Deathless - AKA, Your Book Has A Lot of Egg Symbolism for Something Where Everyone Dies

Deathless

Cathrynne M Valente

Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what giants or wicked witches are to European culture: the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. Valente's take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.
Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever peasant girl to Koschei's beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, that will bring Russian myth to life in a stunning new incarnation.

So, I am going to review this book. But first, an open letter to Russia:

          Dear Russia,

                  I understand that you are tragic. I really do. I sympathize. But some happiness wouldn't kill you. My tear stained copies of your literature cannot help your country.

               Sincerely,

               Anya Maltsberger

So, I decided to look up this book after seeing several quotes from it online; it has some very quote worthy moments. You should read this book and appreciate the writing.

Ya know, when you're not being confused by the sheer Russianness. 

It's not even written by a Russian man, it's just some lady from Seattle. Yet it's somehow more insightful and relatable that Dr Zhivago or anything written by any Russian man ever*. 

It's like a fairy tale in it's own, strange, nonsensical way**. It even features the sheer repetition that fairy tales do, like when there's three brothers or whatever and they each leave home and there's basically a template for the journey of each. 

Ya know, fairy tale madlibs.

Also the main character was really good. She had some major issues. 

Anyway, all in all I was very impressed. The only part that I really didn't like was how suddenly they was in a village with every historical Russian figure ever and and it was like one really poorly disguised metaphor but on purpose....?

Is this book a fairy tale? Is it a metaphor about communism? Is it a metaphor about Russia? But they're in Russia and Communists already? And they're all dead but have to keep living and apparently the world is just going to repeat itself because that's what the world does with stories? 

Read it and see if you understand it anymore than I, because apparently, when birds turn into men and come marry your older sisters, you've just seen the world naked. 

*I've turned Zhivago into an adjective. Like, whenever something really coincidental happens, especially involving the meeting of people, I say "Wow, that's real Zhivago-y." 

**Nonsensical, as in "this doesn't make logical since" not nonsensical as in "wow, this is so happy."