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“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.”
— T. C. Boyle, New York Times bestselling author
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“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
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“With
remarkable pathos and a surprising amount of humor, Marra keeps the focus on
the relationships, struggles, and tiny triumphs of an unforgettable group of
characters...Marra creates a specific and riveting world around his characters,
expertly revealing the unexpected connections among them…This novel, full of
humanity and hope, ultimately leaves you uplifted. Constellation deserves to be on the short list for every major
award. It’s an absolute masterpiece.”
— Entertainment Weekly
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“Extraordinary....a
twenty-first-century War and Peace…Marra
seems to derive his astral calm in the face of catastrophe directly from
Tolstoy.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“A flash in the heavens that makes you
look up and believe in miracles....Here, in fresh, graceful prose, is a
profound story that dares to be as tender as it is ghastly, a story about
desperate lives in a remote land that will quickly seem impossibly close and
important...I haven’t been so overwhelmed by a novel in years. At the risk of
raising your expectations too high, I have to say you simply must read this
book.”
— Washington Post
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“[A Constellation of Vital Phenomena]
pulls together blown-out bits of a world turned inside-out to create a brutal
form of beauty from chaos…Its prose is also ruefully funny in places and
littered throughout with dazzling poetry.”
— Chicago Tribune
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“A powerful
tale....The moment Akhmed walks into the hospital with Havaa…rivals anything
Michael Ondaatje has written in its emotional force....There are many reasons
to read A Constellation of Vital
Phenomena....to marvel at the lack of fear in a writer so young. To read a
book that can bring tears to your eyes and force laughter from your
lungs....But the one I kept returning to, the best reason to read this novel,
is that this story reminds us how senseless killing often wrenches kindness
through extreme circumstances.”
— Boston Globe
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“Over and
over again, this is an examination of the ways in which many broken pieces come
together to make a new whole. In exquisite imagery, Marra tends carefully to
the twisted strands of grace and tragedy....Everything in A Constellation of Vital Phenomena...is dignified with a hoping,
aching heartbeat.”
— San Francisco Chronicle
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“Excellent.”
— New York magazine
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“Marra…writes
dense prose full of elegant detail about the physical and emotional destruction
of occupation and war.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“An extraordinary first novel.”
— Booklist (starred review)
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“Affecting
and harrowing…A decade of war in Chechnya informs this multivalent, heartfelt
debut, filled with broken families, lost limbs, and valiant efforts to find
scraps of hope and dignity.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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“A novel of
loyalty and sacrifice and enduring love. You’ll finish it transformed.”
— Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It