A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

A Novel

By: Anthony Marra

Narrated by: Colette Whitaker

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

A resilient doctor risks everything to save the life of a hunted child, in this majestic debut about love, loss, and the unexpected ties that bind us together.

In his brilliant, haunting novel, Stegner Fellow and Whiting Award winner Anthony Marra transports us to a snow-covered village in Chechnya, where eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as Russian soldiers abduct her father in the middle of the night, accusing him of aiding Chechen rebels. Across the road their lifelong neighbor and family friend Akhmed has also been watching, fearing the worst when the soldiers set fire to Havaa’s house. But when he finds her hiding in the forest with a strange blue suitcase, he makes a decision that will forever change their lives. He will seek refuge at the abandoned hospital where the sole remaining doctor, Sonja Rabina, treats the wounded.

For the talented, tough-minded Sonja, the arrival of Akhmed and Havaa is an unwelcome surprise. Weary and overburdened, she has no desire to take on additional risk and responsibility. And she has a deeply personal reason for caution: Harboring these refugees could easily jeopardize the return of her missing sister. But over the course of five extraordinary days, Sonja’s world will shift on its axis and reveal the intricate pattern of connections that weave together the pasts of these three unlikely companions and unexpectedly decides their fate. A story of the transcendent power of love in wartime, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is a work of sweeping breadth, profound compassion, and lasting significance.

©2013 Anthony Marra (P)2013 Random House Audio

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.”
—Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of State of Wonder and Bel Canto

“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.”
—Adam Johnson , Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Orphan Master’s Son

“A complex debut…[Marra writes] with elegant details about the physical and emotional destruction of occupation and war.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[An] extraordinary first novel...Marra collapses time, sliding between 1996 and 2004 while also detailing events in a future yet to arrive, giving his searing novel an eerie, prophetic aura. All of the characters are closely tied together in ways that Marra takes his time revealing, even as he beautifully renders the way we long to connect and the lengths we will go to endure.” —Booklist (starred review)

Read the book and listen to this performance

What did you love best about A Constellation of Vital Phenomena?

This is simply a great story. Dostoyevski or Tolstoy would have written it this way if they were around (and had some sympathy for subjects of the Russian empire). It also reminded me of Bernard Malamud's writing.

What does Colette Whitaker bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Hers is just a great reading. Both the reading of and listening to the book brought out different accents. I am glad she did not do the narration in a Russian accent— it makes the dialogue, which is done in an accent, stand out better. I do not care for audiobooks done entirely in dialect or an accent.

A pretty good tale

When I first started listening, I was really into it and then I seemed to bog down a bit. (I may have been me) I was tried and working hard and long hrs and the story was a bit depressing. By the end when it all got tied together I was again enjoying it.
I learned a bit about the area and reasons behind the wars.
I though the narrator did a fine job and would listen to her again.
I recommend this book to all

Mesmerizing.

A great story about a tragic period. Worth every minute. A beautiful love story in a calamitous time. Listen in.

keep reading

the story is at times difficult to read and I almost quit. but the writing is so beautiful and the characters so compelling you have to keep reading. it's worth it

Beautiful and perfect.

This is one of the best books I’ve read/listened to in many years.
Thank you Anthony Mara and thank you Colette Whitaker.

Which American author writes about Chechnya as a d

First time author, debut novel. The author got his MFA from the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa and is now a professor at Stanford in their Creative Writing program. I'm still scratching my head a bit as to why an American author would choose to write this story set in Chechnya other than not many others do. I am a curious reader/listener wanting to know about other ways of life, other times. other places. This book certainly fit that bill. Told from the perspective of two people, on an native, ethnic Russian and the other a native Muslim, it weaves a story giving the historical perspective of Chechnya and its trials and tribulations of which there are many. This book didn't make me want to go visit, if anything it tells about an area in Russia that wants to be an independent country but likely never will be. This book isn't a thriller by any means and I'm glad I'm not from there. Still, it did educate me on Chechnya and the story was interesting.

tough to follow the varying timelines.

it is a fascinating story of love, the chechnya war, Good and Evil. I knew little about the war so it was interesting history. Kind of a Chechen Doctor Zhivago

Hard to follow timeline

Story was good..I did not know much about Chechnya and this provided a little education along with Google.

Tough lives in Chechnya

interesting portrayal of life in Chechnya under Russian rule. Shows the good, the bad, and the desperate in people

Worth the read especially in these times.

The resident composer for the Schubert Club composed a piece based on this book. Both were great.