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Book Review
May. 28th, 2016 06:25 pmDeathless
by Catherynne Valente
This amazing novel retells the Russian tales of Koschei the Undying and Marya Morevna (or Yelena or Vasilisa, depending on whose version you are reading) in the USSR of the 1920s through the 1940s. In this version Marya falls in love with Koschei and their tumultuous marriage spans decades and war and hardships and joys. Yet the story has its requirements and certain things become inevitable.
I loved this book and could hardly put it down, yet I find it so very hard to describe. It reads very much like a fairy tale in many parts and follows the conventions in many ways but always bending and twisting them. Valente's language is beautiful and haunting. Both Marya and Koschei are quite complicated and their relationship is something no outsider can really ever completely grasp - and this includes the reader. The narrative is skillfully woven - if you know the source tales, you know where things are going, but the way they get there is often a surprise. I know I will be carrying this story with me for a very long time.
by Catherynne Valente
This amazing novel retells the Russian tales of Koschei the Undying and Marya Morevna (or Yelena or Vasilisa, depending on whose version you are reading) in the USSR of the 1920s through the 1940s. In this version Marya falls in love with Koschei and their tumultuous marriage spans decades and war and hardships and joys. Yet the story has its requirements and certain things become inevitable.
I loved this book and could hardly put it down, yet I find it so very hard to describe. It reads very much like a fairy tale in many parts and follows the conventions in many ways but always bending and twisting them. Valente's language is beautiful and haunting. Both Marya and Koschei are quite complicated and their relationship is something no outsider can really ever completely grasp - and this includes the reader. The narrative is skillfully woven - if you know the source tales, you know where things are going, but the way they get there is often a surprise. I know I will be carrying this story with me for a very long time.
