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Vladimir

soon to be a major Netflix series

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Vladimir

By: Julia May Jonas
Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
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*An upcoming major Netflix series starring Leo Woodall and Rachel Weisz*

'An astonishing debut . . . I was utterly hooked . . . by this twisty, sexy, shocking treat of a novel ' – The Sunday Times

One evening, a fifty-something literature professor invites her new and beautiful young colleague, Vladimir, to join her for a drink. Her husband is out a lot these days, having been suspended from their college amid accusations of inappropriate relationships with his former students.

However, as the professor attempts to disentangle herself from her husband's behaviour, it becomes clear that her desire for the new arrival might bring the couple's tinder-box world dangerously close to exploding . . .

'This clever, engrossing debut explores female creativity, rage and desire . . . Astonishing' - The Guardian

'So exciting . . . Sexy and satirical and incredibly gripping, impossible to put down' - The Observer

 Contemporary Dark Humour Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Funny Heartfelt

Critic Reviews

Female ageing and desire, sexual agency in the era of #MeToo, the relationship between morality and art, even a nod to Stephen King's Misery: it's all here in this sexy stealthy slippery debut, one of the year's hottest reads.
This deliciously dark American debut . . . A boisterous campus novel with an outrageously acerbic narrator, it delivers uncomfortable truths
This impressive debut . . . A twisty and thought-provoking tale
Haunted by the spirit of Nabokov, this sly satire challenges today’s “insistence on morality in art”
This astonishing debut is anything but another #MeToo morality tale . . . I was utterly hooked . . . [by] this twisty, sexy, shocking treat of a novel . . . How on earth will Julia May Jonas better this?
Darkly comic . . . Jonas’s novel is full of sly satire . . . The first-person narrative is beautifully rich, and the novel is playing enjoyable games with the ghost of Nabokov throughout . . . Vladimir isn’t a novel that cares for the taking of sides. The words “snowflake” and “woke” don’t appear – Jonas is too smart for that laziness – and when the narrator compares her students’ cutlery to “pitchforks”, the simile has Nabokovian skill
Vladimir is peppered with subversions . . . Jonas artfully fashions a protagonist mired in contradictions . . . [An] intelligent knowing portrayal of a woman's midlife crisis
This slippery debut challenges to often electrifying effect the moral pieties concerning women, sex and power that have sprung up in the wake of #MeToo . . . A welcome addition to the growing number of #MeToo novels, many of which feel in comparison a little tired
It is delicious to spend so much time with a narrator who wants the way this one does, who wants so badly she’ll send her life up in flames.
Jonas's assured debut may be operating in Nabokov's long shadow, but it's difficult not to gobble up the unadorned, plot-driven prose, with its hints of kidnap and bondage, at a greedy pace
[An] engaging debut . . . [Jonas’s] storylines are full of nuance, loopholes, granular details that refuse easy definition
'Vladimir contains far too many uncomfortable truths to be merely fun, but . . . it is, by turns, cathartic, devious and terrifically entertaining.’
'Vladimir goes into such outrageous territory that my jaw literally dropped at moments while I was reading it. There’s a rare blend here of depth of character, mesmerizing prose, and fast-paced action.’
In darkly funny terms, Jonas creates a portrait of a narcissist reckoning with her age and vanity, but also the limits of her power.
All stars
Most relevant
Beautiful writing and visceral descriptive sojourns throughout. Interesting and complex characters and relationships. I found myself pulled along by the story and hanging in for something exciting but the arc never really hit it. The narrator was wonderful. All in all a decent summer read.

A solid read

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So fun and silly despite the serious themes. Thoughtful insight into the gen z puritanical propaganda infiltrating feminism

I loved the protag.

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Enjoyed this book
It is interesting, funny and insightful
The themes were of age, relationships and sex
All told from the point of few of an older woman
Lots of twists in the story.
Well done

Interesting story of relationships and aging

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I didn’t want this to end, got right into the protagonist’s story from the start, set in modern #metoo academia, her relaxed upper middle class lifestyle and her fantasies of Vladimir. Brilliant.

Loved it from the start

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Beautifully, brutally, exquisitely written. A heartbreaking g honest read about the webs we weave in relationships.

An honest brutal look at academia and relationships. At the same time I could not out it down, I did not want it to finish.

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