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Just Finished Vita Nostra (self.books)

submitted 2 years ago by counselwolf to c/[email protected]

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It was weird.

It wasn't what I expected when I was looking for a story about "Magic Schools".

I can't say I fully understand what was happening as I've read it, or the message it was trying to convey. Sometimes I had to double back a paragraph or two just to better my vague understanding of the story.

Nevertheless, I devoured this book in one day; words just kept pouring as I read, giving glimpses of a fleeting story. That is to say, I enjoyed my experience in reading it. I don't know if it's something I'd read again in the future, but at least I know it was a good adventure.

What are your thoughts to this book?

How do you interpret its ending?

Why is Sasha short for Alexandra?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wow, one of these old-school "random nerd dumps information"-Wikipedia-articles:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryna_and_Serhiy_Dyachenko

I love it, let's hope the editors never find it.

[–] counselwolf 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What do you mean by these nerd dumps?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I meant „a nerd/fan dumps information into Wikipedia“: the article is mostly a collection of lists (novels are listed twice 👍) including „Fictional creatures and objects created by writers“. I think it's amazing but I'm pretty it doesn't conform with Wikipedia's article writing rules or whatever.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

@jlow @counselwolf , hey, check out my page, I am looking for book reviews to post, what do you think?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I’m currently reading it. So no spoilers. But I can answer one thing - Sasha is not short for Alexandra. Like many other cultures, Russians have a “home name” and a “formal name” for people. Sasha is just her home name. That’s why no one at the institute calls her that unless they know her closely.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

The Russian abbreviation comes from the older form Aleksashka, which was shortened to Sashka, which then gets shortened to Sasha.

Sounds like an interesting read, worth adding to the list then?

[–] counselwolf 1 points 2 years ago

Yeah, it is. It's a unique novel to say the least.