Review of VLADIMIR by Julia May Jonas (New Release)

 2.5 Stars  

I found this novel a tiresome read.

The unnamed narrator is a 58-year-old college professor at a small liberal arts school in upstate New York.  Her husband John, also an English professor there, is being investigated for his past affairs with students.  Although she and John have had an open marriage and she has found his affairs neither disruptive nor painful, she finds her relationships with students and colleagues changing as his sexual exploits become public knowledge.  At the same time, she becomes infatuated with Vladimir Vladinski, a handsome (and married) new professor who has recently arrived on campus. 

The title suggests that the novel will focus on the narrator’s relationship with Vladimir, but that is not the case.  She claims to be fixated on him, but it is only in the latter part of the book that her attention really zeroes in on him.  And then there’s a plot twist that, though it is foreshadowed in the prologue, is just bizarre. 

Though I am an older woman, I found it difficult to relate to the narrator.  Except in her role as a mother, she is selfish, even admitting “I am the most selfish human being I know.”  She is supposedly intelligent, but sometimes behaves so stupidly.  She is insecure, constantly worrying about her writing and her aging body.  Though I can understand her concerns about growing older (“Older women with lust are always the butt of the joke in comedy, horny sagging birds with dripping skin”), her vanity and constant whining become annoying. 

Other characters are no more likeable or sympathetic.  John is just a cad who used his prestige and power to bed young women.  Vladimir is supposedly a talented writer, but comes across as needy.  Sid is the lesbian daughter of John and the narrator; she has an argument with her lover and so she has sex with a man in the bathroom of a train?!  I found it difficult to care about these people.

An action-packed plot is not a necessity for my enjoyment, but the pace is almost glacial.  For much of the novel I wondered where exactly it was going.  The narrator goes on and on in long, meandering paragraphs expressing her opinions about sundry topics.  Then she acts decisively but in a way that is unrealistic. 

The aspect that most interested me is that this could be classified as a #MeToo novel, but it doesn’t offer the perspective one might expect, especially from a woman.  The narrator takes exception with charges that John was abusing his power when “that power is the reason they desired him in the first place.”  She believes the women accusing her husband were not traumatized:  “’He didn’t drug them or coerce them . . . None of these women suffered professionally or academically . . . They came to him.  He didn’t pursue.’”  She argues that the women accusers have adopted a victim mentality and are “’reacting to a moment.’”  She believes that academia creates a discriminatory environment because some students are selected for honours while others are dismissed or ignored:  “those selections caused more pain, at least in my opinion, than the amorous fixations of an over-the-hill professor.”

This just wasn’t my cup of tea.  As I read, I kept checking to see how many more pages were left.  I’m sure it will appeal to some readers, but the behaviour of narcissistic characters with opinions about random topics left me totally indifferent.

Note:  I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.