A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I wasn't sure I was going to like this at first since it was pretty depressing right off the bat but you very quickly get invested in the characters and are sucked in to their stories. I'd heard a little about what happened in Chechnya but am still admittedly ignorant. Although this was a novel, it included enough of the reality of what people went through to be interesting from a historical perspective. I've read a lot of books lately that were either character driven or plot driven but were missing the vital connection between the two. This book marries both perfectly. It reminded me of a Jenga game. It's stripped down to what is essential and is perfectly balanced. Nothing excessive left on it to make it bulky and awkward and not so much left to the imagination that the story topples. Really, a wonderful and beautiful book.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.



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