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miafromorchardstreet's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
reganadd's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Unique, dark academia vibe, great book to pair with a cold foggy day. be ready for moral qualms and twisty plot! Satisfying ending but weird. I’m not mad but I wish there was some stronger emotion (missing some rage)
hannahfred's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
simonipatel's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
mmaier40's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
helensadler55's review against another edition
5.0
A brilliant debut, filled with twists and turns. Once I reached the middle, I could barely put it down. It has so much to say about marriage, desire, academia, writing, aging, and youth.
squid_vicious's review against another edition
4.0
Well damn.
I picked up “Vladimir” not really knowing what to expect, even if I read a bunch of reviews before getting a copy (thank you for putting it on my radar, Candi!). The topic of sex and power in academia in a post #metoo world is rich with potential, but is also an absolute minefield. Julia May Jonas walked through that minefield with incredible skill and guts and I am quite stunned by the result. While this book is certainly self-aware, it doesn’t have the self-consciousness I have often found in debuts. If anything, the writing is so strong and self-assured that I would not have believed it was a first novel. Jonas is unafraid of being provocative and nuanced, in ways that I am certain ruffled a few feathers, but I personally enjoy it when I look up from a book slightly disheveled.
I’m not even sure how to summarize this book. It is about a writing professor in her mid-fifties; her husband, who is chair of the department she works for, has been accused of having inappropriate relations with some former students in the past. She knew of his affairs and as per their understanding, did not mind, especially as the girls were all over the age of consent at the time of the trysts - but it takes less than that to get fired in academia now a days. While this is happening, a brilliant young novelist and his wife start teaching in the department, and our narrator becomes obsessively infatuated with the younger (in his early forties) man.
This is a fantastic character study that dives so deep beneath the narrator’s skin. Unlikable as she may be, she is drawn superbly: incredibly intelligent, but insecure and often cold, not because she doesn’t feel, but because her feelings have had a way of punishing her in the past and now they stay wrapped up. There is a carefully layered commentary of current sexual politics, the theme of agency and accountability, female competitiveness and paranoia, and mental health woven through the inner monologue, and I loved it. The prose is elegant and strong, the pacing had me gobbling up the book in big chunks like a glutton, and I couldn’t wait to see how this would all unravel. The book lost a star because while the last quarter of the book was well executed, it took me strangely off-guard: this was not at all where I thought or expected this to go, and I had hoped for something a little darker.
This is a very, very impressive novel, and I look forward to whatever Ms. Jonas comes up with next!
I picked up “Vladimir” not really knowing what to expect, even if I read a bunch of reviews before getting a copy (thank you for putting it on my radar, Candi!). The topic of sex and power in academia in a post #metoo world is rich with potential, but is also an absolute minefield. Julia May Jonas walked through that minefield with incredible skill and guts and I am quite stunned by the result. While this book is certainly self-aware, it doesn’t have the self-consciousness I have often found in debuts. If anything, the writing is so strong and self-assured that I would not have believed it was a first novel. Jonas is unafraid of being provocative and nuanced, in ways that I am certain ruffled a few feathers, but I personally enjoy it when I look up from a book slightly disheveled.
I’m not even sure how to summarize this book. It is about a writing professor in her mid-fifties; her husband, who is chair of the department she works for, has been accused of having inappropriate relations with some former students in the past. She knew of his affairs and as per their understanding, did not mind, especially as the girls were all over the age of consent at the time of the trysts - but it takes less than that to get fired in academia now a days. While this is happening, a brilliant young novelist and his wife start teaching in the department, and our narrator becomes obsessively infatuated with the younger (in his early forties) man.
This is a fantastic character study that dives so deep beneath the narrator’s skin. Unlikable as she may be, she is drawn superbly: incredibly intelligent, but insecure and often cold, not because she doesn’t feel, but because her feelings have had a way of punishing her in the past and now they stay wrapped up. There is a carefully layered commentary of current sexual politics, the theme of agency and accountability, female competitiveness and paranoia, and mental health woven through the inner monologue, and I loved it. The prose is elegant and strong, the pacing had me gobbling up the book in big chunks like a glutton, and I couldn’t wait to see how this would all unravel. The book lost a star because while the last quarter of the book was well executed, it took me strangely off-guard: this was not at all where I thought or expected this to go, and I had hoped for something a little darker.
This is a very, very impressive novel, and I look forward to whatever Ms. Jonas comes up with next!
divyamehra's review against another edition
I liked this book. It made me think a lot. It was provocative. It was clearly meant to be controversial (and its many divisive critiques have proven to be the case). It questions female agency, aging and beauty, morals, power dynamics, and academia. I didn't find the narrator to be unbearable, and I liked that she was flawed. The ending could have been better.
bears___dad's review against another edition
2.0
I’m just really annoyed that I read this book. The narrator is a professor at an upstate NY college whose professor husband is accused of having affairs with students in the past. The narrator becomes obsessed with a new junior faculty member and takes us through her seduction process, all while we watch her marriage continue in its misery and her adult daughter try to figure out her own life. Even though the prose is sexy, the payoff never came.
amykiirk's review against another edition
2.0
What on earth happened in the last third of this book???? What was the ending about??? Why is the main character who’s name we never learn so INSUFFERABLE????
I really enjoyed the first half and then it started to wane. The narrator is sloppy and annoying but it was enjoyable to begin with. Absolutely trash ending.
I really enjoyed the first half and then it started to wane. The narrator is sloppy and annoying but it was enjoyable to begin with. Absolutely trash ending.