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A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

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A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

By: Anthony Marra
Narrated by: Colette Whitaker
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In a snow-covered village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as her father is abducted in the middle of the night by Russian soldiers. Their life-long friend and neighbour, Akhmed, has also been watching, and when he finds Havaa he knows of only one person who might be able to help.

For tough-minded doctor Sonja Rabina, it’s just another day of trying to keep her bombed-out, abandoned hospital going. When Akhmed arrives with Havaa, asking Sonja for shelter, she has no idea who the pair are and even less desire to take on yet more responsibilities and risk.

But over the course of five extraordinary days, Sonja’s world will shift on its axis, revealing the intricate pattern of connections that binds these three unlikely companions together and unexpectedly decides their fate.

'A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is simply spectacular' Ann Patchett

 Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Literary Fiction War & Military Russia
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Critic Reviews

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is simply spectacular. Not since Everything is Illuminated have I read a first novel so ambitious and fully realized. If this is where Anthony Marra begins his career, I can't imagine how far he will go
Storytelling of magical purity, illuminated by hope... Marra is a magnificent writer (Vanora Bennett)
An extraordinary first novel... A 21st-century War and Peace
Both heart-wrenching and uplifting, a stunning, intricately plotted, brilliantly written, tour-de-force of a novel that burns into the memory
A powerful tale... rivals anything Michael Ondaatje has written in its emotional force (John Freeman)
50 Best Spring Reads
A book of violence and beauty, and the undisputed arrival of a major new talent
Remarkable and breathtaking, Anthony Marra’s A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is a spellbinding elegy for an overlooked land engulfed by an oft forgotten war. Set in the all-too-real Chechen conflict, Marra conjures fragile and heartfelt characters whose fates interrogate the very underpinnings of love and sacrifice
Powerful, convincing, beautifully realized -- it's hard to believe that A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is a first novel. Anthony Marra is a writer to watch and savor
Anthony Marra’s novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, is both devastating and transcendent. The story of eight people (and a nation) navigating two brutal wars, it’s a novel of loyalty and sacrifice and enduring love. You’ll finish it transformed
All stars
Most relevant
Long, confusing and pretentious, this was hard going and the performer’s use of accents was unnecessary. Many metaphors - and there were very many - were either obscure confusing or simply meaningless, coming across as failed attempts to be poetic and literary. If the publisher had employed a good editor it could have been a great novel. As it stands, it’s a missed opportunity.

Points for research but not much to enjoy

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A well written story that traces the generations through their war torn country.
The triumph of love and compassion over adversity.

A moving story about the horrors of war

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how id love to watch this on the big screen
the story telling is so on point it feels like you're with them

amazing

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