Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, book. You’ve cracked me wide open. A must read. Best of 2019, so far.

Vita Nostra is translated from Russian and is the first of a series. As far as I can tell, the rest of the series isn’t available in English as of yet. (Boo! How long would it take to learn Russian, I wonder?)
I guess we’d consider this book YA (young adult), as the main characters are late high-school to college-age students, concerned mostly about finding their place in the adult world, negotiating the balance of independence and support from family, and exploring friendships and romances with peers. That said, there is so much more going on, the story appeals to a wide range of readers. (I’m not much of a YA fan, myself.)
Alexandra (Sasha) is a straight-A student and dutiful only child in a single-mom family who finds herself coerced into attending a technical college that she’d never heard of, located in a remote small town. There she finds all the other students had a similar recruitment experience with a mysterious and vaguely threatening “advisor.” The main course of study is a series of difficult and mind-bending exercises, which the students are, again, coerced into mastering.
I’m not sure the word “magic” even appears in this book, certainly not as a descriptor of the “technology” that Shasha studies, although remarkable, inexplicable things happen right from the beginning of the story. The reader discovers the rules of this unseen world along with Sasha, and that puzzle-solving activity is at the heart of experiencing this book. The book doesn’t just tell the reader an entertaining, beautifully crafted story about some stressed-out college students. It draws us in and makes us ponder the nature of reality.
The book isn’t an easy read, but not a difficult one, either. It’s on the long side for a standard novel, but not a word of it is unnecessary or padding. It makes demands, but stepping up your game to meet them is exciting. I can’t remember the last book that enticed me into staying up way too late, night after night, to read just a bit more, much like Sasha’s excessive study habits.
If I’m being too cagey, it’s to not spoil the experience of meeting this book. It’s the best thing I’ve read so far this year, and I’m sure it will be among the top of the class of 2019 for me.



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