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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I should’ve looked at the content warnings about COVID lol. Otherwise, I thought the book was pretty good
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This didn't work for me. It read less like a novel and more like a bunch of short stories recounting random experiences during the COVID lockdown. Although this is not meant to be nonfiction, it's hard to separate the author from the main unnamed character. I'm really not into COVID as a theme or backdrop in novels so maybe shame on me for choosing this book. The voice seems self indulgent and a bit tone deaf. A primary conflict in the story was about the distress of having to share a luxury apartment in Manhattan with a friends' adult son... Seriously???? That's your tragic COVID story worth repeating? The whole thing wreaked of privilege.
informative
inspiring
reflective
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Beginning days before lockdown hit the US following the outbreak of Covid-19, The Vulnerables follows a past-middle aged writer as she experiences loneliness, isolation, and, perhaps most prominently, writers block during the pandemic. Her only refuge is taking care of her friend’s parrot and the unlikely bond that forms between her and a boy more than half her junior.
This the second January in a row I’ve read a book that includes a parrot. Last year it was Claude in Winman’s Still Life, this year it was a Macaw called Eureka in The Vulnerables, Nunez’s ninth novel. While not overly fond of birds, the inclusion of these creatures in both books were highlights for me. However, where I loved Still Life, I cannot say the same for The Vulnerables. That isn’t to say my experience was entirely negative, though.
Alongside Eureka, who’s handful of appearances were my favourite (the anecdote about him imitating his owner’s old cat even after the cat had died simultaneously warmed and broke my heart), I liked the meditations on storytelling, and what they meant to both writers and readers alike. I was interested in the exploration of human connection during one of the most isolated times in our recent history, too, and the slow but steady forming of a friendship – if not, then at least something warmer than just an acquaintance – as the unnamed writer bonds with Vecht, a troubled male college-dropout in his early twenties.
The book offered snappy vignettes and chapters, but jarringly jumped from the present to overflowing references to Joan Didion and other writers without pause for relevance. I’ve read that Nunez deems some of her work as autofiction, but I think this would’ve been better suited as a memoir on her own wrestling with creativity in that time period dubbed ‘unprecedented’. Very much “no plot, just vibes”, it also sort of just felt messy, though equally beautiful in its language.
I’m eager to see what The Friend has to offer, which has been gathering dust for some time on my shelves. I’m assured the storytelling is a lot tighter.
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
challenging
reflective
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No