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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unnamed main character is deeply terrible, but this book kept me pretty sucked in
Starting the year off strong with a book that somehow manages to be incredibly boring and totally unhinged at the same time. I don’t have very coherent thoughts about it atm, but general impressions:
- Went a long way towards curing me of my yearning for a life in academia
- I felt like I was waiting for the “gotcha” the whole time
- If the goal was to write a deeply unlikable female character, brava I guess?
**spoilers**
So basically this middle aged English professor lady is married to another middle aged English professor guy who has been suspended from being a professor at the liberal arts college where they both work because he’s been sleeping with students (and his wife is like it’s ok, it was consensual and anyway we have an “arrangement” but the students are like it was an abuse of power). She meets this other professor (Vladimir) who’s in his 40s and she becomes obsessed with him, and they set a lunch date for like, 3 months away to talk about a book he wrote. Then basically the whole second act is her obsessing over her attractiveness in anticipation of this lunch date, and also complaining endlessly about aging and how snowflakey her students are. By the time the lunch date finally rolls around I’m kind of hypnotized by her neurotic, egotistical voice, and I’m sick of her like I get sick of my own internal monologue, and I’m so bored but I’m like 3/4 of the way through so I might as well keep reading. She takes Vladimir to lunch at this out of the way spot and gives the most cringeworthy speech I’ve ever ever read about how great his book is. Then she takes him to this little cabin she owns where she goes to write sometimes. Again this is all so boring and monotonous. So they get to this cabin and then she roofies Vladimir and chains him to a chair??? And then she puts on a fancy nightgown and goes to bed and I’m like girl what? And then she randomly almost dies in a fire. I was half asleep listening to the audiobook for this part and I genuinely thought I was hallucinating but that’s really what happened.
- Went a long way towards curing me of my yearning for a life in academia
- I felt like I was waiting for the “gotcha” the whole time
- If the goal was to write a deeply unlikable female character, brava I guess?
**spoilers**
So basically this middle aged English professor lady is married to another middle aged English professor guy who has been suspended from being a professor at the liberal arts college where they both work because he’s been sleeping with students (and his wife is like it’s ok, it was consensual and anyway we have an “arrangement” but the students are like it was an abuse of power). She meets this other professor (Vladimir) who’s in his 40s and she becomes obsessed with him, and they set a lunch date for like, 3 months away to talk about a book he wrote. Then basically the whole second act is her obsessing over her attractiveness in anticipation of this lunch date, and also complaining endlessly about aging and how snowflakey her students are. By the time the lunch date finally rolls around I’m kind of hypnotized by her neurotic, egotistical voice, and I’m sick of her like I get sick of my own internal monologue, and I’m so bored but I’m like 3/4 of the way through so I might as well keep reading. She takes Vladimir to lunch at this out of the way spot and gives the most cringeworthy speech I’ve ever ever read about how great his book is. Then she takes him to this little cabin she owns where she goes to write sometimes. Again this is all so boring and monotonous. So they get to this cabin and then she roofies Vladimir and chains him to a chair??? And then she puts on a fancy nightgown and goes to bed and I’m like girl what? And then she randomly almost dies in a fire. I was half asleep listening to the audiobook for this part and I genuinely thought I was hallucinating but that’s really what happened.
How is this a debut?! I can't wait to read every single novel Julia May Jonas writes.
Should we only portray the world we wanted to see? Should we consider certain stories “damaging,” and restrict them from a general audience, not trusting them to take in the story without internalizing the messaging? Hadn’t we all agreed that morality in art was bad? But art did cause damage, and I was affected by films I had seen when I was young, and I was ashamed when I watched an old film and saw racist depictions I hadn’t seen before, and I was glad to be ashamed. But did we all have to see ourselves in the presentations of types? Did I have to feel like every wife and mother was presenting an overarching narrative of Wife and Mother that reinforced or rejected my own experience?
Devoured this book. Delicious.
- the exploration of cancel culture from a more nuanced perspective than just "Man bad!" was strinkingly fun
- the exploration of relationships affected by accusations and the grey areas was wonderful
- all the academia rants and detours were fantastic (from the heightened woke-ness of certain departments to the generational differences between faculty and student body)
- the nuances of sexuality were also interesting to explore, cheating, flirting, sexual daydreaming -
- the ending was fine, a worthy resolution, i believe.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Bitches be crazy when it comes to hot Russian men, eh? Julia really captured that feeling of “obsession at first sight” and then how disappointing people can be once you get to know them. I won’t lie, this started off kinda slow for me but my god did it pick up! The last few chapters I just couldn’t stop reading, brilliant. For a debut novel, Julia has really knocked it out of the park. Her writing style is just lovely.