Just coming back to this to say that this post made me read Vita Nostra! what a peculiar book, I loved how weird it was willing to be. What I found striking about it was how much Sash wanted to retain a connection to her humanity while having her whole self transformed in this really brutal way. I have this excellent Russian/Soviet cookbook from 1990 and reading it + The Possessed by Elif Batuman kinda makes me want to read some more frothy Russian-set literature (although I didn't really like The Bear and the Nightingale and have mixed feelings about Catherynne Valente's work - so maybe I just need to go straight to War and Peace or reread some more Chekhov. how great is Chehov?).
Ahh I'm glad you read it and enjoyed (?) it!! I've appreciated hearing about the different themes people saw since there's so much going on, will need to reread at some point. Definitely recommend War and Peace with the note that the first 50ish pages are pretty boring and have not much to do with the main plot and characters, the rest is excellent (I was glad my dad read it right before me and warned me of this). Not Russian at all but if you've not read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell yet I was just rereading it and it's as wonderful as ever (I feel like pretty much anyone who likes Vita Nostra would like JS+MN but I'm not sure about the reverse)
Just coming back to this to say that this post made me read Vita Nostra! what a peculiar book, I loved how weird it was willing to be. What I found striking about it was how much Sash wanted to retain a connection to her humanity while having her whole self transformed in this really brutal way. I have this excellent Russian/Soviet cookbook from 1990 and reading it + The Possessed by Elif Batuman kinda makes me want to read some more frothy Russian-set literature (although I didn't really like The Bear and the Nightingale and have mixed feelings about Catherynne Valente's work - so maybe I just need to go straight to War and Peace or reread some more Chekhov. how great is Chehov?).
Ahh I'm glad you read it and enjoyed (?) it!! I've appreciated hearing about the different themes people saw since there's so much going on, will need to reread at some point. Definitely recommend War and Peace with the note that the first 50ish pages are pretty boring and have not much to do with the main plot and characters, the rest is excellent (I was glad my dad read it right before me and warned me of this). Not Russian at all but if you've not read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell yet I was just rereading it and it's as wonderful as ever (I feel like pretty much anyone who likes Vita Nostra would like JS+MN but I'm not sure about the reverse)