Helpful Score: 3
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-constellation-of-vital-phenomena-novel.html
A medical dictionary defines life as "a constellation of vital phenomenaorganization, irritability, movement, growth, reproduction, adaptation."
According to the author, this definition led to the title for this book. A six pointed definition of life leads to a six perspective story of the Chechan Wars. As such, it is not as much a story of war but of the choices people make to survive. As one character says, "War is unnatural ... It causes people to act unnaturally."
Haava is the young girl who is born into the war and who has seen her mother die, her father taken away, and her home destroyed because of the war. Akhmed is the neighbor and friend who attempts to save Haava. Sonja is the doctor who leaves her life in London to return to Chechnya to look for her sister and now runs a hospital. Natasha is Sonja's sister, who was left behind when Sonja left for London and who is now missing. Ramzan is a young man from Haava's village who has turned on his friends and neighbors and is now an informant. Khassan is Ramzan's father caught between the love for his son and his dislike of the path his son has chosen.
It took me a while to get into this book perhaps because the main story occurs over five days but the book weaves back and forth over a decade to provide the back story and perhaps because Chechnya is not a part of the world that I know. As such, the book took longer to engage me. However, once it did, I could not stop reading.
The weaving timeline becomes like lines connecting the dots of a constellation. Each revelation makes another part of the story clear, and gradually, an entire connected image emerges. The final picture is filled with sadness and horror of war but also ultimately with survival and love. A beautiful debut novel.
A medical dictionary defines life as "a constellation of vital phenomenaorganization, irritability, movement, growth, reproduction, adaptation."
According to the author, this definition led to the title for this book. A six pointed definition of life leads to a six perspective story of the Chechan Wars. As such, it is not as much a story of war but of the choices people make to survive. As one character says, "War is unnatural ... It causes people to act unnaturally."
Haava is the young girl who is born into the war and who has seen her mother die, her father taken away, and her home destroyed because of the war. Akhmed is the neighbor and friend who attempts to save Haava. Sonja is the doctor who leaves her life in London to return to Chechnya to look for her sister and now runs a hospital. Natasha is Sonja's sister, who was left behind when Sonja left for London and who is now missing. Ramzan is a young man from Haava's village who has turned on his friends and neighbors and is now an informant. Khassan is Ramzan's father caught between the love for his son and his dislike of the path his son has chosen.
It took me a while to get into this book perhaps because the main story occurs over five days but the book weaves back and forth over a decade to provide the back story and perhaps because Chechnya is not a part of the world that I know. As such, the book took longer to engage me. However, once it did, I could not stop reading.
The weaving timeline becomes like lines connecting the dots of a constellation. Each revelation makes another part of the story clear, and gradually, an entire connected image emerges. The final picture is filled with sadness and horror of war but also ultimately with survival and love. A beautiful debut novel.
Jami H. (howell27) - , reviewed A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel on + 50 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
An amazing,haunting, well written book that will stay with you for a long time. The main story of the book only covers 5 days, and then is filled with all the back stories of the main characters, told out of order so you don't really see how it all ties together until the end. A large portion of this book is back story, so there is a lot of telling how the characters got to the present situation, less dialog than normally prefer, but it held my interest throughout.
This book attempts to cover the history of the Chechen and Russian war using this small band of intricately linked people. I've seen comments where others felt the characters were too closely linked to be believable, but I felt it served a purpose of showing how each individual choice had an effect on so many. As with all war books, it is not an easy read, this war is not glamorized or glossed over by Marra, and yet it doesn't feel overly graphic or gratuitously violent. I particularly liked how the main characters were shown, warts and all...no larger than life characters. They felt like real people trying to live through a horrible situation and dealing with the choices they have made.
I actually listened to this from Audible but still would like to get this book to keep in my library. The title, explained near the end of the book, fits so well with this story and is one I will remember for a long time. I highly recommend reading this book.
This book attempts to cover the history of the Chechen and Russian war using this small band of intricately linked people. I've seen comments where others felt the characters were too closely linked to be believable, but I felt it served a purpose of showing how each individual choice had an effect on so many. As with all war books, it is not an easy read, this war is not glamorized or glossed over by Marra, and yet it doesn't feel overly graphic or gratuitously violent. I particularly liked how the main characters were shown, warts and all...no larger than life characters. They felt like real people trying to live through a horrible situation and dealing with the choices they have made.
I actually listened to this from Audible but still would like to get this book to keep in my library. The title, explained near the end of the book, fits so well with this story and is one I will remember for a long time. I highly recommend reading this book.
