I really enjoyed this book!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS BOOK WITH ME!
I got behind in the COVID DRAMA and missed posting about this important book when it came out.
Thank you!

This is an interesting debut novel. The main character is a popular English professor at a small, prestigious liberal arts school. Her husband, also a professor in the same department, has been accused of serious misconduct by a group of his former students. As the main character faces how to address this challenging dynamic — navigating her complex relationship with her husband, her relationships with her students and colleagues, and new accountabilities and expectations — her life is complicated by a new member of her department, who she becomes increasingly fixated on. This leads her to contemplate making her own series of problematic choices. With a set of complicated characters who often make troubling decisions in the context of the changing world they inhabit, the book offers a new spin on the campus novel.

VLADIMIR is edgy, biting, unusual, and extremely hard to put down. This fantastic cover is the perfect way to invite you into the crazed world of our unnamed narrator, an English professor in her 50s whose husband (also a professor) is currently under investigation for his inappropriate relationship with his students. However, this is no surprise to her, although the revelations still send her into a bit of a spiral when the aforementioned Vladimir enters the picture. He’s an up-and-coming novelist and new professor at her college, and an infatuation is born.

This book is propulsive – it moves like a freight train and has a dark wit that is undeniable. It certainly does not make me miss academia, and it skewers it perfectly and completely. Julia May Jonas is a new voice to be reckoned with. The way she writes the narrator’s stream of consciousness is unlike anything I’ve encountered before, and I assure you, you have no idea what will happen and what to expect. This is going to be a big one, I think!

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My feeling at the end of this book is one of confusion and I will actually begin there.

Our lead protagonist is a professor at a University, who is married to another professor in her department, who is under fire for having affairs with students through the years, Their marriage has always been open so really she has no issues. Another caveat this all happened before rules were put in place that student/teacher relationships were a no go. She is getting pressure from her students to leave her husband and her peers want her not to teach while her husband is under investigation.

Vladimir is a young new professor in her department on track for tenure and married to an adjunct professor with a young child. He is the hot author that everyone loves. When Vladimir asks our protagonist to read his upcoming novel, this starts a spiral I was not expecting.

The first two-thirds of this book I was completely engaged, but then Jonas completely lost me in the last pages. Reality almost felt like a fever dream to me and I kept asking what I am reading? This could be just my experience, but be forewarned, not everything appears as you might think it should be.

Thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love books set in the world of academia. Touring colleges with my son this past fall invigorated me and really made me think in another life I would have loved to be immersed in that world in some capacity. So, I was already predisposed to really like writer Julia Jonas’ debut novel, and no surprise, I did.

Vladimir is witty, charming and hard to put down. I’m talking the book now, not the man, although the same can probably said for him. A celebrated writer who comes to teach at the college with his equally matched wife, Vladimir quickly catches the eye of our narrator, a middle aged professor, well liked and comfortable in her position whose life suddenly shifts perceptibly when her husband, the chair of the department is faced with multiple charges of sexual misconduct. On top of that her grown daughter shows up with her own issues adding to the brewing cauldron, and Vlad is just-insert fantasy hot guy here.

The book is a terribly smart, terribly fun snapshot of the current climate of #metoo, white male patriarchy, academia, and sexual politics. For a moment I almost thought the whole thing was going to derail in the final third, but I found myself both satisfied and completely surprised where she took me. Recommended. Thanks to @avidreaderpress and @netgalley for the advance copy. #Valdimir comes out 2/1/21

This book is a sort of exercise in morality, but one full to the brim with nuance. Jonas poses a question, then answers it from two generational standpoints, taking on several of the big questions of our age re: sexual agency, power, and groupthink in academia. I couldn't put it down.

Perhaps above all else, this title is gorgeously written. Driven by profound, emotionally-reflective prose and robust vocabulary, I found this story to be more of a slow-burning character study than anything else. It's set against an academia backdrop I always love--and while there certainly is a plot-line as a female professor navigates her place and identity on-campus while her professor husband finds himself at the epicenter of a MeToo scandal, it's the inner dialogue of our protagonist and how she wrestles with enormous topics of sexual agency, female aging, white male privilege, and transformations in higher education that sets this title apart.

If you're looking for a past-paced, plot-driven story of dark academia scandals, this isn't that. Rather, it's a poetic and thought-provoking story of a woman baring her soul through reflective narration as she navigates the unpredictability and disappointments of life. A little unnerving but mostly melancholy, Vladimir is perfect for readers who need something cerebral and unique in their hands.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted advanced reading copy of this title in exchange for an honest review!

This book kept me on my toes right up u til the last page in the best way. I never quite knew where our protagonist was going with her narrative, and was even less sure of whether or not I was supposed to be rooting for her. Even 24 hours removed from finishing this novel, I’m not sure what to make of it but my favorite reads are often like that. As a debut this was a smashing success in my opinion. Loved the dark academia vibes and unlikeable yet sexy characters.

The way I couldn't put this book down! A messy, intellectual romp full of scandal and intrigue. I see this being in my top 10 of 2022, no question.

A loss for the woman vs void obsessed community. Long, meandering paragraphs of the narrador's thought process and opinions about, quite literally, anything, rendered my enjoyment of this novel significantly and once that pattern made itself noticed it was impossible to ignore. Couple that with a bland writing style, with quotes of poor taste such as “engorged with the creative juice” (a sentence plucked straight from Mrs. Perky's novel from 10 Things I Hate About You I'm sure), extremely unlikable and unsympathetic characters and the ending, which read more like the ending of a poorly written Netflix psychologial thriller, and it boils down to Vlamidir being a hassle to get through and a very disappointing read.

A female professors husband (also a professor) is accused of inappropriate relations with his students. The protagonist is pretty old school and isn’t interesting in updated thoughts around #metoo and also leans into her own affairs. Enter Vladimir a young hot professor she becomes obsessed with. The first 2/3 of the book were so good. The writing was fabulous abs descriptions down to the food were sublime: the last 1/3 kind of went off the rails a bit but because I liked this so much in the beginning I’m giving it 4 stars. This definitely won’t be for everyone but for people who like darker character driven books that meander a bit it’ll be a hit.

A vivid and rich novel, with an engaging voice and sharp writing. Unexpected swerves, surprises, and amazing plot points are everywhere in this novel. The characters are fascinating as is the setting.

Thanks to Netgalley for my favorite gift of this holiday season! This book offered the kind of fully immersive, intellectual yet sensory reading experience that I get while reading the work of another Vladimir. The allusion is clearly intentional; "My prey, my prize, my Vladimir," the narrator at one point laments, echoing the opening lines of LOLITA. And then there is the wonderful opening line of this book: “When I was a child, I loved old men, and I could tell that they also loved me.” But to call this book the story of a Lolita grown up would reduce its complexity and also be inaccurate. It's far more than that and also the kind of book that makes us look anew at some of our most common cultural conceptions and tropes around aging, sex, and gender. I could not believe this was a debut novel until I realized Julia May Jonas is an already accomplished playwright, which also explains why the dialogue in this book is so excellent. I haven't been able to find published versions of any of her plays but hopefully the publication of VLADIMIR will change that because I'd love to read more by her.

First of all I loved the cover chosen. The 'headless male' torso is a pillar of the romance genre and many an ode has been written about it.........

Jonas has picked a list of tough subjects to base her story about:

- a woman aging
- white male privilege
- MeToo

The first one is a touch subject for most women, we have a different baggage about age than our male brothers. So approaching that time and handling it with grace is a tough subject for us and I wanted to find that grace here. Unfortunately I didn't find it, maybe the author did this purposefully as there might be no grace and it is just one of my dreams.

The last point is difficult to talk about because talking about different perspectives as regards MeToo may land you in an online outcry. I think however the author did try to present different points to ponder.

I quite enjoyed the first third of the book, the 2nd third sagged a bit and the last part picked up and went galloping with a fantastical premise. Pity it did not take me along, my scepticism reign though.



<i>An ARC gently provided by the author/publisher via Netgalley/<i>

I am still processing how I felt about this book. At first I completely related to and understood the main character's obsession, but then it kind of took a bit of a darker turn than I expected. Overall this was definitely a very thought provoking novel and very well written and I enjoyed being lost in tis word of academia and complex relationships. Thank you to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press for the ARC.

wow this one was crazy. I'm still working out how i feel about it all, it was such an unexpected novel! If you think you know where something is going in Vladimir, trust me, you don't. i literally could not put it down, I was hooked from the first sentence. “When I was a child, I loved old men, and I could tell that they also loved me.” Come on, that is such an interesting start to a novel! I read it in 2 days! The ending was insane. I loved it! The writing was beautiful and poignant, all without being too dense. I did see some reviewers likening Vladimir to My Dark Vanessa, and I see that because of parts of the subject manner, but to me, the tone and experience of the two novels were completely different, and not in a bad way, just different, but I loved them both. The arch, dry humor of this one surprised me and I really liked it. Also, this is an incredibly well-done unreliable, unnamed narrator and I loved it. I will say there were some threads and themes that were either not expanded on to my liking or I felt were ended unsatisfactorily. But other than that, I truly don't know what to think about Vladimir other than wow this is a good one. Thank you so much Avid Reader Press for giving me the opportunity to read this arc! I'm already so excited for Jonas' next novel!

4.5

my first reaction to this book:
it was fire and my brain is all over the walls. need to pick up the pieces.

months later and I'm still thinking about this book. this is about a woman in the middle of transformations (some forced, some self actualized) and you can feel the rage and passion in the writing. it is gorgeously written - the energy, pace, and dialogue are so perfect (especially the dialogue). when read aloud you can hear the cadence and rhythm. you can tell that Julia May Jonas is a playwright, I can picture every setting, who had fun with writing a character's interior monologue.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press for the ebook. In this debut novel we follow a 58 year old English professor in an upstate liberal college, where her older husband is on leave from the college until his hearing about his relationships with female students over the years. She also has to deal with her lawyer daughter moving back home as she’s having relationship problems with her partner, also a lawyer. She has to deal with the faculty and even her students, as everyone wants her to denounce her husband, but also she’s hopelessly infatuated with a new teacher, Vladimir, an author of a well received novel, whose wife seems to like her, but might be out to steal her classes at the college and maybe even her husband. This is wicked fun, smart and soulful.

Thank you for allowing me a preview of this book. Sadly it just wasn't my cup of tea. I tried to read it but just couldn't connect with the author's style. I wish you great success and thank you again for the preview.

This is compelling contemporary fiction about a beloved English professor's obsession with a young, promising novelist, Vladimir, amidst student accusations of misconduct against her husband, a professor employed at the same liberal arts college where the narrator teaches and Vladimir is associated with via his wife, an adjunct professor in the same department.

The narrator is arguably an antihero, appearing appallingly unlikeable and a tad sociopathic in her inner monologues but has a fascinating outlook on life and observations that kept me binge reading. It's sharply written and flows like a stream of consciousness, which unintentionally drags the pacing quite a bit, but makes up for it with insightful commentary on feminism, a woman's role in society as she matures, and power dynamics.

Admittedly, in the beginning, it felt like a chore to read and I wondered where the book was headed after a fairly uneventful first half. For readers feeling that same drowsy disassociation/temptation to DNF, the 60%+ mark will hit you like a train and shit gets serious and chaotic - it's worth it!

This is a well-crafted novel about obsession, feminism, morality, and the relationship between control and desire. It's worth the read!

4.5 / 5

Thank you so much to Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Pub date: Feb 1, 2022