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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
One of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a while. Funny, profound, outrageous. You will want to talk with your friends about this when you are done.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first ~80% of this, but the ending didn’t work for me at all. My only indication that the narrator was “obsessed” with Vladimir up to that point was that the dust jacket told me she was. Her feelings played out as a crush to me, until the shocking moment she drugged and bound him. Somehow, the ending became progressively more absurd from there. Perhaps these were all literary references that flew over my head, I’m not sure, but either way I was disappointed as I really enjoyed the bulk of this novel.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was one of my Book of the Month selections. Don't let the cover dissuade you, I find it funny after reading the book. A dark and cynical book, "Vladimir" features a 58 year old female professor of English at a small LAC on the east coast. Beginning the new school year with her fellow English professor husband, John, under fire for sexual relationships with multiple students over the years, she finds herself obsessively attracted to new hire, Vladimir, a younger man. What follows is a story about highly flawed people who make questionable moral decisions repeatedly. Incisively looking at the lies we tell ourselves to justify our behavior, the way we make excuses for those we love, and the ways we struggle with aging, "Vladimir" defied my expectations. It is also a rather quick read, coming in at around 250 pages.
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
62nd book of 2022.
Better than I thought it was going to be. The plot goes a bit wild in the end, which seems to be a running theme at the moment, if I think of other books like Mona by Oloixarac. I wonder why Jonas decided to write this book. The first half feels almost taken from Netflix's The Chair; I don't watch much television but I did catch the short series (which isn't returning for a second series, sadly) because it was a campus/professor thing. I'm a sucker for anything on a campus. The shift in plot towards the end didn't impress me, I wish she stuck with her earlier tone and rode that out to the end instead, though lots of things are 'resolved', or at least, readdressed. The funniest thing in the novel, like in The Chair is the critique of the modern generation. There are lecture scenes such as,
Or,
In my experience too, it was always my colleagues in university who never did the reading who moaned the most about the problems outlined in the second quote. Funny how Jonas identified the same thing.
Not a bad read, definitely better than some of the other debuts being published by women and being relentlessly called, 'sexy', 'dark', 'delicious', yuck and yuck, etc.
Better than I thought it was going to be. The plot goes a bit wild in the end, which seems to be a running theme at the moment, if I think of other books like Mona by Oloixarac. I wonder why Jonas decided to write this book. The first half feels almost taken from Netflix's The Chair; I don't watch much television but I did catch the short series (which isn't returning for a second series, sadly) because it was a campus/professor thing. I'm a sucker for anything on a campus. The shift in plot towards the end didn't impress me, I wish she stuck with her earlier tone and rode that out to the end instead, though lots of things are 'resolved', or at least, readdressed. The funniest thing in the novel, like in The Chair is the critique of the modern generation. There are lecture scenes such as,
In class we were comparing selections from Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and the diaries of Alice James. "Why are all these white women so obsessed with being female?" asked a blond, female student who never did the reading. "Don't they recognize their privilege?" When I ventured to say that Chopin, for instance, began writing after being left widowed with six children as a means of support, she shrugged. "But she still walked through the world as a white woman." When I asked her if that meant she shouldn't write, she said, "No, she shouldn't complain." When I asked what writing that was non-complaining looked like, she said, "I don't know, like James Joyce."
Or,
Of course, "Rebecca" is, in many ways, a story that is erected in misogyny, demonizing women, demonizing the other, but I was not interested in that for them. I wanted them to see how suspense was created, how symbols were utilized, how repetition made the ghost of Rebecca rise from the page. Again and again I told them, you need to see these things, these forms. Oh, they drove me crazy, being so completely obsessed with whether or not people were represented well, wanting every piece of literature to be some utopian screed of fairness.
In my experience too, it was always my colleagues in university who never did the reading who moaned the most about the problems outlined in the second quote. Funny how Jonas identified the same thing.
Not a bad read, definitely better than some of the other debuts being published by women and being relentlessly called, 'sexy', 'dark', 'delicious', yuck and yuck, etc.
A very odd book. Did I enjoy it? No. Would I recommend it? Maybe? I feel smarter and yet more stupid for having read it. I feel challenged but that I may not have fully met the challenge. I feel I may be too young for that quite yet.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment
2.75
Not much happens really in first 3/4 of this book, you’re waiting for something big for the final chapters but what occurs boarders on the ridiculous! and ultimately it all felt a bit pointless. Unlikeable main character which wasn’t a negative for me, I felt this had so much potential as the writing was great however it went in a totally different direction to what I was expecting.
Not much happens really in first 3/4 of this book, you’re waiting for something big for the final chapters but what occurs boarders on the ridiculous! and ultimately it all felt a bit pointless. Unlikeable main character which wasn’t a negative for me, I felt this had so much potential as the writing was great however it went in a totally different direction to what I was expecting.