Vladimir
Books | Fiction / Literary
3.3
(151)
Julia May Jonas
An NPR, Washington Post, Time, People, Vulture, Guardian, Vox, Kirkus Reviews, Newsweek, LitHub, and New York Public Library Best Book of the Year * “Delightful…cathartic, devious, and terrifically entertaining.” —The New York Times * “Timely, whip-smart, and darkly funny.” —People (Book of the Week) * One of Shondaland’s 13 Best College-Set Novels of All Time A provocative, razor-sharp, and timely debut novel about a beloved English professor facing a slew of accusations against her professor husband by former students—a situation that becomes more complicated when she herself develops an obsession of her own... “When I was a child, I loved old men, and I could tell that they also loved me.” And so we are introduced to our narrator who’s “a work of art in herself” (The Washington Post): a popular English professor whose charismatic husband at the same small liberal arts college is under investigation for his inappropriate relationships with his former students. The couple have long had a mutual understanding when it comes to their extra-marital pursuits, but with these new allegations, life has become far less comfortable for them both. And when our narrator becomes increasingly infatuated with Vladimir—a celebrated, married young novelist who’s just arrived on campus—their tinder box world comes dangerously close to exploding. “Timely, whip-smart, and darkly funny” (People), Vladimir takes us into charged territory, where the boundaries of morality bump up against the impulses of the human heart. This edgy, uncommonly assured debut perfectly captures the personal and political minefield of our current moment, exposing the nuances and the grey area between power and desire.
Romance
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Author
Julia May Jonas
Pages
256
Publisher
Simon and Schuster
Published Date
2022-02-01
ISBN
1982187654 9781982187651
Community ReviewsSee all
"I think the fact that the cover is of a man's body and not much more is quite telling. The narrator (who's never named) is an English professor who spends the entire book ******* over one of her colleagues, the way he looks, the way he thinks. Her descriptions are vivid, her fantasies almost real, and she is determined to make them come true.
All this, of course, is happening while the real world is kinda falling apart around her. Her husband is being possibly suspended from his job as the director of the English department due to a sexual relationship with 7 women, who both the author and he assure were of age and consenting in a time that student teacher relationships at the college were legal. Our narrator cannot allow herself to condemn her husband as a rapist, and how could she, when she's so stuck in her own world.
Honestly, I don't know how I feel about this book. The writing was beautiful, poetic, descriptive. But the scenes that were being described were sensual to the point of my feeling uncomfortable. I do believe that was the point, but I feel like symbolism was lost on me somewhere inside."
"Everything about this book was super cringe for me… everything from the cover to the story itself!"
N C
Nikki Cureton
"Perhaps marketing this book as a romance novel was not a good move, as it leads to disgruntled reviewers, but if you take this book as simply a story, and a modern reworking of Lolita it is very very good. Literary allusions abound and having read Lolita might provoke more appreciation for the story and even the voice and style of this novel. Filled with robust and thought-provoking social commentary, wonderful vocabulary, a perfectly quick pace, and unique characters , it is a truly immersive and page turning novel. "
N B
Nikita Bailey
"The last 8% of this book crumbled for me, it was a bit of nothing. I really liked this but then that happened and it deterred my whole affection towards this book (ok wait affection's too strong of a word but I'm gonna roll with it). A real shame because it could've been so much more! Don't know whether to give it a 3.25 or 4 honestly.<br/>Edit: it's been half an hour and I'm still not over that ending **** smh biggest disappointment how can I sleep in peace now?? Like HUH are you the same person who wrote the 92% before that? Very sad moment. I'll think about the ratings when I wake up."
"Loved this. I think the way the author hypnotizes the reader into riding along on her absurd fantasies and thoughts is remarkable. There were points my jaw was on the floor but Jonas almost convinced me what she was doing was correct. That’s how powerful the author was. People keep saying it’s cringey and horrifying that she’s standing up for her husband, but that’s the point of the book. When the narrator speaks about literature, she’s speaking about the exact story she’s telling. I thought this book was deep and thoughtful and wild and absurd. I loved it.
“Should we only portray the world we wanted to see? Should we consider certain stories “damaging,” and restrict them from a general audience, not trusting them to take in the story without internalizing the messaging? Hadn’t we all agreed that morality in art was bad? But art did cause damage, and I was affected by films I had seen when I was young, and I was ashamed when I watched an old film and saw racist depictions I hadn’t seen before, and I was glad to be ashamed. But did we all have to see ourselves in the presentations of types? Did I have to feel like every wife and mother was presenting an overarching narrative of Wife and Mother that reinforced or rejected my own experience?”"
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