awilderm23's review against another edition
5.0
'After that, Marya Morevna understood that she belonged to her secret and it belonged to her. They had struck a bloody bargain between them. Keep me and obey me, the secret said to her, for I am your husband and I can destroy you.'
'But if I may teach you anything, it will be to relish everything, to devour it all - the richest things first, for they are your due.'
'This is a very marvelous thing. A winter thing, when everything is pickled and preserved under glass. You can taste summer in this mixture, summer boiled down and soaked in brine, mummified, packed with spices to be born again on this table, in this place, in this snow.'
'Oh, I will be cruel to you... It will stop your breath how cruel I can be. But you understand, don't you? You are clever enough. I am a demanding creature. I am selfish and cruel and extremely unreasonable. But I am your servant. When you starve I will feed you, when you are sick, I will tend you. I crawl at your feet, before your love, your kisses, I am debased. For you alone I will be weak.'
'Punishment does not mean you aren't loved. On the contrary. You can really only punish someone you love.'
'Let us be greedy together; let us hoard. Let us hit each other with birch branches and lock each other in dungeons; let us drink each other's blood in the night and betray each other in the sun. Let us lie and lust and take hundreds of lovers; let us dance until the snow melts beneath us. Let us steal and eat until we grow fat and roll in the pleasures of life, clutching each other for purchase. Only leave me my death - let me hold this one thing sacred and unmolested and secret - and I will serve you a meal of myself, served on a platter of all the world's bounty.'
'It was a bad habit, crossing yourself, but like biting fingernails, hard to break.'
'Ivan did not believe in God. Not really, the way that he believed in breakfast, in butter, in cigarettes.'
'In fact, Marya did not feel much of anything besides want, and endless want that coiled in her... That want survived any fight, with her fists, with her guns. It was a wolf, tenacious... She could not remember, now, ever, having felt happy or sad. Only hungry. Only empty, and greedy, and insatiable.'
'And the heart of Ivan Nikolayevich broke inside the body of Marya Morevna, and the pieces of him lodged deep in her bones, and through the window, the stars watched.'
'You will live as you live in any world, with difficulty and grief.'
'When I saw him I thought I could curl up inside him and go to sleep and never wake up.'
'You humans, you know, whoever built you sewed irony into your sinews.'
'But if I may teach you anything, it will be to relish everything, to devour it all - the richest things first, for they are your due.'
'This is a very marvelous thing. A winter thing, when everything is pickled and preserved under glass. You can taste summer in this mixture, summer boiled down and soaked in brine, mummified, packed with spices to be born again on this table, in this place, in this snow.'
'Oh, I will be cruel to you... It will stop your breath how cruel I can be. But you understand, don't you? You are clever enough. I am a demanding creature. I am selfish and cruel and extremely unreasonable. But I am your servant. When you starve I will feed you, when you are sick, I will tend you. I crawl at your feet, before your love, your kisses, I am debased. For you alone I will be weak.'
'Punishment does not mean you aren't loved. On the contrary. You can really only punish someone you love.'
'Let us be greedy together; let us hoard. Let us hit each other with birch branches and lock each other in dungeons; let us drink each other's blood in the night and betray each other in the sun. Let us lie and lust and take hundreds of lovers; let us dance until the snow melts beneath us. Let us steal and eat until we grow fat and roll in the pleasures of life, clutching each other for purchase. Only leave me my death - let me hold this one thing sacred and unmolested and secret - and I will serve you a meal of myself, served on a platter of all the world's bounty.'
'It was a bad habit, crossing yourself, but like biting fingernails, hard to break.'
'Ivan did not believe in God. Not really, the way that he believed in breakfast, in butter, in cigarettes.'
'In fact, Marya did not feel much of anything besides want, and endless want that coiled in her... That want survived any fight, with her fists, with her guns. It was a wolf, tenacious... She could not remember, now, ever, having felt happy or sad. Only hungry. Only empty, and greedy, and insatiable.'
'And the heart of Ivan Nikolayevich broke inside the body of Marya Morevna, and the pieces of him lodged deep in her bones, and through the window, the stars watched.'
'You will live as you live in any world, with difficulty and grief.'
'When I saw him I thought I could curl up inside him and go to sleep and never wake up.'
'You humans, you know, whoever built you sewed irony into your sinews.'
misscassylee's review against another edition
The narrator is awful. Going to have to read this one.
judehelens's review against another edition
4.0
fate is a circle until everything spirals out of control, a little bit like the plot, which frays at the end. but it’s not about the ending, anyway.
earth2sammi's review against another edition
4.0
Good fucking lord. Jesus christ. Why is the word abject so romantic. What the fuck did i just read.
iamalexheart's review against another edition
2.0
Ammetto che leggendo la trama non lo avrei comprato ma dopo aver letto la lettera dell’autrice ero pronto a tuffarmi in una lettura da 5 stelle. Non mi sarei mai aspettato una tale delusione. Le prime 30/40 pagine scorrono e sono coinvolgenti. Poco dopo però la storia diventa pesante, non per gli argomenti trattati ma per la mancanza di molti fattori essenziali senza i quali la lettura diventa un grande, enorme “boh”. La caratterizzazione dei personaggi è quasi nulla tant’è che molto di loro non sono altro che nomi, i termini russi (che sono tanti) vengono capiti solo dai russi. In fondo alla pagina delle piccole note avrebbero aiutato moltissimo. Ci sono tanti punti interrogativi che rimangono tali fino alla fine e avrei abbandonato il libro 100 volte se non lo avessi letto assieme ad un amico. Purtroppo non mi sento di consigliarlo, non si capisce granché a meno che non abbiate già una cultura sulle fiabe e sulla storia della Russia. A pochi giorni dalla lettura ho già dimenticato la maggior parte del libro.
loyaultemelie's review against another edition
5.0
Originally I rated this four stars, but after about nine months I'm very comfortable bumping this up to five stars.
Deathless is a book that sticks with you. Though I originally wasn't blown away right upon finishing it - perhaps because I didn't find it as romantic as I was led to believe it was - it stuck with me, and continues to do so. I would wake up thinking about a passage of Deathless. I would be struck with a character or a plot beat at random moments. It made me think and rethink, which is one of the best things a book can do for you.
I wouldn't call Deathless a romance, though it is a love story. I consider it more a brutal coming of age story, for Maria, for Koschei, for Russia herself. It's a beautiful novel, and I truly recommend everyone read it.
Tentative 4 stars while I parse my thoughts
Deathless is a book that sticks with you. Though I originally wasn't blown away right upon finishing it - perhaps because I didn't find it as romantic as I was led to believe it was - it stuck with me, and continues to do so. I would wake up thinking about a passage of Deathless. I would be struck with a character or a plot beat at random moments. It made me think and rethink, which is one of the best things a book can do for you.
I wouldn't call Deathless a romance, though it is a love story. I consider it more a brutal coming of age story, for Maria, for Koschei, for Russia herself. It's a beautiful novel, and I truly recommend everyone read it.
Tentative 4 stars while I parse my thoughts
caliesha's review against another edition
5.0
The only thing not rationed in Leningrad is death.
Fell in love with Catherynne's writing as a kid reading her Fairyland books. Happy to report I am most definitely still a huge fan. I cannot fathom being able to write this magically. 5 stars :)
Fell in love with Catherynne's writing as a kid reading her Fairyland books. Happy to report I am most definitely still a huge fan. I cannot fathom being able to write this magically. 5 stars :)
johndoe15's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5