Vladimir

A Novel

De: Julia May Jonas

Narrado por: Rebecca Lowman

Duración: 9 h y 40 m

Resumen del Editor

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.

©2022 Julia May Jonas. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nabakov 2.0

This is a fabulously written book, a tribute to and a reimagining of Nabokov’s writing style and craft. It is also a bite my reading on the unacknowledged complexities that lurk around the strident neo-liberal politics of our times. Read it in one shot!

Contemporary Gothic Novel

The plot twists--a kidnapping, drugs in drinks, and a raging house fire are shocking and " over the top" as is the narrator's dramatic sensual reading. An interesting commentary on academe, but you can't really "like" the characters.

Good story & presentation, in need of a better editor.

How many times is the use of the world truly necessary? Magpies don’t reside in NY State.

Started with promise, ended in disappointment

The story begins with a few interesting investigations around the spouse’s responsibilities for their partner’s transgressions, for the power paradigm in an inappropriate relationship, and for the societal confrontation with the institution of marriage— the depth and story fall off a cliff though at some when the professor lures Vladimir for an outing- and unfortunately never recovers. Good start, hollow finish.
The reader for this recording was quite good and I enjoyed her cadence and expression.

Worth the read

I struggled to finish this book, but I found it to be worth it in the end. I lost interest at times- the plot felt slow and too detailed. The narration felt arrogant. But, there ended up being some really poignant moments that spoke to the shared human experience. And by the end the author wrapped up the story with a pretty little bow.

Unnamed Narrator

This novel is about so much more than Vladimir. It is, first and foremost, the unnamed narrator's story. Without revealing the plot, I will tell you that this book is intense, unsettling, complicated, thought-provoking, literate, and insightful; if you are or know and care about a "woman of a certain age," this book is for you. I found the narrator's thoughts/feelings about being a woman who has come of age in modern-day America stunningly identifiable. I understand that Vladimir is being called a #MeToo novel, but I assure you that it is much, much more.

Don’t judge this book from its cover.

I can’t imagine how many readers were turned off by the cover of this book. It is not a romance novel! I appreciated the self-awareness of the protagonist as many of her insights rang true to me. The plot remained taut but goes off the rails 3/4 of the way through. It was just unbelievable that these characters could behave in the ways written. The end was so matter of fact and anti-climactic. I don’t think it was totally bad, just not good enough.

Interesting

More involved and twisting than I anticipated. I liked the perspective of the female protagonist

Please do not judge this book by its cover

Before I get into what Vladimir is, I feel it is important to qualify what it is not. This is not a light smutty read that indulges an age-gap fetish. This is not a wish-fulfilment romance novel where the older woman wins the young object of her affection.
Vladimir reads more like a confessional one-woman play, since the reader spends most of the book inside the narrator's head. Who is our unnamed narrator? She is a professor, a struggling writer, a patient and loving mother, and wife to a professor who is being accused of inappropriate behavior with seven of his former students. We may not know our narrator's name, but we learn a lot about her. She is self-conscious about her aging body and about whether or not she still appeals to men. She is intelligent, self-effacing, rebellious but also ceding to the status quo, well-read, horny, and both devoted to and critical of her husband, her students, and anyone else in her life who means something to her. We watch our aging narrator, who is 58, navigate evolving ideas about sexual liberation, generational rifts, #MeToo, and a society where the ideas that once made her and her husband ahead of their time are now viewed largely as backwards and problematic. Our narrator tries to walk the fine line between appreciating evolving attitudes about equal rights, gender roles, relationship between professors and students, political correctness, and what it deemed "right" and "wrong", while also maintaining the ideas and values that have guided her through the greater part of her life.
I disagree with so much of what this narrator believes and values. I often found her hypercritical, particularly of women, almost to the point of cattiness. I found her need to be appreciated and desired by men pathetic, but I also found myself enraptured by her raw and confessional musings. This is a novel that would have been boring if told by someone who is a pure, politically correct, and uncomplicated woman, since this is not a book where a lot happens, honestly. What makes Vladimir so compelling is its messy yet empathic narrator.
My complaints about this book are that is a) a little draggy and b) a bit anti-climactic. Vladimir is so relatable because it is so grounded in realism, but it is also this novel's weakness. I was hoping for something a little darker, a little more transgressive, or heck, even a little steamier, but instead the novel is content to favor reality over expectations.
Narrator Rebecca Lowman did a fantastic job with the reading. She gave nuance to the many moods that our narrator was experiencing. Vladimir is a strong debut novel, and I can't wait to read more by Julia May Jonas, who is already a gifted wordsmith.

Hurry up and publish another, Ms. Jonas!

Don't let the unfortunate cover trick you into thinking this is some smarmy romance novel or a Fifty Shades of Grey knockoff. If you like character-driven stories and sharp-edged social commentary, put this in your queue.

I'm not going to reveal a thing about the storyline, except to say that it was refreshingly unpredictable, but not in that contorted way some novelists resort to when they write themselves into corners.

Spot-on narration by Rebecca Lowman.

I'll be looking for more from this author. And this narrator.