Although Katherine Arden is a Texan by birth, she writes like a seasoned Russian novelist. I presume studying Russian literature in Moscow had a lot to do with her Russian folklore style. I especially admire her using the Russian peculiarity (to us, not to them) of each character having multiple names. Sometimes this causes confusion for the reader. But when you realize that Russians have a first name, patronymic name and surname spelled in many varieties each, it’s less puzzling. They might also have a peasant name or a cutesy/loving name to go along with their other names. For example our main character is Vasilisa, but she is also known as: Vasya, Vasilisa Petrovna, Vasochka, and Vedma by a bathhouse spirit named Bannik. Oh yes, Vasya sees lots of spirits and they all relate to her. If you want a better example of multiple names, read Dostoevsky’s 1866 masterpiece, Crime and Punishment (see my review of 11/17/2014). Katherine Arden’s descriptive writing is in play when writing about the approaching cold winter in northern Russia, “The season was just turning, the drab fields full of shaved stubble and dusted with snow...it was cold, but Vasya did not think of it. She had been born to cold.” Throughout the novel the author has a foreboding style of writing that makes the reader wince when thinking of what’s going to happen next...and the heebie-jeebies usually transpire. I find it hard to believe that this novel is Katherine Arden’s first.
Katherine Arden recreates fourteenth century Russia with this fresh tale drawn from old Russian fables. Pyotr Vladimirovich was a great lord living on rich lands with many peasant workers. He enjoyed a good life with his wife, Marina; sons, Kolya, Sasha and Alyosha and daughter, Olga. Longtime nurse and nanny, Dunya, also lived in the big house, now the chief cook and family storyteller. Early in the novel, Dunya tells the tale of The Frost King, “The master of the white snow, the black firs, and the silver frost”, to the children. All the peasants believed him to be real along with all the other woodland spirits. Later in the day, Marina tells Pyotr, “I am with child.” Pyotr was concerned because Marina was older now “and she had grown so thin that winter.” Marina said, “I want a daughter like my mother was.” Marina’s mother is a story in itself. During the reign of Ivan the first, “A ragged girl (Marina’s mother) rode through the Kremlin-gates, alone except for her tall gray horse. Despite filth and hunger and weariness, rumors dogged her footsteps. She had such grace, the people said, and eyes like the swan-maiden in a fairy tale...when Ivan first saw this girl, he sat unmoving for a full ten minutes. A year later he married this mysterious girl.” Who is she? Where did she come from? “The princess would not say where she had come from: not then and not ever.” The Church didn’t like the princess or her daughter, Marina. “At the bishop’s insistence, Marina, her only child, was married off to a boyar (Pyotr) in the howling wilderness, many days’ travel from Moscow.” The stage is set for the birth of Vasya. Will she have the same special abilities and attributes as her grandmother had?
Vasya is born. “Marina breathed out once, gently, and died.” Before Marina died, she named the baby girl, Vasilisa...Vasya. “All that winter, the house echoed with the child’s cries. More than once, Dunya and Olga, despaired of her, for she was a scrawny, pallid infant, all eyes and flailing limbs. But the winter passed and the child lived. She ceased screaming and throve on the milk of peasant woman.” As she got older, Vasya had a habit of going into the woods alone. One day she didn’t come home for supper after a day in the forest. Who was Vasya calling when she sat in the snowy forest and said, “I know you sleep when the snow comes, but couldn’t you wake up? See, I have cakes (stolen from Dunya’s kitchen).” With no answer, Vasya decides to go home, but for some reason gets lost in the woods. She sees a tree unlike another. It was big, black and gnarled like a wicked old woman. “A man lay curled like a beast at the foot of this tree, fast asleep. She could not see his face; it was hidden between his arms. Through rents in his clothes, she glimpsed cold white skin. He did not stir at her approach.” With Vasya’s urging, he finally woke up. One side of his face was fair with a gray eye. The other side of his face was a mass of bluish scars with the eye socket sewn shut. He says, “What manner of girl-child comes here, all alone?” And then softer, “Such eyes, Almost I remember...Well, come here.” He made his voice coaxing. “Your father will be worried.” What did this thing (?) almost remember? I know that I told you a lot, but so far I’ve only reviewed the first 24 pages of a 314 page novel...are you ready to buy your own copy yet?
Before the one-eyed man could do any harm to Vasya, “There came the crunch of hooves in the snow, and the snorting breaths of a horse. A horse and rider stepped into the clearing. The horse was white and strong; when the rider slid to the ground, Vasya saw that he was slender and bold-boned, the skin drawn tight over cheek and throat. He wore a rich robe of heavy fur, and his eyes gleamed blue.” I told you that the author’s descriptive writing was to my liking. Anyway, who are these strange men and is one of them the Frost King? If so, who is the other man? The man in the rich robe of heavy fur says to the one-eyed man, “What is this?” The ragged man cringed, “No concern of yours, she came to me-she is mine.” The newcomer said to him, “Is she? Sleep, Medved, for it is winter.” So, they obviously know each other. Vasya is now frightened and turns around and flees. The stranger doesn’t follow. Vasya is eventually found by her brother, Sasha and returned home. Later, “Sasha, though he told no one, ranged the forest to the west, looking for this one-eyed man, or an oak tree with roots about its knees. But never man nor tree did he find, and then the snow fell for three days, straight and hard, so that none went out.” Okay, that’s the end of my 29 page review. The real good stuff is still ahead...and I mean real good. Did you notice that I never mentioned the bear or the nightingale? I also didn’t mention all the Russian folklore spirits and demons that you will meet. Only one thing annoyed me. I had to keep going to Google or Wikipedia to decipher some Russian words; such as, devushka (girl) or domovoi (a household spirit in Russian folklore). Guess what? I didn’t realize that the author had a glossary at the book’s end that would have answered all my questions. Oh well!
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: I looked up a listopia that Goodreads.com had on the internet concerning the top novels based on Russian folklore. They all seem to be recent novels, so I don’t know what the criteria was when the vote took place, but the following are the top two novels:
- The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (2012). This was a surprise because it was a novel that I reviewed in 2013. Goodreads.com said, “Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before-when a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding...is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her?” What did I think? Check out my review of 4/13/2013.
- Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire (2014). Goodreads.com said, “Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russia countryside. Her father has been dead for years. One of her brothers has been conscripted into the Tsar’s army, the other taken as a servant in the house of the local landowner. Her mother is dying, slowly, in their tiny cabin. And there is no food. But then a train arrives in the village…”
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