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lcdavenport's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
issyd23's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Immensely captivating with a disappointing & rushed ending. Gives ‘I Love Dick’ by Chris Kraus energy 3❤️🔥
NB Personally disagreed with 90% of the protagonists’ thoughts & actions + her critiques of feminism, consent & cancel culture in a post me too era - but worth reading.
NB Personally disagreed with 90% of the protagonists’ thoughts & actions + her critiques of feminism, consent & cancel culture in a post me too era - but worth reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexism, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Suicide, Stalking, Misogyny, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Racism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship
amandadelbrocco's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Updated 2024: I have thought about this book at least once a week since I first read it almost two years ago. It's definitely not for everyone though.
Original review 2022: I absolutely adored this book. I found the main character’s inner monologue enthralling and relevant. Originally when I finished, I had rated it 4 stars but upon reviewing I have increased that to 5. This hasn’t left my head in several days.
The ending felt a little rushed but I still found it fitting.
Original review 2022: I absolutely adored this book. I found the main character’s inner monologue enthralling and relevant. Originally when I finished, I had rated it 4 stars but upon reviewing I have increased that to 5. This hasn’t left my head in several days.
The ending felt a little rushed but I still found it fitting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual assault
beneduck's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
there's no super clear spoilers in here, but definitely strong allusions. proceed with caution.
major TW for eating disorders, substance abuse, suicide, sexual assault
----
After immediately finishing here are my thoughts. The protag has horribly inconsistent psychology. Her actions and reactions make no sense compared to how she is in other parts of the story. This carries over to how Vladimir acts (thinking or a specific chair incident!) and it just pissed me off! The ending was too clean and resolved. So unbelievable.
Also!! the protag will not shut the fuck up about her body and eating habits, which i found really upsetting at times. she's obsessed with appearing younger, skinnier, "healthier". for tons of other reasons, i hate her and i don't enjoy hating her, which takes most of the fun out of this book.
i found the dustjacket summary soooo misleading -- as well as the super sexed-up cover. this is NOT
" Propulsive, darkly funny, and surreptitiously moving," it's horrific, glorifying, and disheartening. the protag makes light of her students' worries about potential sexual assault and deals with the whole husband thing in a spineless manner and never seems to form her own concrete opinions -- really about anything. even her "obsession" with vladimir in the first half consists of daydreaming about sex with him -- hardly an obsession, more aptly named a crush. i was excited for a dark and sexy book, and i got one that was uncomfortable in a way that wasn't productive.
re: the chair scene: "I let her lead me to the scene, not sure if this event would actually happen. I love characters who do something questionable on an impulse and then must deal with the consequences." it sure as hell was impulsive -- but it felt like she was acting on some other character's impulse and not her own. our darling protag has yet to feel capable of something like she does, and when she does it, it feels horrific instead of exciting.
re: the author's treatment of sexual misconduct: "I still feel connected to a sense of sexuality as a form of freedom and as something that can be used against you. Protectiveness about sexuality, making sexuality feel traumatic or disturbing, can be used as a way to wield power over female sexuality. And that was something that was much more prevalent about the sexual politics of when I was in college and growing into adulthood. It was really about taking down all of those taboos." i! do! not! like! these! implications! it's not fair for me to disagree with an author's stance as a reason for not liking a book, but the treatment of sexual boundaries in this book is sickening. simply put, what was attempted as a reclamation of aged female sexuality is actually just attempted assault. to be the reader seeing this through a first person narrator was so unpleasant, and, yet again, not in a productive manner.
booooo!! this went from a fun hate read to a capital-H hate read. this prof works (or used to work? unsure) at my college. i hope i see her so i can try to make amends.
major TW for eating disorders, substance abuse, suicide, sexual assault
----
After immediately finishing here are my thoughts. The protag has horribly inconsistent psychology. Her actions and reactions make no sense compared to how she is in other parts of the story. This carries over to how Vladimir acts (thinking or a specific chair incident!) and it just pissed me off! The ending was too clean and resolved. So unbelievable.
Also!! the protag will not shut the fuck up about her body and eating habits, which i found really upsetting at times. she's obsessed with appearing younger, skinnier, "healthier". for tons of other reasons, i hate her and i don't enjoy hating her, which takes most of the fun out of this book.
i found the dustjacket summary soooo misleading -- as well as the super sexed-up cover. this is NOT
" Propulsive, darkly funny, and surreptitiously moving," it's horrific, glorifying, and disheartening. the protag makes light of her students' worries about potential sexual assault and deals with the whole husband thing in a spineless manner and never seems to form her own concrete opinions -- really about anything. even her "obsession" with vladimir in the first half consists of daydreaming about sex with him -- hardly an obsession, more aptly named a crush. i was excited for a dark and sexy book, and i got one that was uncomfortable in a way that wasn't productive.
re: the chair scene: "I let her lead me to the scene, not sure if this event would actually happen. I love characters who do something questionable on an impulse and then must deal with the consequences." it sure as hell was impulsive -- but it felt like she was acting on some other character's impulse and not her own. our darling protag has yet to feel capable of something like she does, and when she does it, it feels horrific instead of exciting.
re: the author's treatment of sexual misconduct: "I still feel connected to a sense of sexuality as a form of freedom and as something that can be used against you. Protectiveness about sexuality, making sexuality feel traumatic or disturbing, can be used as a way to wield power over female sexuality. And that was something that was much more prevalent about the sexual politics of when I was in college and growing into adulthood. It was really about taking down all of those taboos." i! do! not! like! these! implications! it's not fair for me to disagree with an author's stance as a reason for not liking a book, but the treatment of sexual boundaries in this book is sickening. simply put, what was attempted as a reclamation of aged female sexuality is actually just attempted assault. to be the reader seeing this through a first person narrator was so unpleasant, and, yet again, not in a productive manner.
booooo!! this went from a fun hate read to a capital-H hate read. this prof works (or used to work? unsure) at my college. i hope i see her so i can try to make amends.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Suicide attempt
jesshindes's review
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I'm fairly ambivalent on campus novels - I think I over-indulged on them when I was in my late teens and about to go to uni, plus I have read enough 'English prof has an affair with a student' books to last a lifetime - but I saw Vladimir on offer in an indie bookshop, and someone I follow on Twitter had recommended it enthusiastically, so I ordered it anyway.
I ended up enjoying it. Yes, the story *does* feature a male English prof who is going through a disciplinary after five past students have reevaluated their relationships with him in the light of #metoo; but Jonas's novel benefits from taking the perspective, not of the philandering academic, but of his wife. Our unnamed protagonist is 58 and re-evaluating her relationship in light of recent developments; although this is complicated by the fact that they've had an open marriage and she both knew about and sanctioned her husband's involvements. Another complication arrives in the form of Vladimir, a new recruit to the English department, up-and-coming novelist, and hunk. It doesn't take long for our narrator to develop an all-consuming crush.
What I liked best about 'Vladimir' was its ability to surprise me. I didn't know what was going to happen - with the marriage, with Vladimir, with the protagonist's job - and on several occasions the novel turned in a direction I didn't expect. This was particularly true in the final section, which took a turn towards the thriller and which I could have done with even more of. More generally, I felt like the characters and their relationships consistently got beyond the stereotypes into which they could easily have settled, which obviously amped up my enjoyment; and finally, I really appreciated the humour. The novel doesn't take itself completely seriously (I'd probably call it black comedy?) and I liked that Jonas wasn't afraid to be either silly or bizarre.
The reservations that I had were mostly around the novel's beliefs, or thesis, or whatever you'd call that. I don't expect everything I read to be a polemic (not much fun) but I read the novel as being broadly ~about the relationship between gender and power, and how that plays out in all sorts of ways in this environment of a fairly fancy liberal arts college in the north-east of the USA. Because the narrator is an older woman, she lacks certain kinds of power (and she's obsessed by aging, its effects on her body and her desirability); her relationship to her husband has complicated implications for her own standing within the university; and the students, represented as politically engaged but somewhat naive, clamouring for social justice without maybe a full understanding of its nuances (or at least, their understanding conflicts with the narrator's) both wield and lack power in their own ways. I did appreciate that the narrator (and by implication, Jonas) made efforts not to dismiss the students' concerns around emotional safety (safe spaces, trigger warnings) even while the novel challenges some of these ideas' underpinning assumptions. I enjoyed the way that the see-saw of power tilted back and forth during the final sequence particularly; and there's some neat work whereby Jonas shows up some of the narrator's own biases, minimisations, and misconceptions around sexism, sexual assault and her own experiences in the academy. Still, I don't know that I could say with conviction what the novel's ultimate opinion on most of the issues it deals with might be, except for, 'hooboy, this is complicated'. That's legitimate, but it's not especially punchy.
Overall, there were enough things I liked about the novel that I would recommend it - especially for the narrator, who was complex and funny - but I feel like there was another darker, weirder book somewhere inside of this. It emerges in flashes towards the end of the novel, particularly; but I'd love to have seen what it looked like fully-realised.
I ended up enjoying it. Yes, the story *does* feature a male English prof who is going through a disciplinary after five past students have reevaluated their relationships with him in the light of #metoo; but Jonas's novel benefits from taking the perspective, not of the philandering academic, but of his wife. Our unnamed protagonist is 58 and re-evaluating her relationship in light of recent developments; although this is complicated by the fact that they've had an open marriage and she both knew about and sanctioned her husband's involvements. Another complication arrives in the form of Vladimir, a new recruit to the English department, up-and-coming novelist, and hunk. It doesn't take long for our narrator to develop an all-consuming crush.
What I liked best about 'Vladimir' was its ability to surprise me. I didn't know what was going to happen - with the marriage, with Vladimir, with the protagonist's job - and on several occasions the novel turned in a direction I didn't expect. This was particularly true in the final section, which took a turn towards the thriller and which I could have done with even more of. More generally, I felt like the characters and their relationships consistently got beyond the stereotypes into which they could easily have settled, which obviously amped up my enjoyment; and finally, I really appreciated the humour. The novel doesn't take itself completely seriously (I'd probably call it black comedy?) and I liked that Jonas wasn't afraid to be either silly or bizarre.
The reservations that I had were mostly around the novel's beliefs, or thesis, or whatever you'd call that. I don't expect everything I read to be a polemic (not much fun) but I read the novel as being broadly ~about the relationship between gender and power, and how that plays out in all sorts of ways in this environment of a fairly fancy liberal arts college in the north-east of the USA. Because the narrator is an older woman, she lacks certain kinds of power (and she's obsessed by aging, its effects on her body and her desirability); her relationship to her husband has complicated implications for her own standing within the university; and the students, represented as politically engaged but somewhat naive, clamouring for social justice without maybe a full understanding of its nuances (or at least, their understanding conflicts with the narrator's) both wield and lack power in their own ways. I did appreciate that the narrator (and by implication, Jonas) made efforts not to dismiss the students' concerns around emotional safety (safe spaces, trigger warnings) even while the novel challenges some of these ideas' underpinning assumptions. I enjoyed the way that the see-saw of power tilted back and forth during the final sequence particularly; and there's some neat work whereby Jonas shows up some of the narrator's own biases, minimisations, and misconceptions around sexism, sexual assault and her own experiences in the academy. Still, I don't know that I could say with conviction what the novel's ultimate opinion on most of the issues it deals with might be, except for, 'hooboy, this is complicated'. That's legitimate, but it's not especially punchy.
Overall, there were enough things I liked about the novel that I would recommend it - especially for the narrator, who was complex and funny - but I feel like there was another darker, weirder book somewhere inside of this. It emerges in flashes towards the end of the novel, particularly; but I'd love to have seen what it looked like fully-realised.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexual assault and Alcohol
itsme_lori's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide attempt
Minor: Drug use and Sexual assault
auudrey's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment and Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Misogyny
Minor: Medical content
jkneebone's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Vladimir takes place at a time of personal upheaval for the unnamed narrator. She, like her husband, is a tenured English professor at a small college in upstate New York. They have long enjoyed an "unconventional" marriage - e.g. affairs are allowed - but their life together is put under a microscope when a petition circulates calling for her husband's removal. Prior to relationships between teachers and students being explicitly banned by the school, her husband John had several consensual relationships with of-age students who now, as adults, feel they were taken advantage of. Our narrator feels that these women are overreacting - didn't everyone want to sleep with their professors in college? Why are they complaining about a power differential when John's power was what attracted them to him? - but nonetheless, her life is impacted by the accusations. Outsiders, unaware that she knew about the affairs, see her as the victimized wife. Students - and her own daughter - encourage her to leave her husband. Her colleagues question whether she should continue teaching while John's dismissal hearing is happening.
At the same time, a new professor has joined the English department: Vladimir. The narrator quickly becomes obsessed with Vladimir - she reads his book and admires his writing, she lusts after him, she has conflicting emotions about his troubled wife Cynthia (the narrator likes her, and wishes she didn't), she schemes to find time to be alone with him, and finally she takes action - and not necessarily in a good way.
With plenty of discussion of academia, power dynamics, gender roles and gendered relationships, changing standards and generational differences in views on representation, taboo subjects, etc., Vladimir is ripe with plenty to discuss. There are also literature references aplenty, and our narrator's own literary aspirations as her obsession with Vladimir inspires her to write for the first time in decades serves as a background plot.
Julia May Jonas intentionally demonstrates the narrator's hypocrisy through the contradictions of her life: she is a feminist and knows she should care less about her appearance, but is obsessed with her own aging and the way it has made her less beautiful, especially in comparison to still-youthful colleagues and students. She prides herself on her "unconventional" marriage, but still falls into her expected societal role as a wife - she cooks, cleans, raised their daughter, and worries that her husband (never published) is jealous of the two books she has written.
Although I recognized what Jonas was trying to do with these contradictions, for me this is where the novel fell short. Perhaps I'm just too young to relate to the internal dialogue and struggle of the narrator, but I spent too much of the book wondering why she hadn't already left her husband, or made him do his share of the housework, if she found him so annoying and was so checked out of their relationship. I didn't particularly enjoy reading over and over about how the narrator found herself unattractive and disgusting. Although I recognize that I'm part of the generation Jonas/the narrator is poking at in the book, and therefore endeavored to keep an open mind, I still struggled some with how the narrator downplayed her husband's actions.
The story was very fast-paced, and I finished the audiobook in a matter of days because it was so engaging. There is plenty to talk about, especially for English-y, academic-y people. The narrator's obsession with Vladimir could have been pushed further given that it is the central conceit of the book - there were entire sections where we didn't see Vladimir at all. Personally the ending wasn't too my taste, but I understood how it fit into what I think the author was trying to do.
At the same time, a new professor has joined the English department: Vladimir. The narrator quickly becomes obsessed with Vladimir - she reads his book and admires his writing, she lusts after him, she has conflicting emotions about his troubled wife Cynthia (the narrator likes her, and wishes she didn't), she schemes to find time to be alone with him, and finally she takes action - and not necessarily in a good way.
With plenty of discussion of academia, power dynamics, gender roles and gendered relationships, changing standards and generational differences in views on representation, taboo subjects, etc., Vladimir is ripe with plenty to discuss. There are also literature references aplenty, and our narrator's own literary aspirations as her obsession with Vladimir inspires her to write for the first time in decades serves as a background plot.
Julia May Jonas intentionally demonstrates the narrator's hypocrisy through the contradictions of her life: she is a feminist and knows she should care less about her appearance, but is obsessed with her own aging and the way it has made her less beautiful, especially in comparison to still-youthful colleagues and students. She prides herself on her "unconventional" marriage, but still falls into her expected societal role as a wife - she cooks, cleans, raised their daughter, and worries that her husband (never published) is jealous of the two books she has written.
Although I recognized what Jonas was trying to do with these contradictions, for me this is where the novel fell short. Perhaps I'm just too young to relate to the internal dialogue and struggle of the narrator, but I spent too much of the book wondering why she hadn't already left her husband, or made him do his share of the housework, if she found him so annoying and was so checked out of their relationship. I didn't particularly enjoy reading over and over about how the narrator found herself unattractive and disgusting. Although I recognize that I'm part of the generation Jonas/the narrator is poking at in the book, and therefore endeavored to keep an open mind, I still struggled some with how the narrator downplayed her husband's actions.
The story was very fast-paced, and I finished the audiobook in a matter of days because it was so engaging. There is plenty to talk about, especially for English-y, academic-y people. The narrator's obsession with Vladimir could have been pushed further given that it is the central conceit of the book - there were entire sections where we didn't see Vladimir at all. Personally the ending wasn't too my taste, but I understood how it fit into what I think the author was trying to do.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual harassment
maddyontheoffbeat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really like how she portrayed the main character, with all of her insecurities about aging, but the off-branches about “the new generation” felt a little pedantic and overdone. I guess I was also expecting either a Lolita thing or a My Dark Vanessa vibe, which it was not. It kinda just skirted the edges of if. I also felt that the ending kind of came out of nowhere. it felt to me that the fire was just an excuse to end it sooner, and that it didn’t really wrap up the story. It just feels like there’s a lot unsaid.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
amanda02143's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Incredible writing. As an academic, so much of the setting and drama felt eerily accurate. Small town life, department and college politics, energetic new faculty vs the old guard, the changing norms and culture and the accompanying complications. The narrator, too, is very relatable in all her neuroses and flaws. Accomplished, beloved by students, and yet insecure about aging and her appearance while simultaneously hating herself for caring about superficial standards. All of which is to say this book had me fully engrossed....up to a point. SPOILER
The sharp plot turn beginning with the lunch date with Vladimir and her "plan" defied credibility. The lack of planning, for someone whose core identity is a researcher, is completely out of character. I was cringing, though willing to see where things were headed, until the zip ties and padlock.
From that point, the last third of the book seemed almost like an entirely different book. The plot is rushed to a resolution and all of the complexity that was pain-stakingly developed is thrown out with the fire.
Sid and her partner, Vlad and his wife all work things out and everyone just carries on?? Most implausible of all, even dinosaur professors save to the cloud these days. Too neat and tidy.
From that point, the last third of the book seemed almost like an entirely different book. The plot is rushed to a resolution and all of the complexity that was pain-stakingly developed is thrown out with the fire.
Sid and her partner, Vlad and his wife all work things out and everyone just carries on?? Most implausible of all, even dinosaur professors save to the cloud these days. Too neat and tidy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcohol, Vomit, and Fatphobia
Will definitely look forward to future work from this author!