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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Felt like a blog about a middle aged, white woman who is mad about getting older and being unattractive to other people. She’s miserable in her life and terrible.
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5/5
this felt like elif batuman meets ottessa moshfegh.
that’s all i can say about it for now: a very unique and amazing book even tho it had such a simple premise.
this felt like elif batuman meets ottessa moshfegh.
that’s all i can say about it for now: a very unique and amazing book even tho it had such a simple premise.
Absolutely sordid. Impossible to love or hate any character in the process. All are plagued with dark and tumultuous truths that should wreak destruction in their lives but instead, they just continue on.
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-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
I feel a bit conflicted with this book because I found the story both interesting and vapid at the same time. On one hand I was incredibly intrigued by the plot and I really wanted to see what was going to happen to Vladimir and the unnamed narrator. It seemed spicy while also being insightful about relationships, true love, and aging. But in reality we spent most of the time listening to the narrator complain about her life and argue with her husband, John (or at least I think that's his name). It was very much privileged white people drama, which is too pretentious for me. I realized that this book was one of those situations where you're led to believe that a certain character/plot line is the most important thing in the story, only for it not to be the case. In this circumstance that thing is Vladimir, whom despite being the titular character, doesn't do much in the story until the third act. It was not what was expected, and although it ended up making me feel like I had been lied to, I didn't entirely mind that my expectations were different than what I ended up getting.
If you asked me what I did like about the book it would be the writing, because that was beautiful. Even though the story didn't end up wowing me, I liked the lyrical writing. I thought Jonas did a very good job, seeing as this is her debut book, and I would read more of her work if I found it in enticing. I thought the prologue was very well written; we were thrown right into the plot and we got to see the narrator's true colors right off the bat. Jonas did a good job creating an obsessed, possessive person whom only cares about her own well being. She didn't force the readers to sympathize for her, which is good because I couldn't even begin to empathize with her. That's probably because I'm so young, but to be fair she was insufferable and was so judgmental of every other character.
++Potential spoilers ahead++
I'm not sure if the narrator was supposed to bean unreliable narrator, but I think it made the reading experience more interesting because I kept wondering what weird stuff she would do next. I know she isn't the most unreliable of narrators out there, but in my defense she was pretty crazy and if I knew her personally and could read her thoughts I would want nothing to do with her. She was so obsessed with her age to the point that I rolled my eyes every time she brought it up. Oh boo hoo you're so insecure about this! Well maybe, just maybe, if you had married someone you actually loved, you wouldn't be so critical of your body and base your self worth on how much your creepy husband speaks to you. As the book goes along you see as her perception of the world drastically changes as her "perfect" life crumbles. And then before you know it she's drugged her side piece. Sure, she was very annoying for most of the book, but at least she was unhinged enough to keep things interesting.
Although some of her decisions in the last third of the book were straight up illegal, I was happy that things were actually happening and the story was picking up pace. It had been so slow for so long, and I was more than happy for there to be moments of "whiplash" that changed the whole thing up. I did find the end of the story to feel very forced, however. I don't think Jonas knew how she wanted to end the story, so she wrote something random that sort of resolved things (even though it didn't). There were so many unanswered questions, and even worse, the falling action and resolution felt like a bullet list. This is what happened to this character, this is what happened to that character, etc. until the book ended. Jonas had been doing such a good job with her writing and it completely dissolved at the end.
I also want to BRIEFLY talk about Sidney because her story line was so frustrating. She cheated on her girlfriend, who gave her a "three strikes" warning (which is way more generous than I would have been), and then when she gets caught for the third time she is so surprised that her girlfriend broke up with her. Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of your own actions (honestly I think everyone in this book needed to remember that). And then she went crying to mommy about how it was "one mistake" and her girlfriend should take her back, and her dumb mother AGREED with her. Miss girl, your mother is the one in an open relationship, not you.
And then her girlfriend takes her back and agrees to raise the child of some stranger. Sis, you deserve better.
I feel like there's more things I would like to mention, especially regarding the more negative aspects of the book, but I don't really have the energy for it, and there are more people here who have written much more detailed and thought-out reviews than me. Most of the more negative reviews I've read do a good job of articulating those thoughts, so if you read some of those just imagine me standing behind you, reading over your shoulder, and nodding. As I mentioned earlier, this isn't a bad book, and there are aspects that I certainly liked, but it is far from my favorite and I ended up finding most of the story too dull and annoying for my taste.
If you asked me what I did like about the book it would be the writing, because that was beautiful. Even though the story didn't end up wowing me, I liked the lyrical writing. I thought Jonas did a very good job, seeing as this is her debut book, and I would read more of her work if I found it in enticing. I thought the prologue was very well written; we were thrown right into the plot and we got to see the narrator's true colors right off the bat. Jonas did a good job creating an obsessed, possessive person whom only cares about her own well being. She didn't force the readers to sympathize for her, which is good because I couldn't even begin to empathize with her. That's probably because I'm so young, but to be fair she was insufferable and was so judgmental of every other character.
++Potential spoilers ahead++
I'm not sure if the narrator was supposed to bean unreliable narrator, but I think it made the reading experience more interesting because I kept wondering what weird stuff she would do next. I know she isn't the most unreliable of narrators out there, but in my defense she was pretty crazy and if I knew her personally and could read her thoughts I would want nothing to do with her. She was so obsessed with her age to the point that I rolled my eyes every time she brought it up. Oh boo hoo you're so insecure about this! Well maybe, just maybe, if you had married someone you actually loved, you wouldn't be so critical of your body and base your self worth on how much your creepy husband speaks to you. As the book goes along you see as her perception of the world drastically changes as her "perfect" life crumbles. And then before you know it she's drugged her side piece. Sure, she was very annoying for most of the book, but at least she was unhinged enough to keep things interesting.
Although some of her decisions in the last third of the book were straight up illegal, I was happy that things were actually happening and the story was picking up pace. It had been so slow for so long, and I was more than happy for there to be moments of "whiplash" that changed the whole thing up. I did find the end of the story to feel very forced, however. I don't think Jonas knew how she wanted to end the story, so she wrote something random that sort of resolved things (even though it didn't). There were so many unanswered questions, and even worse, the falling action and resolution felt like a bullet list. This is what happened to this character, this is what happened to that character, etc. until the book ended. Jonas had been doing such a good job with her writing and it completely dissolved at the end.
I also want to BRIEFLY talk about Sidney because her story line was so frustrating. She cheated on her girlfriend, who gave her a "three strikes" warning (which is way more generous than I would have been), and then when she gets caught for the third time she is so surprised that her girlfriend broke up with her. Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of your own actions (honestly I think everyone in this book needed to remember that). And then she went crying to mommy about how it was "one mistake" and her girlfriend should take her back, and her dumb mother AGREED with her. Miss girl, your mother is the one in an open relationship, not you.
And then her girlfriend takes her back and agrees to raise the child of some stranger. Sis, you deserve better.
I feel like there's more things I would like to mention, especially regarding the more negative aspects of the book, but I don't really have the energy for it, and there are more people here who have written much more detailed and thought-out reviews than me. Most of the more negative reviews I've read do a good job of articulating those thoughts, so if you read some of those just imagine me standing behind you, reading over your shoulder, and nodding. As I mentioned earlier, this isn't a bad book, and there are aspects that I certainly liked, but it is far from my favorite and I ended up finding most of the story too dull and annoying for my taste.
Perhaps I can't connect with this story since I am a twenty something female with great teeth.
Maybe if I read it when I'm fifty something with wrinkles and a few cavities I'll be able to understand why the MC thought it was a good idea to lust over a young hunk and drug him and then consider raping him. Yes, that was a long sentence. But Vladimir is an even longer, dragged out sentence. So prepare yourself.
It had interesting ideas over age, race, sex, and marriage. It just fell flat because the main characters were all a bunch of predators.
Maybe if I read it when I'm fifty something with wrinkles and a few cavities I'll be able to understand why the MC thought it was a good idea to lust over a young hunk and drug him and then consider raping him. Yes, that was a long sentence. But Vladimir is an even longer, dragged out sentence. So prepare yourself.
It had interesting ideas over age, race, sex, and marriage. It just fell flat because the main characters were all a bunch of predators.
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked that the book was way more chaotic than I initially expected it to be. I thought it was gonna be a garden variety book about an affair, but more than that happened. However it started a little too slow and then collapsed kind of abruptly when shit hit the fan.
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book had some amazing writing, though like other reviewers I was disappointed in the plot in the last third or fourth(?) part of the book in a way that made feel sad and empty. Up to that point it was hilarious and relatable but I wanted more for all of the characters and the end didn’t fit the build up. I guess I just really like happy endings and this one made me feel a little depressed about aging and being a woman. I also take issue with the cover because the person on the cover has different features than how they are described in the book (dark featured, the book says blonde and grey hair?)