A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

Abstract

The secondary characters are quite strong, even memorable: an old man who bums his life's work, a history of Chechnya; his son, whose torture by the Russians turns him into an informer; the surgeon's sister, who is made an addict and sex slave, but comes back to paint a mural and work in the hospi- tal-and then disappears again.

Anthony Marra. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. New York. Hogarth. 2013. isbn 978- 0770436407

After reading A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, I can only echo the amaze- ment of other reviewers: that such an accomplished novel is Anthony Marras first and that he visited Chechnya, the setting, only after he had all but com- pleted it. The places, the topography, the course of the wars-the remem- bered first occupation and the second occupation by the Russians within the ten-year span of the novel, 1994 to 2004-all this context was largely cre- ated from determined research.

The novel begins and ends in the middle. During Chechnya's rebellion against Russian occupation, a girl's father is whisked away by soldiers, presumably to be shot, and the eight- year-old is taken by a neighbor to a hospital, where he bargains with the head surgeon to help as a medical orderly in exchange for her taking in the girl. These three characters are narrated forward for five days in 2004, interspersed with backstories that connect them, even while point- ing to their uncertain futures.

Their conflicts are quite natu- ral: the surgeon, a Russian national whose family had been settled in Chechnya, recognizes that the neigh- bor, who had been functioning as the village doctor, is at best semicompe- tent, though a good artist. The child, however appealing, poses a danger both to the surgeon and the neighbor (and his bedridden wife), since she is wanted by the Russians, in keeping with their policy of complete family extermination of rebels or sympa- thizers as a warning to others.

The ten-year range of markers begins each chapter, with the focal year for the chapter in boldface. This aid is quite helpful in a novel that alternates between the present and the past, chapter by chapter.

Centering on the characters' sto- ries and their attempts to cope with an unstable political/military situa- tion, Marra keeps the style straight- forward and informative. The texture of their experience comes primar- ily from character interchanges, in which people who are, in a sense, always under siege manage to keep their spirits up as well as their dedi- cation to humane values, even when they don't realize it. Their hard-bit- ten exchanges are often surprisingly funny and sometimes even tender.

The secondary characters are quite strong, even memorable: an old man who bums his life's work, a history of Chechnya; his son, whose torture by the Russians turns him into an informer; the surgeon's sister, who is made an addict and sex slave, but comes back to paint a mural and work in the hospi- tal-and then disappears again.

Some readers may be disappoint- ed that political history is slighted, that there is not more on the religious fervor of the Chechen rebels. But the novel reminds us that such wars entan- gle many who are not impelled to fight and want nothing more than a return to something approaching normalcy.

Marras constellation of charac- ters, revealed from inside through changes in point of view, show us "life," which is, after all, the word defined by the title, according to a Russian medical dictionary. These people will stay with you.