yet. What did I find but this book due to be released soon. I was delighted to find it on Vine and couldn't wait to read it.
Sure enough the writing is stunning and it kept me reading even though the story of the desperation of those living through these wars wrenches one's soul. The characters accept the horror of their lives and put one foot in front of the other with utter futility and yet rays of hope leak through the crumbling walls. While there is not much bright about what happens, the message that comes out at the end is that life goes on and prevails. It's a story of hope and survival against all odds. The characters leave a legacy that reinforces one's belief in the strength of the human spirit.
I expected great things from this author and I wasn't disappointed. He has a real gift.
This breathtaking novel by Anthony Marra takes place in Chechnya over a period from 1994 to 2004 and goes back and forth between these dates and sometimes even further into the past. The author does a exceptional job of bringing us into the lives of a group of people caught up in the ethnic strife of the first and second Chechnyan wars through no fault of their own. Over the course of a few months in 1994, everything has changed. Bombs are destroying homes and buildings on a daily basis, inquisition teams haul people from their homes to the "Landfill" for questioning and they are usually never seen or heard from again. There is distrust among neighbors who often don't know who the informers are, which is all a part of the new normal. The story takes place in a mostly Muslim area, but there are also ethnic Russians along with the Chechen Muslims, all caught up in this terrible conflict.
BalasHapusThis story centers mainly around Sonja, a doctor who has lost track of her sister, Natasha who had disappeared, returned, and then disappeared again, Akhmet a doctor who graduated in the bottom tenth of his class in a third class medical school, and is much more interested in being an artist, and Havaa, the daughter of Dokka who lived across the street from Akhmet. Secondary characters are Ramzan, a damaged man turned informer, and his elderly father, Khassam who has spent much of his life writing a massive history of Chechnya. The story begins with Akhmet taking eight year old Havaa who hid in the woods behind her home when her father was abducted by the "authorities", to a hospital in a neighboring town where he has heard of a capable doctor and surgeon named Sonja who he hopes will take her in and provide protection. As the story unfolds, layer by layer, we learn of the many connections between the characters which are much more complicated than they appear on the surface.
This is what I would call a literary psychological novel. Mara drops us into these towns and into the hearts and minds of his characters. We can feel the devastation and horror, but also the strength of the people as they pick up the pieces and move on with their lives in any way that they can. But most of all we feel the hope when it seems like there should be none.
This is not the type of story I normally enjoy reading with several violent torture scenes and the devastation these people experience, both physically and psychologically. It's almost like reading about the Holocaust. There were parts where I wanted to just close the book. Yet Mara so beautifully describes the strength of the human spirit, the depth of the soul and hope when there seemingly is none, that it became difficult to put this book down. It's just amazing that it is his debut novel. I predict that this book will be a best seller and possibly even a classic.