Anthony Marra feels a little like Michael Ondaatje with the whole sweeping war and loss and humanity. But Chechnya is a far cry from WWII’s the English Patient, and while the past and present timeline is a useful device, it feels a little jarring. It is enough to suggest, which he does, that while war rages and time stands still to those it grabs, the rest of the world goes on and on. Merrily along.
