In A Constellation of Vital Phenomena they become not only "write-able," but also highly, deeply readable. Though the lives lived in this novel can seem unbearable, what Anthony Marra has done is to diligently describe them in passionate, extraordinary prose. "Wasn't it Ronald McDonald who told Gorbachev to tear down the wall?" "I thought Ronald McDonald was president." "The American president," Sonja said, looking away. "'Last month he told me that George Bush had been reelected,' Sonja said" (speaking of a friend who lives in London and therefore knows what's going on in the world). Here's an early conversation between Akhmed and Sonja: In fact, the entire Chechen world on display can often feel ripped right out of Beckett. But despite everything, people here keep living their lives in that Samuel Beckett-y, "I can't go on, I'll go on" way. The tragedies in this novel, large and small, come rapid-fire, and are so various that there's no Wikipedia page that could ever explain them. "You must be delirious in your excitement," says the editor. "But that's just the first chapter of my book," Khassan says. "Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes," but he buys the "postage, paper," and "typewriter ribbons," and commences the endless task of typing the whole thing up repeatedly, at which point he is told that the only part that would be published was the "prehistory," which only goes up to the year 1547. He submits the book to three different publishers, only to be told by the national publisher in Moscow that he needed to send in three typed copies. It's true of the marvelous character Khassan, an old man who once worked diligently on a comprehensive 3,302-page volume of Chechen history. The writing moves us forward, as do the characters, who to stay sane sometimes need to burrow into the past. But he really doesn't need to try so hard in those moments. You can almost feel his desire to pull loose ends together, and I don't blame him, for the material he's working with often lacks order and reason. Once in a while Marra broadcasts his character's intentions a little too directly. And besides, I've come to realize lately that there's something to be said for being an unprepared reader, a naked reader in the wilderness of a novel, who trusts the writer to provide all the necessary information.Ī Constellation of Vital Phenomena is one of the most accomplished and affecting books I've read in a very long time, though it isn't perfect. There's no rational ordering of events that could have prepared me for what happens in this broken landscape. At the beginning of the book, as I was introduced to day-to-day life in Chechnya, I kept nervously referring to Wikipedia pages, thinking that if I understood the complex history of the region, and was fortified by details of the first and second Chechen wars and the role of Stalin at the root of all this, among other things, that I would be better prepared for what was to come.Īs if. The rest of the novel belongs mostly to Akhmed, a failed sometime doctor, but it also belongs to Sonja, a capable, devoted doctor at the almost entirely equipment-free shell of a hospital where Akhmed takes Havaa in his quest for her safety. The main characters are vivid and real and stuck, and I guess I wanted to be stuck along with them. But it's exactly that - and the brilliant writing - that kept me committed to that world and the people in it. There's a terrifying, Wild West lawlessness at work. The story, which takes place in Chechnya, moving back and forth in time over recent history, includes some tough scenes, such as descriptions of torture and amputation. I was thinking about all of this as I read - and stayed in - Anthony Marra's amazing first novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. If it's powerful enough, it can make you want to "go there." But if it's all about churning violence and inhumanity, will you really be compelled to stay there, fully present and not looking away, until the last page? One of the most obvious, of course, is the language. And what would make a reader want to go deeply into a world of hopelessness and seemingly perpetual war, a world of torture and intimidation and exploding land mines? There are many answers. How do you write an absorbing novel about unspeakable things? It's always a tricky business, and an editor I know once described the dilemma this way: "A reader needs to want to go there." What "there" means is the self-contained world of the book. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title A Constellation Of Vital Phenomena Author Anthony Marra
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