What a disappointment. I’ve read and enjoyed Prose before, but not this time. A windbag of a novel featuring the world’s least compelling central character whose self reflection and analysis are indulged to the point of insanity. And then a plot so stupid, based on such a nonsensical idea - that a bad novel will sell well and save a company’s fortunes - that it’s simply laughable. Why wasn’t this edited down to the bone? Historical reference and some absurd CIA stuff do not redeem it. Puh-leese.

It's hard to write a review of this book that doesn't spoil it, but the premise of this book had me hooked immediately, and the writing kept me hooked til the end. I understand how this book isn't for everyone, but I found it refreshing and eye-opening.

This wasn't quite a home run for me because I had read several OMG Amazing books recently, but it was perfectly pleasant.

I loved this book. In fact, I have loved (and quickly consumed) everything Francine Prose writes. She deserves much praise for being an excellent writer. The subject matter of this book has always fascinated me. An excellent and worthy novel. Great book!

I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. I didn't want to review a book that I didn't finish.

Do you know when you oddly, unintentionally read books near each other that have similar themes? that happened to me with this book. This was the second book that I had read that involved Ethel Rosenberg within a month. A couple of weeks before I read The Vixen, I read the non-fiction book Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy.

The Vixen is set in the 1950s when the USA was abuzz with an anti-Communist sentiment. In this book, we are pulled into the world of book publishing, where a team is working to publish a romantic bodice ripper based on Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Simon, the protagonist works and lives in NYC. He finds himself torn over the direction the book is taking and has a bit of a moral dilemma. Through it all, we feel the atmosphere of NYC in the 1950s and the political atmosphere pushing to make Ethel a bad guy even though perhaps she really isn't.

I enjoyed listening to this book for the most part, but I thought it was a little too earnest. The state of publishing in the 1950s was examined entertainingly. There is something ridiculous, however, about turning the story of the Rosenbergs into a bodice ripper. While the content of The Vixen was mocked to some degree, the overall idea would likely be thrown out for bad taste rather than been seen as a publisher-saving book. Simon seemed to be duped a little too easily.

I’m judging the L.A. Times 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

“I say they haven’t killed her yet.
My parents turn surprised. Who am I and what am I doing in this place where they have learned to live without me? We hardly recognize one another: the boy who left for college, the son who returned, the mother and father still here.” (3)
What a funny and intimately observed book.

What a great novel! Well written in usual Prose fashion, but so much more interesting, with a compelling mystery/historical plotline, interesting character with a great past, present, secret, and job managing the novel, and so well tied together by the novel's end. I loved it so much. I would even read it again. Prose really stole my heart and time with this novel, and I loved every second reading this book. I'd recommend it to so many people who might read so many different books. Wonderful.

This book starts out slowly beginning just as Simon Putnam watched the execution of the Rosenbergs for treason. He is a recent graduate of Harvard living with his parents in Coney Island and looking for work. The book picks up speed when he lands a job at a small but distinguished publishing house and is asked to edit a manuscript. A manuscript that is unusual for this house. Lots of angst and moral questions ensue. The book really takes off when he realizes things are not as they seem. With a great cast of well developed characters and a plot with some surprising twists this was a fun one

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Books Read During European Vacation pt.2

1. Voltaire’s uproariously funny 1759 satire “Candide” holds up well. Candide is whisked away from Westphalia (Germany) to Portugal to the land of the Incas to Constantinople with his philosopher/mentor Pangloss surviving the gallows, hangings, vivisection—and searching for his beloved Cunegonde. Are people basically good or bad? He finishes with the famous line that, “we must cultivate our garden.”

2. In York, England, at the pictured Antiquarian bookshop, I bought the 1982 booklet, “Monty Python: Complete and Utter Theory of the Grotesque.” I discovered what I expected: their highbrow humor is rooted in Hegel, Freud’s The Uncanny, Brueghel, Bosch, Pinter and Becket’s Theatre of the Absurd. Good stuff.

3. Reading Orhan Pamuk’s “The Museum of Innocence” while walking the same streets in Istanbul and visiting the actual museum he created for the novel was cool. The museum collects the artifacts from the book, documenting Kemel’s scandalous obsession with his 18-year-old second cousin. This book inspired Barb’s “The Museum Walk” where she has students create an exhibit for classmates with objects key to their outside reading books.
4. On my phone I read my first Francine Prose novel, and it won’t be my last. “The Vixen,” released in July, retells the Ethel and Julius Rosenberg case through the eyes of a young Jewish copy editor, Simon, who is assigned to edit a pulp fiction book which re-imagines Ethel as a Russian spy sexpot. He can’t do it. It’s Absurd. And his mother grew up with Ethel. At first Simon was too nebbish for me, but then Prose upends expectations. “The Vixen” is funny, but not funny and you should read it.

This novel by Francine Prose takes place in the midst of the McCarthy era and focuses on the Rosenberg trials and execution though the author has changed their names to Rosenstein.

Also, in parallel to the politics of the time, Simon Putnam, a young Harvard graduate gets his first job in publishing thanks to his uncle. He is Jewish and from Brooklyn but has hopes of becoming one of the literati that go to literary parties and have semi-erudite discussions. Because of the highly charged political times, he remains secretive about the fact that Ethel Rosenberg and his mother were childhood friends.

Simon's job is to read the unsolicited manuscripts that come into his financially suffering company. However, he is given one special job - to read The Vixen, the Patriot and the Fanatic. The owner of the publishing house thinks that this bodice ripper based on the Rosenbergs will bring economic gains to the company.

The problem with Simon, and the book as a whole, is that the novel is repetitive as are Simon's actions. Simon's. moral center is much different than his aspirations. He falls in love with virtually every woman he meets and realizes that the Vixen portrays Ethel Rosenberg vicariously as built like a Russian peasant Jew and a sultry sex object. His North Star is not staying in place and in his efforts to be one of the guys, he loses himself.

I have loved Ms. Prose's novels but this one is not one of her best.

Set against the backdrop of the publishing world at the peak of McCarthyism following the execution of the Rosenbergs. Simon Putman, a young editor, is given a manuscript to edit that puts an entirely different twist on the Rosenbergs story - namely representing Ethel as a seductress. The manuscript presents an ethical dilemma for Simon while he tries to make something out of the mess the book is. Next come the twists in the story, both for Simon and for the publishing house that he works for. It was an interesting concept but I didn't love it as much as I wanted to .

Simon knows that Ethel Rosenberg was a childhood friend of his mothers. A recent graduate of Harvard, Simon lands a coveted job at a major publishing house. He is assigned to edit a lurid novel about Ethel. How will Simon navigate the fine line of his conscience ; protecting his mother's memories and keeping his job. As readers, we are brought into the inner world of Simon's thoughts, as well as the machinations of publishing and society in 1950's New York.

I've read and enjoyed several of Prose's past books - both fiction and non-fiction, so I was curious to check out her latest novel. The book opens up just after the 1953 execution of the Rosenbergs. Harvard grad Simon Putnam flounders - spending his days either napping in his parents' apartment or wandering nearby Coney Island. His Old Norse mythology major hasn't translated into many job prospects and it's only his uncle's intervention that lands him a job at a publisher as an assistant editor. Initially enamored with the glamour and excitement, Simon soon finds himself in charge of a new book fictionalizing and sensationalizing the dramatic life of the Rosenbergs. Conflicted and infatuated with the author, Simon grapples with his conscience and in drawing out the truth behind the curtain of lies he is surrounded by.

Well-written and engaging, I enjoyed reading this despite never really liking Simon. His habit of instantly falling in love with any woman at all that he encounters gives him an air of desperation that's hard to connect with. I think I probably would have enjoyed the books that the fictional character wrote more than I actually enjoyed this one to be honest! But, it is most definitely well-researched and the supporting characters who are dynamic and interesting rescue this one from Simon's doldrums and puppy love-eyes. The ending leaves a few things unanswered that I wish had been addressed, but it definitely held my attention from start to finish and I am looking forward to seeing what Prose will write next, even if this isn't my favorite of hers!

This is an interesting take on the publishing world of the mid-century and the effects of the Rosenberg trail (and McCarthy-ism, too) during the cold war. In this book, a young man whose mother grew up with Ethel Rosenberg is tasked, in his very first job, with editing a novel that is *very* slightly changed from the reality (names are just barely changed) but is also very different from the way our hero remembers the story ("Esther" in the book is a sex kitten, as opposed to a matronly mother and good woman as she was remembered by our hero's mother). The book is a grand look at the publishing business and a hero's journey through this young man's growing-up years after college. It was an enjoyable read, though not exactly "unputdownable" or I'd have finished it and written this review before it got published... I still enjoyed the book and found the history and characters to be entertaining and fun to read about.

The mysterious combination of domestic intrigue and international intrigue emerges as a definite winner in Prose's latest book. Simon Putnam, a recent graduate of Harvard from a middle-class, loving NY family, is hired by a publishing company in an entry-level position. Thanks to nepotism, the story begins, and what a story. To give any further plot details would detract from the excitement of the story.
All the elements of a great spy adventure are intertwined with the history of Ethel Rosenberg, the American convicted and executed for spying on behalf of the Soviet Union, along with her husband, Julius. That serves as the conduit for a clever, circuitous journey through the CIA and "anything goes" in the perceived plight to protect our country. I had to pay careful attention to the many subplots and keep them aligned in their proper places but it was worth it. It was also a fascinating insight into human nature and to what extent people will go to when they feel their liberties are threatened. An exciting read!

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I started this book. The Vixen is a sly novel that takes you down one road only to veer onto another unexpected path. Simon is a recent Harvard graduate who has been turned down for graduate school. (I bet that doesn't happen often.) He gets a job as an editor for a publisher, who assigns him to a lurid novel about the Rosenberg scandal by a strange woman named Anya. Simon and Anya become embroiled in an affair, and she refuses to make any of the much-needed changes to the book that he suggests.

And then the book gets ... strange. I don't want to give anything away here, but I was sometimes confused about whether this book was intended as satire, a character study, a comedy, a tragedy, social commentary, or a historical political novel. There's no reason why it can't be all those things, but I was a bit startled by some of its tactics.

On the plus side, Francine Prose has quite the imagination. While I didn't quite believe the story she was telling, I admire her for taking some daring chances in her fiction.

Than you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC on exchange for my honest opinions.

Set in the US at the height of the Red Scare and the McCarthy hearings, The Vixen is the story of Simon Putman a recent Harvard grad, who winds up working as an editor for a New York publishing firm. The story begins with the execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, a Jewish couple who were the first American civilians to be executed for conspiracy to commit espionage. It turns out Ethel was a childhood friend of Simon’s mom, so the Rosenberg’s execution is deeply unsettling for them. Things grow even more complicated when Simon is then tasked with editing a steamy novel based on the Rosenbergs and has to ultimately decide between his ambition and his morals.

Going into this read, I knew nothing about the Rosenbergs, so as I read along, I found myself doing research on the side, which made this read even more interesting and immersive. The most compelling part about this read is that while it was set in the 1950s, you can see the themes of truth versus fiction still prevalent in our nation today. It made me think of the January 6th Insurrection Hearing that is currently going on, where we have elected officials still defending this terrorist attack and spinning their web of lies so that they can appease their base. All this to say, I found this read a little unsettling at times, but it also kept me reading because ultimately, I was rooting for the protagonist.

I haven’t experienced the sensation of “falling into a good book” very often this year so was glad to finally read a book that has broken that dry spell. We know from the get-go that this is a spy vs spy story but it’s the descriptive language that sets it apart from other spy novels. At least it did for me.

I loved Simon’s description of his boss Warren, a man who had “grown up in a warm bath of privilege drawn by servants, a bath cooled someone by his contempt for all that privilege meant, which isn’t to say that Warren didn’t look and act like a very rich white Protestant person.” Snap. I see a guy in a $3,000 suit with carefully manicured hair, graying at the temples.

Warren liked to take foreign authors for breakfast meetings at a local diner in their coveted booth spaces because it seemed so American, so Edward Hopper. You can see it, right?

And then there was Simon’s ongoing struggle with Anya, the author he was assigned to edit. “I have no excuse except that I was young, confused, afraid of what might happen next. Just getting through the day felt like memorizing poetry.” He continues to wrestle with his feelings and further adds, “I have no excuse except that I was young, confused, afraid of what might happen next. Just getting through the day felt like memorizing poetry in a foreign language, outside, in a hailstorm.” I snorted though my nose.

I hope I find another book soon to enjoy as much as I loved this one. Two thumbs up.