Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Vladimir

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.

Content Warnings

lottselgar's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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auudrey's review against another edition

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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

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jkneebone's review against another edition

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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.

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psychedelicize555's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-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

1.0

Truly a terrible book. Ever wanted to read a book filled with all the critical comments your mother made about her body in front of you when you were eleven? Then this book is for you! Insufferable main character, hell bent on simultaneously fawning over and criticising her pervert husband. You know how people say your partner is a reflection of your worst qualities? These two are like gigantic (pervy) mirrors. Add in a creepy infatuation with a forty year old college lecturer that is either informed by a legitimate flirtation on his behalf or just evidence of delusion on her behalf - you have a droll, irritatingly male-centred (dare i say obsessed / infatuated) novel. The main character is so indecisive it makes me want to rip my hair out. She is so insecure and never fails to pit her ageing body against an unknowing younger woman’s body. Can’t women just exist? She’s a failed critical feminist, intent on coming across that way but every fibre of her being proves otherwise. Without spoilers, the ending is so uncreative it feels almost offensive that I was forced to read so much only to be (could you even call it this) rewarded with such a miserable conclusion. Sorry JMJ - nothing against you. Maybe we just don’t need a book about 2 insecure boomers projecting their weird fucking lives onto younger people? I really don’t know what the point of this book was.

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amanda02143's review against another edition

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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

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.

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karol99's review

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dark mysterious 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

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