A Constellation of Vital Phenomena Review

Title: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Author: Anthony Marra
Genre: War, Fiction
Publisher: Hogarth

Blurb: In the final days of December 2004, in a small rural village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa hides in the woods when her father is abducted by Russian forces. Fearing for her life, she flees with their neighbor Akhmed - a failed physician - to the bombed-out hospital, where Sonja, the one remaining doctor, treats a steady stream of wounded rebels and refugees and mourns her missing sister. Over the course of five dramatic days, Akhmed and Sonja reach back into their pasts to unravel the intricate mystery of coincidence, betrayal, and forgiveness that unexpectedly binds them and decides their fate. 

Me: A striking novel with astonishing prose that made me fall in love with characters in a world I'd never even known existed. 

I am the Messenger Review

Title: I Am the Messenger
Author: Markus Zusak
Genre: YA, Realistic Fiction

Blurb: protect the diamonds
survive the clubs
dig deep through the spades
feel the hearts

Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver without much of a future. He's pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery.

That's when the first ace arrives in the mail.

That's when Ed becomes the messenger.

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains: Who's behind Ed's mission?

Me: And Zusak's done it again...my heart's in pieces, my mind's blown, my eyes are just sweating, I promise.