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Just Finished Vita Nostra (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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It was weird.

It wasn't what I expected when I was looking for a story about "Magic Schools".

I can't say I fully understand what was happening as I've read it, or the message it was trying to convey. Sometimes I had to double back a paragraph or two just to better my vague understanding of the story.

Nevertheless, I devoured this book in one day; words just kept pouring as I read, giving glimpses of a fleeting story. That is to say, I enjoyed my experience in reading it. I don't know if it's something I'd read again in the future, but at least I know it was a good adventure.

What are your thoughts to this book?

How do you interpret its ending?

Why is Sasha short for Alexandra?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The Russian abbreviation comes from the older form Aleksashka, which was shortened to Sashka, which then gets shortened to Sasha.

Sounds like an interesting read, worth adding to the list then?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it is. It's a unique novel to say the least.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wow, one of these old-school "random nerd dumps information"-Wikipedia-articles:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryna_and_Serhiy_Dyachenko

I love it, let's hope the editors never find it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What do you mean by these nerd dumps?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I meant that the article is mostly a collection of lists (novels are listed twice 👍) including „Fictional creatures and objects created by writers“. I think it's amazing but I'm pretty it doesn't conform with Wikipedia's article writing rules.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

I’m currently reading it. So no spoilers. But I can answer one thing - Sasha is not short for Alexandra. Like many other cultures, Russians have a “home name” and a “formal name” for people. Sasha is just her home name. That’s why no one at the institute calls her that unless they know her closely.