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A Constellation of Vital Phenomena A Novel Anthony Marra Books

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A Constellation of Vital Phenomena A Novel Anthony Marra Books

This book is no walk in the park. Literature, however, is meant to convey the human condition in raw form, in beauty, in starkness and in light. Anthony Marra has conveyed a story rich in past, present and future for those willing to view, A Constellation Of Vital Phenomena.

The plight of the Chechens has been seen on the nightly news here in America. Shown in news recaps and sketchy details, but the war torn areas of the Caucus are put under a microscope in this book and through the characters and their lives, we learn of a war torn country with rebels and feds and innocent people who have nothing, but hang on to hope that the wars will end and they can have running water and food, but in the meantime, they must survive.

Two very different sisters deal with the elements of their surroundings in different ways. Sonja is a brilliant doctor, schooled in London, and beautiful Natasha is the sister she left behind. Sonja returns to Chechnya to search for her sister and works as the head doctor in a barely functioning hospital. Haava is a young girl whose father has been taken in the middle of the night. A neighbor, Akhmed, finds Haava hiding in the woods and he knows he must protect her. He has to save her from the fate that found her father, Dokka. Akhmed, an artist at heart but also a fairly unskilled doctor, takes Haava to Sonja's hospital in order to protect the girl. He finds a job there helping Sonja with mine victims and sick villagers.

In the meantime, there is Khassan (my favorite character) a writer who has spent his life writing the history of his people and his country. His life has been so complex and his web of life has touched so many villagers in his community, but he has a rotten son, or so it seems.

This book isn't for the faint hearted really-the curious, yes. There are horriffic tortures and ugly consequences, but there is also hope and love and strong bonds of friendship and family that somehow appear much, much stronger than the pain of war and all the horrible desparation.


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A Constellation of Vital Phenomena A Novel Anthony Marra Books Reviews

This was a great book and very well written. It wasn't so fast moving, nor was it a page turner, but nonetheless I loved this book. The characters were multidimensional figures, and the story shed light on a plot that I wouldn't have otherwise known about. The story was not predictable, but there was some graphic descriptions, so if you don't think you can handle that, perhaps this isn't for you.

Who should read this book
- Someone looking for a well-written novel, not a quick beach read
- Someone who is not taken aback but graphic, violent descriptions
- Someone looking for an incredible novel and the opportunity to learn about lifestyles in other parts of the world
One myth about the literary novel is that only the prose counts, that literary novelists don't bother with character development or plot. In "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" Anothy Marra puts the lie to that myth. Akhmed, Khassan, Ramzan, Dokka, Sonja, Natasha, Havaa--all the main characters of this tremendous novel about the plight of Chechnians under the brutal occupation of Russia, are drawn so carefully, so astutely, that the reader feels they are family members living in this war-torn far away land. And the plot is brilliantly conceived and tightly woven throughout this masterful novel. And yes, the prose is to die for; the prose is braided with poetry and philosophy and with tears. Here's an example

"In 1956, three years after Stalin's death, the Chechen ethnicity was rehabilitated by the pen stroke of a distant bureaucrat. On the evening of the day the first trains arrived to transport them home, Khassan followed the pale stone road to the pale stone cemetery, carrying with him a spade and the brown suitcase his parents had last packed twelve years earlier. The earth was hard and dry, and it took several hours to reach them. His mother's index finger pointed at him through the dirt. The burial shroud had replaced their skin. They were lighter than he had expected, their muscles hard in desiccation. He folded their arms, pulled on their legs until the tendons snapped; he was as reverent as possible. He packed them tenderly within the discolored suitcase lining. Their bones lay bowed and prostrate. He performed no ablutions, and the brown of earth and decay had rusted his hands, but God wold forgive him these lesser blasphemies. They had given him as good a life as they could. He wished he could have given them a better death. He decided then, that he would write a history of his parents, of his people, of this sliver of humanity the world seemed determined to forget. Standing in the mounded dirt the spade was a slender tombstone. He wasn't alone. Hundreds of others had come to raise and return their dead, and the dust reddened the night."
This book is no walk in the park. Literature, however, is meant to convey the human condition in raw form, in beauty, in starkness and in light. Anthony Marra has conveyed a story rich in past, present and future for those willing to view, A Constellation Of Vital Phenomena.

The plight of the Chechens has been seen on the nightly news here in America. Shown in news recaps and sketchy details, but the war torn areas of the Caucus are put under a microscope in this book and through the characters and their lives, we learn of a war torn country with rebels and feds and innocent people who have nothing, but hang on to hope that the wars will end and they can have running water and food, but in the meantime, they must survive.

Two very different sisters deal with the elements of their surroundings in different ways. Sonja is a brilliant doctor, schooled in London, and beautiful Natasha is the sister she left behind. Sonja returns to Chechnya to search for her sister and works as the head doctor in a barely functioning hospital. Haava is a young girl whose father has been taken in the middle of the night. A neighbor, Akhmed, finds Haava hiding in the woods and he knows he must protect her. He has to save her from the fate that found her father, Dokka. Akhmed, an artist at heart but also a fairly unskilled doctor, takes Haava to Sonja's hospital in order to protect the girl. He finds a job there helping Sonja with mine victims and sick villagers.

In the meantime, there is Khassan (my favorite character) a writer who has spent his life writing the history of his people and his country. His life has been so complex and his web of life has touched so many villagers in his community, but he has a rotten son, or so it seems.

This book isn't for the faint hearted really-the curious, yes. There are horriffic tortures and ugly consequences, but there is also hope and love and strong bonds of friendship and family that somehow appear much, much stronger than the pain of war and all the horrible desparation.