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Vita Nostra (English) #1
Vita Nostra
The definitive English language translation of the internationally bestselling Ukrainian novel—a brilliant dark fantasy with "the potential to be a modern classic" (Lev Grossman), combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way.
Our life is brief . . .
While vacationing at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. The teenage girl is powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with an air of the sinister directs her to perform a task with potentially scandalous consequences. He rewards her effort with a strange golden coin.
As the days progress, Sasha carries out other acts for which she receives more coins from Kozhennikov. As summer ends, her domineering mentor directs her to move to a remote village and use her gold to enter the Institute of Special Technologies. Though she does not want to go to this unknown town or school, she also feels it’s the only place she should be. Against her mother’s wishes, Sasha leaves behind all that is familiar and begins her education.
As she quickly discovers, the institute’s "special technologies" are unlike anything she has ever encountered. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, their families pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want.
A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction—brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey—is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.
Our life is brief . . .
While vacationing at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. The teenage girl is powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with an air of the sinister directs her to perform a task with potentially scandalous consequences. He rewards her effort with a strange golden coin.
As the days progress, Sasha carries out other acts for which she receives more coins from Kozhennikov. As summer ends, her domineering mentor directs her to move to a remote village and use her gold to enter the Institute of Special Technologies. Though she does not want to go to this unknown town or school, she also feels it’s the only place she should be. Against her mother’s wishes, Sasha leaves behind all that is familiar and begins her education.
As she quickly discovers, the institute’s "special technologies" are unlike anything she has ever encountered. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, their families pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want.
A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction—brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey—is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.
408 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Marina Dyachenko
119 books670 followersМарина Дяченко
Marina and Serhiy Dyachenko - co-authors of novels, short fiction, plays and scripts. They primarily write in Russian (and in the past also in Ukrainian) with several novels translated into English and published in the United States. These include, Vita Nostra (2012), The Scar (2012), The Burned Tower (2012), Age of Witches (2014) and Daughter from the dark (2020). The primary genres of their books are modern speculative fiction, fantasy, and literary tales.
Marina and Serhiy Dyachenko - co-authors of novels, short fiction, plays and scripts. They primarily write in Russian (and in the past also in Ukrainian) with several novels translated into English and published in the United States. These include, Vita Nostra (2012), The Scar (2012), The Burned Tower (2012), Age of Witches (2014) and Daughter from the dark (2020). The primary genres of their books are modern speculative fiction, fantasy, and literary tales.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,892 reviews
October 2, 2023
This book is like Harry Potter, but if it was written by Kafka.
Watch my full review here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FMfo...
Watch my full review here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FMfo...
May 14, 2024
would you still love me if i was a word?
September 29, 2022
This is one of the weirdest books I've read but I really enjoyed it!
Dark academia, magical school, mini time loops and.... lots of confusion but it was all worth it.
Dark academia, magical school, mini time loops and.... lots of confusion but it was all worth it.
December 3, 2018
At the start of this novel, 16-year-old Sasha Samokhina is on a seaside vacation with her mother, where after a few days she finds herself stalked by a mysterious man with pale skin and dark glasses. She is eventually confronted by this stranger, who entreats Sasha to wake up at 4 am every morning, go to the beach, take off all her clothes, and swim to a buoy and back. She reluctantly agrees to this strange task, and as soon as she's back on shore that first morning, she starts to vomit gold coins.
Thus begins the wildly unconventional journey that the Dyachenkos take the reader on in Vita Nostra, which has safely earned its distinction as the most unorthodox book I have ever read. This doesn't follow any kind of narrative formula that will be familiar to many western readers - it's bizarrely lacking in conflict, resolution, plot twists, and structure. But it's also the most singular and enchanting and darkly horrifying book I have ever read.
Honestly, the marketing team has my sympathy for this one, because I don't think I've ever read another book that so staunchly defies categorization. There are recognizable elements from traditional coming of age novels, but it isn't a bildungsroman; there are hints and whispers of magic but it isn't really fantasy; there are some classic Magical School tropes but it isn't remotely comparable to Harry Potter; and it's filled to the brim with philosophical references but its maddeningly esoteric approach is strangely alienating even to readers who are interested in its central themes. A large part of this book is just stumbling blindly alongside Sasha and waiting for everything to be made clear, which it never really is.
It's proving to be quite the challenge to explain what the appeal exactly is of a book like this, and I fully accept that this isn't going to be for everyone. This isn't really for readers who need to be entertained by plot or readers who need to be invested in complex character dynamics. This is more for the readers drawn equally to a compelling atmosphere and big ideas; readers who are both thrilled and terrified at the idea that their own worldview is more limited than they ever could have imagined. This book mesmerized me from the very first page and proved to be the most unexpected reading experience I've ever had. At times it's frustrating and incomprehensible but never for a single moment does it fail to stimulate. This is one of the most exceptional things I have read in a very long time, and one of those books that will absolutely reward the effort you put into it.
Thanks so much to Harper Voyager for the copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
Thus begins the wildly unconventional journey that the Dyachenkos take the reader on in Vita Nostra, which has safely earned its distinction as the most unorthodox book I have ever read. This doesn't follow any kind of narrative formula that will be familiar to many western readers - it's bizarrely lacking in conflict, resolution, plot twists, and structure. But it's also the most singular and enchanting and darkly horrifying book I have ever read.
Honestly, the marketing team has my sympathy for this one, because I don't think I've ever read another book that so staunchly defies categorization. There are recognizable elements from traditional coming of age novels, but it isn't a bildungsroman; there are hints and whispers of magic but it isn't really fantasy; there are some classic Magical School tropes but it isn't remotely comparable to Harry Potter; and it's filled to the brim with philosophical references but its maddeningly esoteric approach is strangely alienating even to readers who are interested in its central themes. A large part of this book is just stumbling blindly alongside Sasha and waiting for everything to be made clear, which it never really is.
It's proving to be quite the challenge to explain what the appeal exactly is of a book like this, and I fully accept that this isn't going to be for everyone. This isn't really for readers who need to be entertained by plot or readers who need to be invested in complex character dynamics. This is more for the readers drawn equally to a compelling atmosphere and big ideas; readers who are both thrilled and terrified at the idea that their own worldview is more limited than they ever could have imagined. This book mesmerized me from the very first page and proved to be the most unexpected reading experience I've ever had. At times it's frustrating and incomprehensible but never for a single moment does it fail to stimulate. This is one of the most exceptional things I have read in a very long time, and one of those books that will absolutely reward the effort you put into it.
Thanks so much to Harper Voyager for the copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
April 6, 2021
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I've been wanting to read VITA NOSTRA ever since the English translation was released and I heard about the dark magic school premise. This novel is part of a trilogy that was originally published in Ukraine, and it's one of the strangest, most fascinating, most inevitable books I have ever read. It actually reminds me a lot of R. Lee Smith's book, SCHOLOMANCE. The pacing is very slow and you just have to bask and immerse yourself in the cold winters of Torpa and the sinister misty springs. Everything is richly described, from the school itself, to the course work, to Sasha's struggles and feelings. Even though this is a translation, the English is lovely and the authors use such imaginative metaphors that certain phrases just stick in your head.
The best way to describe this book is to picture a magical system where everything has a cost-- sometimes a very sinister one. Sasha is scouted at a beach while on vacation by a sinister figure who tells her that she must train herself to go to this special school or bad things will happen. She doesn't take the warning as seriously as she should, and sure enough, bad things happen. This is a prevailing theme in the novel, as you'll see, where if students disobey the mandates of the faculty, they find themselves at the mercy of something that seems a bit too sinisterly deterministic to be fate.
Sasha, the heroine, is very ambitious and hard working. She starts out somewhat naive and frightened, and it's fun (and harrowing) to see how she changes over the course of this novel. Picture Hermione Granger's slightly evil twin, and that's basically Sasha. Her mentor, Farit, is like an evil Dumbledore. He gives her good advice but she also fears him, because terrible things happen when she doesn't do what he says. She also ends up sort of making friends with some of her fellow students, whether it's her doomed relationship with Kostya, her frenemy relationship with her two roommates, or the underclassmen she meets as a senior, who she mentors and terrorizes in equal measure.
Magic in this book changes the people who use it, with devastating effect. The whole book builds up to something terrible, and I've never read a book that really carries you along with the protagonist the way this one does. You really relate to Sasha because you experience everything from her eyes in real time, whether it's the agonizing frustration of studying for seemingly impossible exams, the slow and claustrophobic terror of being trapped in a school that's literally in the middle of nowhere, or her sense of drive and determination once she decides that she's going to seize her fate by the horns. (Go, Sasha!)
This book definitely is not for everyone and I think if you don't like long, slow-paced books, you probably won't like VITA NOSTRA. Ditto, if you're put off by scenes of body horror (of any kind) or morally grey characters, you probably won't like VITA NOSTRA. Luckily for me, that's all catnip to my inner reader and I devoured this the way the students devoured the fruit compote in their dining hall. It looks like the publisher is beginning the grueling process of translating these talented authors' works to English, as they have another one coming out soon called DAUGHTER FROM THE DARK. Sadly, it's not related to this trilogy (when's book 2 getting translated??? ahhh) but after being so impressed with VITA NOSTRA, I'd read anything from this fantastic duo.
Definitely recommend for fans of R. Lee Smith and Tanith Lee.
Thank you, Deidra, for reading this with me! :)
4.5 to 5 stars
April 2, 2019
I have SUCH conflicting thoughts about this book because it was crazy and interesting and groundbreaking and suspenseful and fucking weird and lacking antagonists and personality and structure and chapter breaks but it's so intriguing and different and beautiful and gross and almost too smart and then maybe not smart at all and enthralling and annoying and I want to clutch it to my chest and throw it at the wall at the same time AHAGAHSGAHSDGASGASDGJASHDGASGH
December 6, 2018
How is this baffling, esoteric, paranormal weirdness also the most accurate depiction of higher education I've ever read?
November 19, 2018
Who in the world wrote this book's blurb, comparing "Vita Nostra" to, of all things, Katherine Arden’s "The Bear and the Nightingale"? I know they both are set in Russia, but what do they really have in common? Snow? Don't be fooled, and if you want to pick up "Vita Nostra" because you liked "The Bear and the Nightingale," just don't, ok? If you need another fix of Russian bear, fur hats and balalaikas nonsense, Leigh Bardugo can supply those. "Vita Nostra" was written by Russian authors, about post-Soviet Russia, and although this portrayal is not exceedingly complex, it is not a fetishized version of Russia, but a truer one, in all its vodka/undies-drying-on-a-heating-unit/retrograde-views-on-sex-and-relationships glory.
"Vita Nostra" is a completely different kind of beast, a mind trip, if you will. It's a book of ideas, rather than a plot- or character-driven narrative. In the beginning you think you are reading a story about a girl coerced into going to a magic school where nobody explains to her what she is studying and why. And then gradually you learn along with this girl and go through a metamorphosis of your own and yes, you understand that the annoying teachers that kept telling Sasha that one day she'd be ready to comprehend what the final goal of her education is, are correct.
Dyachenkos' novel reminded me more of Ted Chiang's work, whose strength is in ideas rather than character development. "Story of Your Lives" offers similar type of mind-expanding concept, IMO.
"Vita Nostra" is by no means a crowd pleaser, but I did enjoy this trip.
"Vita Nostra" is a completely different kind of beast, a mind trip, if you will. It's a book of ideas, rather than a plot- or character-driven narrative. In the beginning you think you are reading a story about a girl coerced into going to a magic school where nobody explains to her what she is studying and why. And then gradually you learn along with this girl and go through a metamorphosis of your own and yes, you understand that the annoying teachers that kept telling Sasha that one day she'd be ready to comprehend what the final goal of her education is, are correct.
Dyachenkos' novel reminded me more of Ted Chiang's work, whose strength is in ideas rather than character development. "Story of Your Lives" offers similar type of mind-expanding concept, IMO.
"Vita Nostra" is by no means a crowd pleaser, but I did enjoy this trip.
February 25, 2020
There are concepts that cannot be imagined but can be named. Having received a name, they change, they flow into a different entity, and cease to correspond to the name, and then they can be given another, different name, and this process— the spellbinding process of creation— is indefinite: this is the word that names it, and this is the word that signifies. A concept as an organism, and text as the universe.
I don't think there's a word in this entire universe that can be spoken, that can be said, that can be even thought of....to explain the feeling I had, reading this book. This was like a composing song, flitting to one musical note to the next— a percussion of colors and sound that was so encompassing and transcending. It was so, so fulfilling. I feel lived. I lived entire lives, traveled through different dimensions and cosmoses, and come out through myself, in and out again.
Transformation.
It doesn't really make any sense.
It doesn't have to make sense. It just does.
I don't even think I'll be able to explain what this book is even about. The Goodreads synopsis doesn't even come close to explaining anything what this book is about. As it should. I think it's something that should be experienced as you read. It could become clear. Or it could not.
It's only the February, the second fucking month of this year and I already have a new found favorite.
God bless.
"Luminous dust folds into a flat silver curve with two soft spiral arms."
Let the metamorphosis begin.
Vita Nostra.
Our Life.
Will never be the same.
5 STARS
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March 5, 2023
Vita Nostra changed the way I see the world. This book inspires obsession. My awareness of existence after reading it feels shifted, reframed somehow. I feel like I’ve stepped over the bounds of reality and entered some transcendental state. I can’t stop turning it over and over in my mind.
This novel is nearly impossible to encapsulate in a synopsis. It is about many things: words, time, delusion, transformation, debts, the power of fear. The disconnect between people who have changed in opposite ways. The unspoken rules that govern us. Seeing your own reflection in other people with whom you’ve left a piece of yourself. It gets more abstract as it goes along, in incredibly inventive ways that seem almost logical and matter-of-fact when you’re reading. It’s like dreaming, where everything makes sense in your sleep and sounds ludicrous when you’re trying to describe it to someone else.
Every time I picked up this book, just to briefly read a page or two, it became the only thing I wanted to do. I was totally riveted, fully immersed. Vita Nostra is many genres in one: suspense, fantasy, Gothic fiction, psychological terror. It has some of my favorite horror aspects: a suspicious school, along with its drama and intrigue and complex character relationships, and the discovery of deeper, sinister meaning in seemingly innocuous situations.
Sasha is a perfect main character for the story this book is telling. Her development is one of my favorite parts of the novel. Sasha at the end of the book is completely different in many ways than how she was at the beginning, but she’s still the character I had grown to respect and care about despite her increasing detachment, single-mindedness, and isolation from reality. She is resilient, determined, inquisitive, and strong-willed. The side characters also have surprising and realistic depth. They aren’t just there to create cheap conflict or to be killed off.
The writing isn’t the type where you can pick out specific, especially eloquent lines. Rather, every sentence works together, leading into the next, each idea illustrated deliberately. It’s satisfying, seamless, and spellbinding.
The way this is written makes everything feel constantly ominous, even when nothing outwardly disturbing or uneasy is happening. That’s another aspect that makes it stand out to me. A typical terror element is the inability to communicate with the outside world, but this book subverts it. Telephones are always accessible. But it’s not that Sasha can’t leave… she just starts to realize that she doesn’t want to. I have only felt this same feeling in a book once before: in Krabat and the Sorcerer's Mill by Otfried Preußler, which is another outstanding, transfixing masterpiece.
It’s difficult to escape the Harry Potter comparisons that always seem to appear in discussions of Vita Nostra. I have to disagree—I don’t think there are many similarities at all. Although they both have schools, the contents of these two books are totally different. I think it’s unfair to market this book as a darker Harry Potter when they are so contrasting in tone, atmosphere, and plot that Harry Potter never would have come to mind had I not read some comparisons online. However, there is one book that I can connect pretty convincingly to Vita Nostra: Babel by R.F. Kuang. I know R.F. Kuang has read Vita Nostra and likes it because she is quoted on the cover of the sequel. The way the two books are written and the discussions of language they contain stood out to me especially as similar elements. As someone who likes both novels, I thought it was interesting to note how one might have had a hand in inspiring the other.
Vita Nostra made me feel like I was spinning through a supercut of flashing images, everything moving silently in my head, feverish and unnerving. This book feels otherworldly in a mesmerizing way. It’s hard to grasp that actual people wrote it. I cannot recommend this highly enough. It took me to another world, then sent me back to my own, and everything feels different now.
5 stars
Translated by Julia Meitov Hersey
This novel is nearly impossible to encapsulate in a synopsis. It is about many things: words, time, delusion, transformation, debts, the power of fear. The disconnect between people who have changed in opposite ways. The unspoken rules that govern us. Seeing your own reflection in other people with whom you’ve left a piece of yourself. It gets more abstract as it goes along, in incredibly inventive ways that seem almost logical and matter-of-fact when you’re reading. It’s like dreaming, where everything makes sense in your sleep and sounds ludicrous when you’re trying to describe it to someone else.
Every time I picked up this book, just to briefly read a page or two, it became the only thing I wanted to do. I was totally riveted, fully immersed. Vita Nostra is many genres in one: suspense, fantasy, Gothic fiction, psychological terror. It has some of my favorite horror aspects: a suspicious school, along with its drama and intrigue and complex character relationships, and the discovery of deeper, sinister meaning in seemingly innocuous situations.
Sasha is a perfect main character for the story this book is telling. Her development is one of my favorite parts of the novel. Sasha at the end of the book is completely different in many ways than how she was at the beginning, but she’s still the character I had grown to respect and care about despite her increasing detachment, single-mindedness, and isolation from reality. She is resilient, determined, inquisitive, and strong-willed. The side characters also have surprising and realistic depth. They aren’t just there to create cheap conflict or to be killed off.
The writing isn’t the type where you can pick out specific, especially eloquent lines. Rather, every sentence works together, leading into the next, each idea illustrated deliberately. It’s satisfying, seamless, and spellbinding.
Sasha thought of life as a collection of identical days. To her, existence consisted of days, and each day seemed to run like a circular ribbon—or, better yet, a bike chain, moving evenly over the cogs. Click—another change of speed, days became a little different, but they still flowed, still repeated, and that very monotony concealed the meaning of life…
The way this is written makes everything feel constantly ominous, even when nothing outwardly disturbing or uneasy is happening. That’s another aspect that makes it stand out to me. A typical terror element is the inability to communicate with the outside world, but this book subverts it. Telephones are always accessible. But it’s not that Sasha can’t leave… she just starts to realize that she doesn’t want to. I have only felt this same feeling in a book once before: in Krabat and the Sorcerer's Mill by Otfried Preußler, which is another outstanding, transfixing masterpiece.
It’s difficult to escape the Harry Potter comparisons that always seem to appear in discussions of Vita Nostra. I have to disagree—I don’t think there are many similarities at all. Although they both have schools, the contents of these two books are totally different. I think it’s unfair to market this book as a darker Harry Potter when they are so contrasting in tone, atmosphere, and plot that Harry Potter never would have come to mind had I not read some comparisons online. However, there is one book that I can connect pretty convincingly to Vita Nostra: Babel by R.F. Kuang. I know R.F. Kuang has read Vita Nostra and likes it because she is quoted on the cover of the sequel. The way the two books are written and the discussions of language they contain stood out to me especially as similar elements. As someone who likes both novels, I thought it was interesting to note how one might have had a hand in inspiring the other.
Vita Nostra made me feel like I was spinning through a supercut of flashing images, everything moving silently in my head, feverish and unnerving. This book feels otherworldly in a mesmerizing way. It’s hard to grasp that actual people wrote it. I cannot recommend this highly enough. It took me to another world, then sent me back to my own, and everything feels different now.
5 stars
Translated by Julia Meitov Hersey
Read
March 9, 2022Good Lord, this book is incredible. It's about a teenage girl who goes to a school to learn magic, but you can stop right there because this is not YA, nor is it the usual story again. The induction is viciously cruel, though not as cruel as that of her classmates, the school is baffling and terrifying, the magic is near-incomprehensible (deliberately), its purpose unclear, its results not what you expect.
An extraordinary imaginative feat, beautifully translated, and incredibly compelling. I wolfed this long book in a day, reading it in every spare moment, then giving up and playing truant from work to keep reading. This will be one of my books of the year, no question. Baffled how I haven't come across it before.
An extraordinary imaginative feat, beautifully translated, and incredibly compelling. I wolfed this long book in a day, reading it in every spare moment, then giving up and playing truant from work to keep reading. This will be one of my books of the year, no question. Baffled how I haven't come across it before.
December 4, 2018
Sometimes a book is so custom-made for me that I am unsure whether I can reasonably recommend it to anyone or if the reading experience was incredible just because the book hit all my favourite things. This is one of those times. Combining some of my greatest loves in fiction: dark fantasy, inspired by Russian literature, set in the middle of nowhere with plenty of snow, combining boarding school tropes with unconventional storytelling, this book was everything to me.
This book follows Sasha, whose life is changed forever when she is approached by an otherworldly man who tells her she is stuck in a time-loop and the only way to change this is to get up at four in the morning (never missing a day) and nakedly swimming in the ocean. She does so every day, vomiting up weird gold coins afterwards. Returning home and to what she thinks will be normalcy, she is approached again, having to follow new sets of rules, always throwing up gold coins afterwards. She does not feel she has a choice when the man tells her she will be attending a rural university instead of the one she had planned for all her life.
This book is a wild ride, and for the vast majority of its duration it stays opaque and the reader is left in the dark just as much as Sasha is. I did not mind this one bit and I loved this introspective, weird book a whole lot. There is a menacing undercurrent here that is made even more spell-binding as we closely follow Sasha and her fears without ever really being in her head at all. I found the use of third-person narration worked really well here and made the book all that more compulsive for me.
While Sasha is definitely the heart of this book and I adored her prickliness and her focus and her love for her family, I have to admit my favourite characters were the two main teachers and her mentor, the latter one being so very fascinating and awful and just everything I wanted him to be.
I do want everybody to read this, for one thing because it is brilliant and one of the highlights of my reading but also for another, totally selfish reason, I want it to be successful enough that the second book gets translated as soon as possible. I want to spend more time in this world and with this characters and I have very many theories where this might go next.
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and HarperVoyager in exchange for an honest review.
You can find this review and other thoughts on books on my blog
This book follows Sasha, whose life is changed forever when she is approached by an otherworldly man who tells her she is stuck in a time-loop and the only way to change this is to get up at four in the morning (never missing a day) and nakedly swimming in the ocean. She does so every day, vomiting up weird gold coins afterwards. Returning home and to what she thinks will be normalcy, she is approached again, having to follow new sets of rules, always throwing up gold coins afterwards. She does not feel she has a choice when the man tells her she will be attending a rural university instead of the one she had planned for all her life.
This book is a wild ride, and for the vast majority of its duration it stays opaque and the reader is left in the dark just as much as Sasha is. I did not mind this one bit and I loved this introspective, weird book a whole lot. There is a menacing undercurrent here that is made even more spell-binding as we closely follow Sasha and her fears without ever really being in her head at all. I found the use of third-person narration worked really well here and made the book all that more compulsive for me.
While Sasha is definitely the heart of this book and I adored her prickliness and her focus and her love for her family, I have to admit my favourite characters were the two main teachers and her mentor, the latter one being so very fascinating and awful and just everything I wanted him to be.
I do want everybody to read this, for one thing because it is brilliant and one of the highlights of my reading but also for another, totally selfish reason, I want it to be successful enough that the second book gets translated as soon as possible. I want to spend more time in this world and with this characters and I have very many theories where this might go next.
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and HarperVoyager in exchange for an honest review.
You can find this review and other thoughts on books on my blog
July 28, 2013
This is a most unusual novel, especially for Western readers. It's strange and thoughtful and dark, full of psychological twists and turns, metaphysical tangents, and the desperately humorous shenanigans of young adults carrying on at a grim Russian boarding school that is turning them all into... what, they do not exactly know.
I described Marina and Sergey Dyachenko's novel The Scar as "swords & sorcery if written by Fyodor Dostoevsky." I don't think I'm stretching the Russian-lit analogy too much to call this book "Harry Potter if written by Leo Tolstoy."
I liked The Scar so much that I sought out other works by the Dyachenkos translated into English. Sadly, there are was only one: Vita Nostra, the first book in their "Metamorphosis cycle." And it's only available on Amazon as an ebook. According to the afterword, it was translated by a Russian-born fan living in the U.S., which explains why the translation didn't read with the same professional smoothness as the Tor-published The Scar.
The Scar, with its themes of morality and consequences, punishment and redemption, reminded me of Dostoevsky. Vita Nostra is an even darker story, with occasional flashes of humor surfacing in the dark waters of a story that seems to be dragging you along toward some unknown, unknowable fate, with characters who have few choices, who know they exist only to act out their predefined roles. They resist this predestination, even knowing that resistance is futile. This valiant effort to find hope in the face of crushing inevitability reminded me more of that grim old sourpuss Graf Tolstoy.
Alexandra "Sasha" Samokhina is a 17-year-old straight-A student, preparing to apply to university. She's been a good girl, a dutiful daughter to her single mother. Then one day a stranger appears while she and her mother are on vacation at the beach, and makes an unusual demand of her. He demands she swim naked out to a bouy every morning at exactly 4 a.m.
Following some instinct, Sasha complies... and each morning after her swim, she vomits up gold coins. She soon learns that the world is indeed fragile, and that refusing Farit Kozhennikov's demands has a heavy price.
Farit's unusual "tasks" continue when Sasha and her mother go home. Sasha finds herself alienated from her friends, and distanced from her mother, who does not understand what strange pressures her daughter is under. It only gets worse when Sasha informs her mother that instead of the university they both planned on, she has to attend the Institute of Special Technologies, a technical school no one has ever heard of in a small town that's practically off the map.
Aren't you tired of books being called "Harry Potter for adults"? But I'm sorry, it's such an easy comparison to make, and Vita Nostra may deserve that label, albeit it's set in an adult unworldly boarding school in a very Russian vein. Sasha has to ride a train to the middle of nowhere to arrive at Torpa, where the Institute of Special Technologies is located, but the Institute is no Hogwarts. The teachers are sometimes warm and friendly, sometimes cold and demanding, but they all force students to study things they don't even understand, pursuing a degree they can't comprehend, to do things after graduation that they can't even imagine.
The oppressive lack of information and the constant undercurrent of foreboding, the threat of sinister consequences for failure, makes the reader as frustrated as Sasha for much of the book. What is the Institute for Special Technologies? Are they teaching magic? Are students learning to alter the fabric of reality? Are they being transformed into something inhuman? It's not really explained at all until near the end, and even then it's very abstract and metaphysical. Sasha undergoes transformations, exhibits frightening powers, and moves from a frightened, confused First Year to a confused, increasingly alienated Third Year, one with a talent that exceeds that of all her classmates, though her own teachers won't even tell her what her talent is and why she's so special.
All of this takes place in a fictional Russian town with a heavy flavor of magical realism. There is a "Sacco and Vanzetti" Avenue. The townspeople seem to tolerate without really accepting or understanding the Institute's students. Sasha initially shares a dorm room with other students, and as she's struggling with her bizarre, incomprehensible subjects, she's engaged in petty roommate conflicts, college students getting illicitly drunk, and eventually relationship drama. The townspeople seem vaguely aware that Institute students are not "normal," but dismiss them as strange, not entirely welcome visitors to their town.
In a very real sense — more real than most so-called "Young Adult" novels — Vita Nostra is a novel for young adults. It's about becoming an adult, and discovering truly hard tasks where failure actually has consequences, and doing so amidst the swirling temptations of song, dance, parties, alcohol and sex. It's about the confusion of not knowing what you're going to be when you grow up, of seeing yourself as a free-willed individual with choices lying ahead of you and then discovering that you are at the mercy of forces you cannot control or negotiate with. It's about trying not to lose the parent-child bond even when you are forced to let go.
This is not a "traditional" fantasy novel. It defies Western genre labels. It's as much horror as fantasy, as much contemporary realism as it is magical realism. It's rather hard to describe and it was sometimes frustrating to read and there are depths that I sensed lurking beneath this translation that might be more evident to its Russian audience. If you like dark fantasy, I think you will like it. If you like Russian literature (and don't mind a fantastic element), you will definitely like it. But it's a very strange book, and it doesn't follow a standard Western fantasy arc. Things are described in vague, esoteric terms and the relevance and meaning is never always made clear to the reader, which forces you to swim in the same existential confusion afflicted upon the characters.
Please, folks, go buy this ebook. It's only $2.99. Yeah, I know, it's Amazon. Someone should tell them how to sell ebooks on other sites. But I want you to read it and I want more people to buy it because I want more of the Dyachenkos' work to be translated into English. You may not love this (my final rating is 4.5 stars for a somewhat raw translation and many moments of befuddlement) but if you want something different from the same-old, same-old fantasy novel, these are some authors who deserve a wider audience.
I described Marina and Sergey Dyachenko's novel The Scar as "swords & sorcery if written by Fyodor Dostoevsky." I don't think I'm stretching the Russian-lit analogy too much to call this book "Harry Potter if written by Leo Tolstoy."
I liked The Scar so much that I sought out other works by the Dyachenkos translated into English. Sadly, there are was only one: Vita Nostra, the first book in their "Metamorphosis cycle." And it's only available on Amazon as an ebook. According to the afterword, it was translated by a Russian-born fan living in the U.S., which explains why the translation didn't read with the same professional smoothness as the Tor-published The Scar.
The Scar, with its themes of morality and consequences, punishment and redemption, reminded me of Dostoevsky. Vita Nostra is an even darker story, with occasional flashes of humor surfacing in the dark waters of a story that seems to be dragging you along toward some unknown, unknowable fate, with characters who have few choices, who know they exist only to act out their predefined roles. They resist this predestination, even knowing that resistance is futile. This valiant effort to find hope in the face of crushing inevitability reminded me more of that grim old sourpuss Graf Tolstoy.
Alexandra "Sasha" Samokhina is a 17-year-old straight-A student, preparing to apply to university. She's been a good girl, a dutiful daughter to her single mother. Then one day a stranger appears while she and her mother are on vacation at the beach, and makes an unusual demand of her. He demands she swim naked out to a bouy every morning at exactly 4 a.m.
Following some instinct, Sasha complies... and each morning after her swim, she vomits up gold coins. She soon learns that the world is indeed fragile, and that refusing Farit Kozhennikov's demands has a heavy price.
Farit's unusual "tasks" continue when Sasha and her mother go home. Sasha finds herself alienated from her friends, and distanced from her mother, who does not understand what strange pressures her daughter is under. It only gets worse when Sasha informs her mother that instead of the university they both planned on, she has to attend the Institute of Special Technologies, a technical school no one has ever heard of in a small town that's practically off the map.
Aren't you tired of books being called "Harry Potter for adults"? But I'm sorry, it's such an easy comparison to make, and Vita Nostra may deserve that label, albeit it's set in an adult unworldly boarding school in a very Russian vein. Sasha has to ride a train to the middle of nowhere to arrive at Torpa, where the Institute of Special Technologies is located, but the Institute is no Hogwarts. The teachers are sometimes warm and friendly, sometimes cold and demanding, but they all force students to study things they don't even understand, pursuing a degree they can't comprehend, to do things after graduation that they can't even imagine.
The oppressive lack of information and the constant undercurrent of foreboding, the threat of sinister consequences for failure, makes the reader as frustrated as Sasha for much of the book. What is the Institute for Special Technologies? Are they teaching magic? Are students learning to alter the fabric of reality? Are they being transformed into something inhuman? It's not really explained at all until near the end, and even then it's very abstract and metaphysical. Sasha undergoes transformations, exhibits frightening powers, and moves from a frightened, confused First Year to a confused, increasingly alienated Third Year, one with a talent that exceeds that of all her classmates, though her own teachers won't even tell her what her talent is and why she's so special.
All of this takes place in a fictional Russian town with a heavy flavor of magical realism. There is a "Sacco and Vanzetti" Avenue. The townspeople seem to tolerate without really accepting or understanding the Institute's students. Sasha initially shares a dorm room with other students, and as she's struggling with her bizarre, incomprehensible subjects, she's engaged in petty roommate conflicts, college students getting illicitly drunk, and eventually relationship drama. The townspeople seem vaguely aware that Institute students are not "normal," but dismiss them as strange, not entirely welcome visitors to their town.
In a very real sense — more real than most so-called "Young Adult" novels — Vita Nostra is a novel for young adults. It's about becoming an adult, and discovering truly hard tasks where failure actually has consequences, and doing so amidst the swirling temptations of song, dance, parties, alcohol and sex. It's about the confusion of not knowing what you're going to be when you grow up, of seeing yourself as a free-willed individual with choices lying ahead of you and then discovering that you are at the mercy of forces you cannot control or negotiate with. It's about trying not to lose the parent-child bond even when you are forced to let go.
“You’ve just seen me?” Portnov sounded surprised. “You manifest entities, read highly complex informational structures, and you’ve only just seen me?”
Sasha managed a shallow nod, and then shut her eyes, trying to drive the tears back into her eyes.
“What’s the matter?” now Portnov sounded worried. “Sasha?”
“You are not human,” Sasha whispered.
“So? Neither are you.”
“But I had been human. I had been a child. I remember that. I remember being loved.”
“Does it matter to you?”
“I remember it.”
This is not a "traditional" fantasy novel. It defies Western genre labels. It's as much horror as fantasy, as much contemporary realism as it is magical realism. It's rather hard to describe and it was sometimes frustrating to read and there are depths that I sensed lurking beneath this translation that might be more evident to its Russian audience. If you like dark fantasy, I think you will like it. If you like Russian literature (and don't mind a fantastic element), you will definitely like it. But it's a very strange book, and it doesn't follow a standard Western fantasy arc. Things are described in vague, esoteric terms and the relevance and meaning is never always made clear to the reader, which forces you to swim in the same existential confusion afflicted upon the characters.
Please, folks, go buy this ebook. It's only $2.99. Yeah, I know, it's Amazon. Someone should tell them how to sell ebooks on other sites. But I want you to read it and I want more people to buy it because I want more of the Dyachenkos' work to be translated into English. You may not love this (my final rating is 4.5 stars for a somewhat raw translation and many moments of befuddlement) but if you want something different from the same-old, same-old fantasy novel, these are some authors who deserve a wider audience.
March 25, 2022
Gonna do shrooms and reread this
February 17, 2022
Complete nonsense. I pushed through to the end and highly regret the time I have wasted in my life reading this. And that is all I care to say about this book.
December 1, 2021
Did I read this book? Yes. Could I explain this book? No. Did I enjoy this book? Ehhhhh….
I honestly don’t quite know my feelings on this one. I started out enjoying it, and for the most part did like following Sasha’s progress through this university, especially in relation to other people and how relationships changed over this time.
But this book is unconventional in multiple ways.
The first being the magic system itself (if you would even call it magic? They certainly never did, but then again they never explained anything in simple terms). The somewhat magical education was convoluted on purpose, a meticulously confusing mesh of all areas of study that seem to take you beyond human experience. All descriptions are abstract, and instead of explaining how something works it often felt like the tutors would merely repeat “do you understand?” until one day our characters did. It definitely felt like a book you simply had to go along with and hope for the best.
Interestingly too, this book has no clear antagonist besides the convoluted education itself, and the struggle to understand this. Despite the school being ran by fear, no specific person was blamed for this, and it always remained difficult to pinpoint exactly who or what would control the darker aspects of the school.
Then we have the format too, the lack of chapters allowing no break from this intense deep dive into metaphysics and abstractions. In some ways I think this actually worked well with the story, providing a subtle nod to the inescapable feeling of the university and pushing the intensity felt by the characters onto the reader themselves. But it’s definitely not the sort of book to make things easy for its reader.
In terms of enjoyability, this ended up being pretty middle-of-the-road for me come the end. This to me feels like one I’d appreciate more upon analysis, and reread, rather than just as a leisurely pastime. With its strong points being the academic intensity and seemingly clever world building, it almost feels as though that same level of study needs to be applied to enjoy it fully.
I honestly don’t quite know my feelings on this one. I started out enjoying it, and for the most part did like following Sasha’s progress through this university, especially in relation to other people and how relationships changed over this time.
But this book is unconventional in multiple ways.
The first being the magic system itself (if you would even call it magic? They certainly never did, but then again they never explained anything in simple terms). The somewhat magical education was convoluted on purpose, a meticulously confusing mesh of all areas of study that seem to take you beyond human experience. All descriptions are abstract, and instead of explaining how something works it often felt like the tutors would merely repeat “do you understand?” until one day our characters did. It definitely felt like a book you simply had to go along with and hope for the best.
Interestingly too, this book has no clear antagonist besides the convoluted education itself, and the struggle to understand this. Despite the school being ran by fear, no specific person was blamed for this, and it always remained difficult to pinpoint exactly who or what would control the darker aspects of the school.
Then we have the format too, the lack of chapters allowing no break from this intense deep dive into metaphysics and abstractions. In some ways I think this actually worked well with the story, providing a subtle nod to the inescapable feeling of the university and pushing the intensity felt by the characters onto the reader themselves. But it’s definitely not the sort of book to make things easy for its reader.
In terms of enjoyability, this ended up being pretty middle-of-the-road for me come the end. This to me feels like one I’d appreciate more upon analysis, and reread, rather than just as a leisurely pastime. With its strong points being the academic intensity and seemingly clever world building, it almost feels as though that same level of study needs to be applied to enjoy it fully.
December 15, 2019
Weird in the best of ways, a bit scary, and bizarrely magical, this book somehow captures the experience of what happens to you in college better than anything else I know.
It's cliche to say that fantasy can deal with big issues better than standard fiction, but this one really gets at the experience of your world getting shifted around by education. And then it adds some big weird things on top that somehow enhance the message. I haven't read anything quite like it since Lev Grossman's Magicians series (which is one of my favorites).
I actually wish the Ukrainian elements were played up? Like this definitely takes place in Ukraine but it feels more generalizable. That's both good and bad.
It took me a while to get into going, but by the midpoint I was hooked. I hope we get translated sequels!
It's cliche to say that fantasy can deal with big issues better than standard fiction, but this one really gets at the experience of your world getting shifted around by education. And then it adds some big weird things on top that somehow enhance the message. I haven't read anything quite like it since Lev Grossman's Magicians series (which is one of my favorites).
I actually wish the Ukrainian elements were played up? Like this definitely takes place in Ukraine but it feels more generalizable. That's both good and bad.
It took me a while to get into going, but by the midpoint I was hooked. I hope we get translated sequels!
March 25, 2019
I absolutely loved this book. Another reviewer described it as "like Harry Potter, but if it was written by Kafka" and I couldn't agree more, in the best way. Dark, clever, and with a wonderfully creative and original magic system that I wish I'd thought of first. It resonates so deeply as some kind of theological truth about creation that feels both specific and universal and I'm into it. The pacing is solid (hard to put down), the mystery at the heart of the book is revealed slowly but once I understood it, I was 100% in. The characters feel real and honest and the worldbuilding and setting are effortless and ring culturally true. I have heard some talk about things lost in translation (one of the authors says as much in the acknowledgments) and it makes me wish I read Russian, but, alas. It's still one hell of a book.
December 31, 2022
I don't know how to write a review right now. When a book truly speaks to me, when I find myself so fully absorbed and affected by the powerful world that mere words can create (oh, I didn't mean the allusion here, for those of you who have already read this book), I simply can't calm my thoughts and turn them into coherent sentences.
Please don't be misled by that blurb. Vita Nostra is nothing like The Bear and the Nightingale, and it's definitely not a coming-of-age fantasy where a dark academy serves only as a hook or background prop. In fact, I'd hesitate to even call it fantasy at all. The speculative elements are equal parts fantasy and sci-fi: the "magic system", methodically studied at the university and meticulously explained to us readers, is reminiscent of higher-dimensional science, and many aspects of its application echo The Matrix and Westworld. But there is much more than that. The processes which the students go through to learn this system--focusing not on the physical challenges and dangers but rather on paradigm shifts, existential dilemmas, struggles of isolation and inclusion, etc.--are examined so closely that they essentially take the central stage of the story. And that is what makes Vita Nostra such a unique, philosophical work of art.
It is difficult to go into too much detail on the ideology side of the book without spoilers, so I'll have to settle for saying that one of the authors used to be a psychiatrist, and it shows. The journey of our main character Sasha is a transcendental one, but at the same time, it is portrayed so realistically that I found myself resonating deeply with it. In a strange way, I could relate so well to the thrill of penetrating an invisible wall that limits one's perspective, the bizarre and detached peace of looking at the world from the outside, and at times I envy Sasha for being able to live and breathe that kind of experience.
Speaking of envy, most readers would probably disagree with me on that. Most other reviews will tell you that this book is dark and unsettling, and it'd be an utter nightmare to live in that world. While I can't say those opinions are wrong, I do think that everyone's take on "dark" will depend on their personal background. For me, Vita Nostra isn't precisely dark, but rather hauntingly realistic. The academy is a blown-up version of a communist military-style education system. The conflicts between the students and teachers mirror real-life questions that I don't think we can confidently answer: do our actions have consequences? Do we truly have full agency over our choices, or are we being pushed along in one way or another? Do we really understand our role in the universe, and do we need to take responsibility for it? Even the more sensitive topics touched upon, such as , are all within our daily reach as well. So I'd say this book is only "dark" in the sense that it challenges you to inspect those less pleasant things in life under a big magnifying glass, and makes you ponder. Which is why I loved it.
By all means, it is not perfect. I'll be the first to admit that the story might not have captured me initially if not for all the glorious reviews from friends I trust. The beginning was very slow and things didn't quite pick up until Part Two (167 pages in), though once they did, I couldn't put the book down. There were also many places where the plot and characters could've been better developed.
But let's be fair: for a book this cerebral, it's probably not feasible to wrap up all the loose threads with a satisfying conclusion. And at the end of the day, Vita Nostra is not about the plot or the characters as much as it is about an idea, an experience. So I can look past all these imperfections and still call it the best book I've read this year.
Please don't be misled by that blurb. Vita Nostra is nothing like The Bear and the Nightingale, and it's definitely not a coming-of-age fantasy where a dark academy serves only as a hook or background prop. In fact, I'd hesitate to even call it fantasy at all. The speculative elements are equal parts fantasy and sci-fi: the "magic system", methodically studied at the university and meticulously explained to us readers, is reminiscent of higher-dimensional science, and many aspects of its application echo The Matrix and Westworld. But there is much more than that. The processes which the students go through to learn this system--focusing not on the physical challenges and dangers but rather on paradigm shifts, existential dilemmas, struggles of isolation and inclusion, etc.--are examined so closely that they essentially take the central stage of the story. And that is what makes Vita Nostra such a unique, philosophical work of art.
It is difficult to go into too much detail on the ideology side of the book without spoilers, so I'll have to settle for saying that one of the authors used to be a psychiatrist, and it shows. The journey of our main character Sasha is a transcendental one, but at the same time, it is portrayed so realistically that I found myself resonating deeply with it. In a strange way, I could relate so well to the thrill of penetrating an invisible wall that limits one's perspective, the bizarre and detached peace of looking at the world from the outside, and at times I envy Sasha for being able to live and breathe that kind of experience.
Speaking of envy, most readers would probably disagree with me on that. Most other reviews will tell you that this book is dark and unsettling, and it'd be an utter nightmare to live in that world. While I can't say those opinions are wrong, I do think that everyone's take on "dark" will depend on their personal background. For me, Vita Nostra isn't precisely dark, but rather hauntingly realistic. The academy is a blown-up version of a communist military-style education system. The conflicts between the students and teachers mirror real-life questions that I don't think we can confidently answer: do our actions have consequences? Do we truly have full agency over our choices, or are we being pushed along in one way or another? Do we really understand our role in the universe, and do we need to take responsibility for it? Even the more sensitive topics touched upon, such as , are all within our daily reach as well. So I'd say this book is only "dark" in the sense that it challenges you to inspect those less pleasant things in life under a big magnifying glass, and makes you ponder. Which is why I loved it.
By all means, it is not perfect. I'll be the first to admit that the story might not have captured me initially if not for all the glorious reviews from friends I trust. The beginning was very slow and things didn't quite pick up until Part Two (167 pages in), though once they did, I couldn't put the book down. There were also many places where the plot and characters could've been better developed.
But let's be fair: for a book this cerebral, it's probably not feasible to wrap up all the loose threads with a satisfying conclusion. And at the end of the day, Vita Nostra is not about the plot or the characters as much as it is about an idea, an experience. So I can look past all these imperfections and still call it the best book I've read this year.
October 25, 2019
“Anything that is truly valuable is beyond material substance if you think about it.”
Among the people who write fantasy novels, there is a clear over-representation of the English-speakers. However, there are many talented writers of other nationalities; the Dyachenko duet, winners of numerous literary awards, is one of them. I think the Dyachenkos are at the moment a strong contender to dethrone the Andrews in my personal “married couples writing” hierarchy.
Alexandra Samokhina, an average teenager, spends holidays with her mother at a seaside resort. This is the last high-school summer for her and the approaching year will be crucial as it will determine which university she will be admitted to. One day, a mysterious man subjects her to a series of strange tests designed to develop Sasha’s discipline and strong will. Sasha fulfils them almost perfectly, and this “almost” has serious and unpleasant consequences. To her astonishment, the girl is admitted to a non-listed Institute of Special Technologies in a provincial town of Torpa.
Vita Nostra is a perfect example why you should never trust the cover blurbs. Whereas the description on the back suggests that you will read a Harry Potter style novel, this is very far removed from the actual content of the book. Yes, there is a “magic school” inaccessible to the average person; learning to fly, predicting the future, telekinesis: all these elements appear in the tale, but in a completely different form you’d expect them to! Indeed, “magic” itself is not what is commonly understood by this term, but denotes a way of perceiving the reality, and transforming it according to rules that are not clearly defined and, what is repeated frequently throughout the pages, extremely difficult to explain. What further distinguishes Vita Nostra from Ms Rowling’s cycle is that, while education at Hogwarts remains my unfulfilled dream, an admission to the Institute of Special Technologies in Torpa would score quite high on my personal list of nightmares (not only because of my inherent laziness and reluctance to do absurd things whose purpose is obscure).
“Everyone in the world has a chance of encountering someone whom he himself spoke out loud.”
Is this a fantasy book? Perhaps yes (because: it’s magic, stupid!). Nonetheless, the action takes place in our world (Crimea?), somewhere in the 1990s and the strange, little-known university in Torpa is so unlikely that the book can also be considered science fiction. The cover description suggests a cheerful story for teens with an occasional thrill of horror to boost the mysterious climate. What you should expect, is rather a constant shiver of anxiety interspersed with cheerful flashes from the lives of ordinary students (although the school itself is far from ordinary). Normal, almost banal life is combined with constant insecurity, fear, and lack of understanding rooted in an incomprehensible educational process. A heavy blanket of dark atmosphere, mystery, anxiety, and danger permeate the whole book. What are they learning? To what ends? What do physics, personality breakdown, and sprats in tomato sauce have to do with this?
The novel presents a unique, sensational idea, a combination of metaphysical vision and purely humanist tribute to the powers of the human mind. It combines metaphysics with the everyday student life. The authors should definitely be praised for holding their cards close to their chests for so long. The modest dosage of information about what students of the Institute of Special Technologies in Torpa really learn means that each subsequent morsel related to this causes a faster heartbeat. The Dyachenko wrote a tale of change, both mental and physical; complicated, sometimes sudden and uncontrolled, frightening, but also fascinating. Metamorphosis is necessary to reach one’s destiny, yet the shape of this destiny remains clouded. The motivation for continuous development is fear, the only emotion that is strong enough to prompt the human being into action. The rich psychological portrait of the heroine makes us feel all these transformations on a very personal level.
The deceptively simplistic albeit captivating writing style beautifully marries the personal banalities with the philosophical intricacies. And if you decide to go for Vita Nostra, be warned that while it is an amazing, it is not an easy book as it contains depths and reflections touching upon many philosophical issues. And the intellectual development of the main plot is truly fascinating moving the novel, in the ending sequence, far beyond fantasy, onto the mystical realm.
Vita Nostra is a novel that makes the return to the gray reality all the more difficult. Earnestly recommend to all who want to read something fresh and placed East of the West but West of the more popular Far East tropes.
Among the people who write fantasy novels, there is a clear over-representation of the English-speakers. However, there are many talented writers of other nationalities; the Dyachenko duet, winners of numerous literary awards, is one of them. I think the Dyachenkos are at the moment a strong contender to dethrone the Andrews in my personal “married couples writing” hierarchy.
Alexandra Samokhina, an average teenager, spends holidays with her mother at a seaside resort. This is the last high-school summer for her and the approaching year will be crucial as it will determine which university she will be admitted to. One day, a mysterious man subjects her to a series of strange tests designed to develop Sasha’s discipline and strong will. Sasha fulfils them almost perfectly, and this “almost” has serious and unpleasant consequences. To her astonishment, the girl is admitted to a non-listed Institute of Special Technologies in a provincial town of Torpa.
Vita Nostra is a perfect example why you should never trust the cover blurbs. Whereas the description on the back suggests that you will read a Harry Potter style novel, this is very far removed from the actual content of the book. Yes, there is a “magic school” inaccessible to the average person; learning to fly, predicting the future, telekinesis: all these elements appear in the tale, but in a completely different form you’d expect them to! Indeed, “magic” itself is not what is commonly understood by this term, but denotes a way of perceiving the reality, and transforming it according to rules that are not clearly defined and, what is repeated frequently throughout the pages, extremely difficult to explain. What further distinguishes Vita Nostra from Ms Rowling’s cycle is that, while education at Hogwarts remains my unfulfilled dream, an admission to the Institute of Special Technologies in Torpa would score quite high on my personal list of nightmares (not only because of my inherent laziness and reluctance to do absurd things whose purpose is obscure).
“Everyone in the world has a chance of encountering someone whom he himself spoke out loud.”
Is this a fantasy book? Perhaps yes (because: it’s magic, stupid!). Nonetheless, the action takes place in our world (Crimea?), somewhere in the 1990s and the strange, little-known university in Torpa is so unlikely that the book can also be considered science fiction. The cover description suggests a cheerful story for teens with an occasional thrill of horror to boost the mysterious climate. What you should expect, is rather a constant shiver of anxiety interspersed with cheerful flashes from the lives of ordinary students (although the school itself is far from ordinary). Normal, almost banal life is combined with constant insecurity, fear, and lack of understanding rooted in an incomprehensible educational process. A heavy blanket of dark atmosphere, mystery, anxiety, and danger permeate the whole book. What are they learning? To what ends? What do physics, personality breakdown, and sprats in tomato sauce have to do with this?
The novel presents a unique, sensational idea, a combination of metaphysical vision and purely humanist tribute to the powers of the human mind. It combines metaphysics with the everyday student life. The authors should definitely be praised for holding their cards close to their chests for so long. The modest dosage of information about what students of the Institute of Special Technologies in Torpa really learn means that each subsequent morsel related to this causes a faster heartbeat. The Dyachenko wrote a tale of change, both mental and physical; complicated, sometimes sudden and uncontrolled, frightening, but also fascinating. Metamorphosis is necessary to reach one’s destiny, yet the shape of this destiny remains clouded. The motivation for continuous development is fear, the only emotion that is strong enough to prompt the human being into action. The rich psychological portrait of the heroine makes us feel all these transformations on a very personal level.
The deceptively simplistic albeit captivating writing style beautifully marries the personal banalities with the philosophical intricacies. And if you decide to go for Vita Nostra, be warned that while it is an amazing, it is not an easy book as it contains depths and reflections touching upon many philosophical issues. And the intellectual development of the main plot is truly fascinating moving the novel, in the ending sequence, far beyond fantasy, onto the mystical realm.
Vita Nostra is a novel that makes the return to the gray reality all the more difficult. Earnestly recommend to all who want to read something fresh and placed East of the West but West of the more popular Far East tropes.
January 21, 2020
GR friends have pointed out they can tell whether I am enjoying a book by how long it takes me to read it - so the fact it took me 8 days to complete 400 pages should tell you something (in comparison, I read the 500 pages of the far superior The Book of Strange New Things in less than 2 days). I'm not sure what even drew me to this book in the first place, since I don't read much fantasy (although this barely qualifies), so it must have been the Russian aspect ... or the VERY cool cover. I WASN'T expecting Dostoevsky, but maybe something more al0ng the lines of Sergei Lukyanenko's intriguing 'Watch' books, which I really liked. [Fun fact: Timur Bekmambetov, who directed fabulous films of the first two Watch books is also set to adapt this mess - good luck to him!)
This landed squarely in the wheelhouse of things that drive me crazy in a book - tedious descriptions of things that ultimately have no meaning; repetitious episodes (cf., 'Reservoir 13' and 'Milkman'); pseudo-profundity that doesn't really denote ANYTHING, or bear close scrutiny; schmaltzy ending.
This is basically one trope repeated ad nauseum: protagonist Sasha is assigned a bizarre and ridiculous task to complete (i.e., swimming naked to a buoy and back at 4 AM; listening to silent CDs for hours on end; jogging around a park for an hour and then peeing in the bushes - no, I am NOT making that up - that IS the level of this horror-show!) ... she initially has trouble complying, and then - voila - is able to do the task ... rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
The writing itself is flat (perhaps due to an inferior translation?), and the subsidiary characters all tend to blur together. Episodes that would seem to have some importance are tossed off so offhandedly (e.g., the attack at the ending of part one), that when they are brought up 150 pages later I couldn't even recall them and had to backtrack... and then they lead nowhere anyway.
Anyway, by the time I figured out this wasn't going anywhere interesting, I had already gotten to the 1/3 way mark and valiantly trudged on, but wish I had trusted my instinct to DNF it... What a lousy start to 2019! :-(
This landed squarely in the wheelhouse of things that drive me crazy in a book - tedious descriptions of things that ultimately have no meaning; repetitious episodes (cf., 'Reservoir 13' and 'Milkman'); pseudo-profundity that doesn't really denote ANYTHING, or bear close scrutiny; schmaltzy ending.
This is basically one trope repeated ad nauseum: protagonist Sasha is assigned a bizarre and ridiculous task to complete (i.e., swimming naked to a buoy and back at 4 AM; listening to silent CDs for hours on end; jogging around a park for an hour and then peeing in the bushes - no, I am NOT making that up - that IS the level of this horror-show!) ... she initially has trouble complying, and then - voila - is able to do the task ... rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
The writing itself is flat (perhaps due to an inferior translation?), and the subsidiary characters all tend to blur together. Episodes that would seem to have some importance are tossed off so offhandedly (e.g., the attack at the ending of part one), that when they are brought up 150 pages later I couldn't even recall them and had to backtrack... and then they lead nowhere anyway.
Anyway, by the time I figured out this wasn't going anywhere interesting, I had already gotten to the 1/3 way mark and valiantly trudged on, but wish I had trusted my instinct to DNF it... What a lousy start to 2019! :-(
January 20, 2021
Im not totally sure what I just read. But I liked it.
October 9, 2020
Like The Magicians and A Deadly Education, which had similar tropes and themes...I wasn't too keen on this either.
When I was reading it, I was flying through it, but the minute I set it down, I had no interest in picking it back up again. It was just so WEIRD. I wanted to like it more than I did, but I can't even put into words why I didn't like it. The students were forced to attend against their will and practically psychologically tortured throughout this book, which makes it even worse than A Deadly Education and The Magicians because it takes everything to an extreme degree.
This wasn't a very enjoyable reading experience for me and I'm hesitant to recommend it to others. I guess if you truly love dark academia with a touch of fantasy elements, you might enjoy it? Even if the rest of the series is translated from Russian to English in the future, I doubt that I'll be continuing on with this series.
When I was reading it, I was flying through it, but the minute I set it down, I had no interest in picking it back up again. It was just so WEIRD. I wanted to like it more than I did, but I can't even put into words why I didn't like it. The students were forced to attend against their will and practically psychologically tortured throughout this book, which makes it even worse than A Deadly Education and The Magicians because it takes everything to an extreme degree.
This wasn't a very enjoyable reading experience for me and I'm hesitant to recommend it to others. I guess if you truly love dark academia with a touch of fantasy elements, you might enjoy it? Even if the rest of the series is translated from Russian to English in the future, I doubt that I'll be continuing on with this series.
April 3, 2023
Damn. Mind blown. What a book!
For the first half, I felt a little indifferent to the story. I wasn't taken away by the writing style; I wasn't really sure where it was going and how much I cared about our main character or the narrative. But then the second half came along, and holy shit, this book is wild. I didn't fully understand it all, but boy, did I love it!
This book is mind-bending and mind-expanding, unlike anything I've read before. Fascinating and confounding and frustrating, fast-paced and heart-pounding. Intriguing and terrifying. Vita Nostra is a new favourite, though it's definitely one I will have to reread a few times to dive deeper and fully understand.
I highly recommend this book to lovers of dark academia, WeirdLit, and sci-fi.
"There are concepts that cannot be imagined but can be named. Having received a name, they change, flow into a different entity, and cease to correspond to the name, and then they can be given another, different name, and this process—the spellbinding process of creation—is infinite: this is the word that names it, and this is the word that signifies. A concept as an organism, and text as the universe.”
Watch my video review here: https://youtu.be/IYrtk_IXx7Q
Trigger/Content Warnings: vomit, use of ableist language, abuse, sexual assault, blackmail/coercion, violence, blood, death
You can find me on...
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You can join our book club over on Patreon...
PBB Book Club
For the first half, I felt a little indifferent to the story. I wasn't taken away by the writing style; I wasn't really sure where it was going and how much I cared about our main character or the narrative. But then the second half came along, and holy shit, this book is wild. I didn't fully understand it all, but boy, did I love it!
This book is mind-bending and mind-expanding, unlike anything I've read before. Fascinating and confounding and frustrating, fast-paced and heart-pounding. Intriguing and terrifying. Vita Nostra is a new favourite, though it's definitely one I will have to reread a few times to dive deeper and fully understand.
I highly recommend this book to lovers of dark academia, WeirdLit, and sci-fi.
"There are concepts that cannot be imagined but can be named. Having received a name, they change, flow into a different entity, and cease to correspond to the name, and then they can be given another, different name, and this process—the spellbinding process of creation—is infinite: this is the word that names it, and this is the word that signifies. A concept as an organism, and text as the universe.”
Watch my video review here: https://youtu.be/IYrtk_IXx7Q
Trigger/Content Warnings: vomit, use of ableist language, abuse, sexual assault, blackmail/coercion, violence, blood, death
You can find me on...
Youtube | Instagram | TikTok
You can join our book club over on Patreon...
PBB Book Club
February 13, 2019
Vita Nostra is a dark and deeply provocative novel about psychological and metaphysical transformation that defies explanation even after you get to the end.
It is so compelling to read, with endlessly twisting turns that loop back as often as they split off or move forward. I wouldn't necessarily be able to explain it all to someone, but I'm confident it will keep my internal dialogue going for a long time.
It is so compelling to read, with endlessly twisting turns that loop back as often as they split off or move forward. I wouldn't necessarily be able to explain it all to someone, but I'm confident it will keep my internal dialogue going for a long time.
March 29, 2020
*** 4.75 ***
"... “There are words that are simply trash, refuse, they turn into nothing immediately after they are spoken. Others throw shadows, hideous and pathetic, and sometimes gorgeous and powerful, capable of saving a dying soul. But only a few of these words become human beings and pronounce other words. And everyone in the world has a chance of encountering someone whom he himself spoke out loud . . .”...
I don't think I can give the right explanation, and it is weird that the word "Explanation" is needed here, but it is, for this very interesting and unique book. While I was reading the first half of the book, the only other book I could compare it in my more recent reading history, was The Magicians series, but much better written and much more thought out. Then about the 60% mark things become bigger, become more...!!! It is not a book of things that happen, but a compilation of the emotional and mental experiences of a person with unlimited potential, going through and destroying the barriers in themselves on the way to reaching that potential... It is about the experience of self discovery and our relation to the world around us. It is about breaking oneself down to their basic components and rebuilding themselves according to their will and imagination. It is big, larger than life, reaching for omnipotence...!!!! And it is experienced through the nerve endings and sensory input and output of a teenage woman who, as most of us would, wants to retain the idea of who and what she is, but is driven by her insatiable hunger for knowledge and the rewards and losses that come with that...
"... “There are concepts that cannot be imagined but can be named. Having received a name, they change, flow into a different entity, and cease to correspond to the name, and then they can be given another, different name, and this process—the spellbinding process of creation—is infinite: this is the word that names it, and this is the word that signifies. A concept as an organism, and text as the universe.”
― Marina Dyachenko, Vita Nostra...
Ultimately, this book is art, and just as art, it attempts to show us, in more tangible way, what life really is, what all humans must go through if they are to be More! To not be satisfied with little effort and a pittance of results, but to strive for More, and the harder you go at it, the harder it gets, but the rewards are immeasurable and so very worth it! The end result of who you are depends on what you put in it. And the work is never truly done. You are always in construction, you can always become more... So, stop blaming your childhood, your parents, society, school, all those things that are uncomfortable and try to keep you in check... Yes, they are limiting, but within their limits you can still find ways, without endangering anyone else, to reach for your potential. You just have to try harder, in order to become the words, which create the World!
"... “The world, as you see it, is not real. And the way you imagine it—it does not even come close. Certain things seem obvious to you, but they simply do not exist.”
“And you, do you not exist?” Sasha couldn’t help herself. “Are you not real?”
Portnov removed the scarf from her face. Under his gaze, she blinked confusedly.
“I exist,” he said seriously. “But I am not at all what you think.”
― Marina Dyachenko, Vita Nostra ...
This is a book I would recommend to all, but I do realize that is one of those which you either love, hate, or they leave you ambivalent and confused... There isn't much action, the way it slowly develops step by step in front of you. It is deliberate and many who look for it to entertain you, would be disappointed. The authors want you to look for the meaning and find the entertainment in it by yourself. It builds and it builds and it builds, and the ending will be up to you to discover. It needs patience and an open mind. If you feel that it is something you want to tackle, then you really should!!!
"... “This institution of higher education had no such concept as mercy.”..."
Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you always fond what you need in the pages of a good Book!!!!
"... “There are words that are simply trash, refuse, they turn into nothing immediately after they are spoken. Others throw shadows, hideous and pathetic, and sometimes gorgeous and powerful, capable of saving a dying soul. But only a few of these words become human beings and pronounce other words. And everyone in the world has a chance of encountering someone whom he himself spoke out loud . . .”...
I don't think I can give the right explanation, and it is weird that the word "Explanation" is needed here, but it is, for this very interesting and unique book. While I was reading the first half of the book, the only other book I could compare it in my more recent reading history, was The Magicians series, but much better written and much more thought out. Then about the 60% mark things become bigger, become more...!!! It is not a book of things that happen, but a compilation of the emotional and mental experiences of a person with unlimited potential, going through and destroying the barriers in themselves on the way to reaching that potential... It is about the experience of self discovery and our relation to the world around us. It is about breaking oneself down to their basic components and rebuilding themselves according to their will and imagination. It is big, larger than life, reaching for omnipotence...!!!! And it is experienced through the nerve endings and sensory input and output of a teenage woman who, as most of us would, wants to retain the idea of who and what she is, but is driven by her insatiable hunger for knowledge and the rewards and losses that come with that...
"... “There are concepts that cannot be imagined but can be named. Having received a name, they change, flow into a different entity, and cease to correspond to the name, and then they can be given another, different name, and this process—the spellbinding process of creation—is infinite: this is the word that names it, and this is the word that signifies. A concept as an organism, and text as the universe.”
― Marina Dyachenko, Vita Nostra...
Ultimately, this book is art, and just as art, it attempts to show us, in more tangible way, what life really is, what all humans must go through if they are to be More! To not be satisfied with little effort and a pittance of results, but to strive for More, and the harder you go at it, the harder it gets, but the rewards are immeasurable and so very worth it! The end result of who you are depends on what you put in it. And the work is never truly done. You are always in construction, you can always become more... So, stop blaming your childhood, your parents, society, school, all those things that are uncomfortable and try to keep you in check... Yes, they are limiting, but within their limits you can still find ways, without endangering anyone else, to reach for your potential. You just have to try harder, in order to become the words, which create the World!
"... “The world, as you see it, is not real. And the way you imagine it—it does not even come close. Certain things seem obvious to you, but they simply do not exist.”
“And you, do you not exist?” Sasha couldn’t help herself. “Are you not real?”
Portnov removed the scarf from her face. Under his gaze, she blinked confusedly.
“I exist,” he said seriously. “But I am not at all what you think.”
― Marina Dyachenko, Vita Nostra ...
This is a book I would recommend to all, but I do realize that is one of those which you either love, hate, or they leave you ambivalent and confused... There isn't much action, the way it slowly develops step by step in front of you. It is deliberate and many who look for it to entertain you, would be disappointed. The authors want you to look for the meaning and find the entertainment in it by yourself. It builds and it builds and it builds, and the ending will be up to you to discover. It needs patience and an open mind. If you feel that it is something you want to tackle, then you really should!!!
"... “This institution of higher education had no such concept as mercy.”..."
Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you always fond what you need in the pages of a good Book!!!!
December 9, 2022
Vita Nostra captivated me. I had to hide it at the back of my sock drawer to keep from reading it straight through the workday. It is bursting with ideas—about the relationship between love and fear, about what motivates people to act or not act, about the structures of institutions, about violence and sex. It is a sort of twisted bildungsroman, very dark but suitably cozy for a December evening. A book more concerned with meaning than story, which at times feels more like a series of extended metaphors than a fantasy novel. It infected my life and made me want to study and to dream.
Read
October 21, 2020You ever read a book and think to yourself, “My brain is too fucking small to understand any of this.” That was me for the last 1/3 of this book.
TW: Use of the R & g*ps* slur, fatphobia
TW: Use of the R & g*ps* slur, fatphobia
July 2, 2019
My opinion - great book, while I'm sure it's not for everyone.
My feelings - this was like a crush. There are not so many books I was feeling like I lived in. This one was like that. I even had dreams about it at night. In such cases it's really hard to express what you think about it, because you mostly feel it. So just some general thoughts after finishing it - I've seen many great reviews here on GR, so I'll allow myself to lazy around just sharing my musings about it. Veeery light spoilers ahead (I actually think it's impossible to spoil this book).
Sasha, the girl from the blurb, gets compared a lot to Harry Potter, because she went to a magical school. But that's probably it, if we have to compare them. Where Harry had a cozy room in magical dorm with faithful friends and many adventures - Sasha had a not so cozy post-soviet dorm (imagine something among these lines "In Soviet Russia you didn't live in dorm, the dorm lived in you!"), her friends were lost and confused in the process of education as much as she was and they weren't that much helpful, to be honest, as I see it, although of course there was a certain desperate clinging to each other in the face of their mutual Unknown.
Harry was an orphan and he could safely idealize his dead parents, while Sasha had her mother, but their relationship was more complicated. Sasha was older than Harry and she was mostly living inside her head, while Harry was more of a sociable kid. So Sasha was becoming an adult too fast in much less comfortable world. Her childhood was sacrificed to gain something she hardly could imagine.
At the same time they're both the Chosen Ones, each in his/her own way. They're both special and they get a lot of pressure because of that. But it's so different for them.
It's not an action packed book, if you think about adventures, magical duels, quests for artifacts etc etc. But it is there and it is happening mostly in four walls of Sasha's room or some classroom, not on the arenas, in the woods or magical kingdoms. All the duels are happening in her head. And she's dueling with herself. Mostly...
This was a weird, weird book, as someone here said, but weird in a good way and it was creepy sometimes and it was hard to put down. It left some of my questions unanswered, but I think it's better this way. I'm not completely satisfied with the ending but at the same time I feel it was perfect. I don't know what to say more. I'm a bit sad it's over.
My feelings - this was like a crush. There are not so many books I was feeling like I lived in. This one was like that. I even had dreams about it at night. In such cases it's really hard to express what you think about it, because you mostly feel it. So just some general thoughts after finishing it - I've seen many great reviews here on GR, so I'll allow myself to lazy around just sharing my musings about it. Veeery light spoilers ahead (I actually think it's impossible to spoil this book).
Sasha, the girl from the blurb, gets compared a lot to Harry Potter, because she went to a magical school. But that's probably it, if we have to compare them. Where Harry had a cozy room in magical dorm with faithful friends and many adventures - Sasha had a not so cozy post-soviet dorm (imagine something among these lines "In Soviet Russia you didn't live in dorm, the dorm lived in you!"), her friends were lost and confused in the process of education as much as she was and they weren't that much helpful, to be honest, as I see it, although of course there was a certain desperate clinging to each other in the face of their mutual Unknown.
Harry was an orphan and he could safely idealize his dead parents, while Sasha had her mother, but their relationship was more complicated. Sasha was older than Harry and she was mostly living inside her head, while Harry was more of a sociable kid. So Sasha was becoming an adult too fast in much less comfortable world. Her childhood was sacrificed to gain something she hardly could imagine.
At the same time they're both the Chosen Ones, each in his/her own way. They're both special and they get a lot of pressure because of that. But it's so different for them.
It's not an action packed book, if you think about adventures, magical duels, quests for artifacts etc etc. But it is there and it is happening mostly in four walls of Sasha's room or some classroom, not on the arenas, in the woods or magical kingdoms. All the duels are happening in her head. And she's dueling with herself. Mostly...
This was a weird, weird book, as someone here said, but weird in a good way and it was creepy sometimes and it was hard to put down. It left some of my questions unanswered, but I think it's better this way. I'm not completely satisfied with the ending but at the same time I feel it was perfect. I don't know what to say more. I'm a bit sad it's over.
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