![]() On the first day of school Sasha's class is told by a professor: The novel is extremely dark, and even frightening Julia Meitov Hersey's stellar translation imbues the narrative with a sense of danger from the very start and never lets up. There, she discovers a talent she didn't know she possessed, becoming a star pupil but losing herself in the process. She meets the man again after she returns home, and with his reappearance come further commands, eventually culminating in the demand that after graduation she enroll at the "Institute of Special Technologies" not the school she was intending to attend, nor one she's ever heard of. Although she refuses at first, she ultimately finds that her attempts to resist are useless. It was first published in Russian in 2007 and is the first in the authors' "Metamorphosis" cycle.ġ7-year-old Sasha is on a vacation with her mother when she encounters a mysterious stranger who makes bizarre demands of her. Words that come to mind are more along the lines of surreal, fantastic and sinister. ![]() One might call it speculative fiction or magical realism, but those categories don't really capture the character of the book. Vita Nostra by Ukrainian authors Sergey and Marina Dyachenko is one of those novels that defies description. A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility. ![]()
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