Vladimir

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Jonas, Julia, Adult Book / Fiction / General / Jonas, Julia May
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Jonas, Julia	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Jonas, Julia May	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Jonas, Julia May	4-week checkout	Due 05-21-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Jonas, Julia May	4-week checkout	Due 05-21-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Jonas, Julia May	4-week checkout	Due 05-14-2024

"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 deliciously incisive narrator: 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. With this bold, edgy, and uncommonly assured debut, author Julia May Jonas takes us into charged territory, where the boundaries of morality bump up against the impulses of the human heart. Propulsive, darkly funny, and wildly entertaining, Vladimir perfectly captures the personal and political minefield of our current moment, exposing the nuances and the grey area between power and desire.-- Publisher's description

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Very well written submitted by denisemw on June 10, 2022, 10:18pm Good book, interesting to see what happens next. Seemed like real people.

interesting submitted by laurenalysse on June 15, 2022, 1:53pm An interesting take on this subject. I never really knew what was going to happen, and though I didn't really like the main character I was interested in her story, and a bit surprised by the ending!

Unlikable submitted by russelan on June 20, 2022, 8:12pm Went into this not knowing much about the premise and just couldn't get into it. I have a hard time with book when no character is likable, which was the case in this book

Seriously Over-hyped submitted by cdunlop on March 17, 2023, 12:41pm The unnamed narrator, whom I shall call "N", is a 58 year-old English professor who develops a romantic fixation on her new untenured colleague, a "hunk" named Vladimir. She worries obsessively that he may not be attracted to her wrinkled and sagging body. Will she, or won't she, succeed in bedding him? The answer, perhaps hinted at in the prologue, comes only after 200+ pages of manufactured suspense, and the wait isn't worth it.

There's a secondary plot as well. N's husband, chair of her department, is facing a college hearing for having had relationships some years ago with a number of female undergraduates, at a time before the college rules explicitly forbade such encounters. N also believes that he is having an affair with Vladimir's wife. Will he, or won't he, be ousted from his position? Do we really care?

The novel's language, reflecting its academic setting, is what attempts to set the story apart from a low-budget potboiler, but it doesn't elevate the book to anything sublime, even though the enthusiastic dust jacket blurbs vainly attempt to suggest otherwise. The front cover design accurately conveys the category to which this effort truly belongs.