ShelfLook
Tools About
Cover of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

How long does it take to read A Constellation of Vital Phenomena?

Anthony Marra

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra takes about 7 hours 38 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 7 hours 38 minutes

A weekend read

First published 2013. 416 pages, about 114,400 words.

16 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 12 hours 43 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 7 hours 38 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 4 hours 46 minutes

The page count is the median across 4 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

In a rural village in December 2004 Chechnya, a failed doctor Akhmed harbors the traumatized 8-year-old daughter of a father abducted by Russian forces and treats a series of wounded rebels and refugees while exploring the shared past that binds him to the child. "In a small rural village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as Russian soldiers abduct her father in the middle of the night and then set fire to her home. When their lifelong neighbor Akhmed finds Havaa hiding in the forest with a strange blue suitcase, he makes a decision that will forever change their lives. He will seek refuge at the abandoned hospital where the sole remaining doctor, Sonja Rabina, treats the wounded. For Sonja, the arrival of Akhmed and Havaa is an unwelcome surprise. Weary and overburdened, she has no desire to take on additional risk and responsibility. But over the course of five extraordinary days, Sonja's world will shift on its axis and reveal the intricate pattern of connections that weaves together the pasts of these three unlikely companions and unexpectedly decides their fate. A story of the transcendent power of love in wartime, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is a work of sweeping breadth, profound compassion, and lasting significance." -- Publisher's description.

Subjects: Fiction, Women physicians, History, Hospitals, Bürgerkrieg, Hospital

More by Anthony Marra

Books like this

Popular books of similar length