Book Talk: Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
A chat with reader Cori Feldman
We’re just days from a North American total eclipse of the sun. Whether you believe an eclipse like this is a good omen, bad omen or simply an opportunity to place an Amazon Prime order for some attractive NASA-approved viewing glasses, it might be a good time to tie up some loose ends.
For me, that means returning to the February reading provocation (Chaotic Academia) for a conversation about Vladimir by Julia May Jonas. I loved this book but didn’t publish my take on it. Please welcome reader Cori Feldman of Richardson, TX (on the path of totality!) who joins me to discuss it.
Abra: Cori! I’m excited to talk about Vladimir with you.
Cori: Thanks for popping on to talk about it. I was a little bummed when I thought you weren’t going to write about it.
Abra: I was going to- but I got a bit bored with what I was writing. I’d much rather talk about this book with someone else who has read and enjoyed it. But it’s for the newsletter—no spoilers!
Cori: Yes! I run a book club and I have a love-hate relationship with it. It’s a great social outlet and I enjoy seeing people I don’t connect with often. But it’s hard to balance when people haven’t read the book yet or just want to complain about it. So The Booktender is an extension of book club for me, where I pick what I’ll read from the monthly provocations and read along intentionally.
Abra: You said in your email that you wrote in your book journal: “WHAT did I just read? It’s like a train wreck, in the best possible way!”
Cori: Yes, I remember talking with my friend from book club. I told her, “I’m reading this book. It’s really weird, but I think I like it.” It just grabbed me from the beginning, with the plot device that flashes forward to Vladimir sleeping, with one arm the narrator says she shackled to the chair. Then the book starts and the different pieces move together to show us how he and the narrator got there. I couldn’t look away and now I really love this book.
Abra: That was my experience too. I really wanted to understand who this narrator might be. She tells us her age (late 50s) and his (40) from the start but not much else about the situation.
Cori: Because she’s unnamed and not really described by anyone else, she could be anyone.
Abra: On one hand, she’s so candid and incisive. She sucks you in to her worldview. And on the other hand, we come to realize: what she shows the other characters is only a partially aligned to the view the reader has.
Cori: I thought it was interesting that the writer kept us in her head while keeping her something of a blank slate. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with a narrator like this. Have you?
Abra: I’ve never encountered a female narrator like this, no. The author confirmed in an interview that she’s referencing Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, the classic in which the older man protagonist who goes by the pseudonym Humbert Humbert kidnaps— though in his view, he believes she seduced him— a 12 year-old girl.
Cori: I didn’t go down the rabbit hole to learn about how the author came to these decisions about the character. It must have taken a lot of effort yet it seems effortless.
Abra: She’s a playwright, and this is her first novel. She said in the interview that she tried to write this story as a play, but it wasn’t working. When she tried writing the scene where Vladimir comes to her house and comments on her things from this narrator’s point of view, she realized she’d found the way to tell the story.
Cori: I can’t imagine this being made into a movie or a play. It’s so internal; it has to be a book.
Abra: We stay in the narrator’s head the whole time. But the arc of the plot is very cinematic. It’s an interesting combination.
Cori: I think if you turned it into something that you’d watch, you’d end up disliking the narrator. But she’s likeable, even as I was shocked by her behavior.
From the beginning, we see this is a woman with a very rich fantasy life. The way she makes up a whole story about the people who had carved their initials into the chair. From the very beginning, we know when the story is incomplete she’ll make it up.
Because we find out she’s unreliable I had to read over her thoughts sometimes and think: “Do I agree with what she’s saying?”
Abra: And did you?
Cori: I found a lot of the things she said really relatable. She’s a professor and her husband who is also a professor has been accused of having inappropriate affairs with students. They have an unconvential relationship where this doesn’t bother her. She’s not jealous. When she talks to other people about him, she points out it was consensual between adults. And it feels awkward to say but I see that it’s not all his fault, but it can’t be her fault. So I found that very relatable, because we’ve all judged other people. But there’s always more nuance than that. I’ve definitely thought or felt or said something like that before.
And then there’s a moment where the narrator imagines one of those adult women saying that she wished she’d been treated more carefully. I can see that. I don’t work now but I used to work with the younger generation and sometimes I would think: You want us to treat you carefully, but you are the generation that’s going to make change. You are so much more equipped and so less willing to accept things as they are. You’re not fragile.
Abra: Wow. That’s so true. And so important what you noticed there: the narrator imagines that the younger woman might be thinking this but the woman does not actually say those words. We don’t really know what she thinks.
Cori: This generational difference is a theme of the book. I really liked the narrator’s relationship with her daughter Syd, how supportive she was. That was a healthy relationship. It made me like her. And I related to what she says about that too. I highlighted it: “Nothing is more alluring than a mother before she was a mother, an unknowable and irrestible figure.” It’s true, our kids really have no idea who we were, before we were their moms.
There’s a scene you mentioned in our email thread, where they watch the 1970s movie The Apartment together. It was one of my favorites.
Abra: The narrator tries to get Syd to separate the problematic gender dynamics from the art of the story. But Syd’s not having it. That’s not what she’s looking for from art or entertainment. She’s perfectly fine with her choice to seek cultural experiences to reflect or affirm how she’s living her own life, which is very different from those outdated dynamics.
Cori: I’ve experienced that in my own life, talking about the value of literature like To Kill a Mockingbird or Huck Finn with someone 15 years younger than me, who has her reasons why she doesn’t read or teach those books any more. Does the fact that it’s whitewashed and problematic make it less important? I don’t know the answer to that.
Abra: highfalutin thot wrote a post about this topic that I’ll link to. I wonder sometimes if we need to remember, in this time of censorship and backlash against progress.
Cori: When you mentioned that “the art is not the artist” theme, I thought that I need to read Vladimir again, because that’s another perspective to understand it from.
And I really liked Cynthia Tong, Vladimir’s wife. She’s the character who apologizes for missing a party due to her mental health issues. We talk about how important social-emotional health is, but there are not enough spaces where those issues are normalized. Cynthia normalizes it, even as she’s apologizing. You could write a whole book about Cynthia.
Abra: At first the narrator is envious of her. She makes up a whole story about that, to justify her own questionable behavior.
Cori: But then she kind of takes Cynthia’s part. It felt like she became protective of her, the way women should be protective of each other and the way we should all support each other.
Abra: Yes, later when Vladimir reveals more about their relationship the narrator thinks, “Just like a man to believe a woman had to keep her behavior in line while also churning out a work of genius.” She takes her point of view.
Cori: For me, this is indicative of a good book. It stays with you and there’s a lot of facets I keep going back to. I’m just grateful you shared it because I would never have found it on my own. Now it’s one I actually want to buy and keep on my shelves.
Abra: That’s awesome. Thanks for saying that. I know you have a passion for literature. Do you have any recommendations for managing a reading list for the community?
Cori: If I start a book I finish it, and if I read one book in a series I’m going to read the whole series. I’m kind of Type A about it. So I use a combination planner/journal from Little Inklings Designs. I have a page dedicated to your monthly reading provocations where I’m keeping track of what I read.
Abra: Can you recommend an underappreciated novel?
Cori: One of the best sessions of our book club was when we invited the author Heather Harper Ellet to speak with us. She wrote a book called Ain’t Nobody Nobody. It has 124 Amazon reviews so it’s not widely know, but it’s honestly one of the best book I’ve ever read. [On Cori’s recommendation, I added it to the April list]
Abra: What’s your drink of choice?
Cori: I really like a Pimm’s Cup. I’m obsessed with New Orleans.
Many thanks to Cori for her time and sharing her thoughts on Vladimir. I’d love to do some more Book Talks with other Booktender readers. Please reach out if you’d like to discuss any of the suggested books for April.
April Reading Provocation
Like Anne Patchett recently confessed on her social media, I’ve been known to say, “I don’t read mysteries.” Except that’s only partly true. Approximately 30 years ago, after a few moments of office-hour conversation in which it became clear I’d never encountered anything like
A few more suggestions
The March book suggestions, even some that aren’t brand new books, were popular in others’ posts on Substack, too. I’ll link to a few below.
Feeling intimidated by Percival Everett’s James? I’m 75% finished with it and I want to reassure you it’s not necessary to be a Huck Finn superfan to get into it. If you want a refresher, Sara Hildreth of FictionMatters Newsletter offered this post:
Here’s an interview with Leslie Jamison on Memoir Land. She mentions the texts she credits as “godmothers” for Splinters.
Hagitude for men? Dr Sharon Blackie entertains the question.
Celine Nguyen of personal canon also wrote about LA Paul’s Transformative Experience last month, in this essay about how the book’s message helped her explore her sexuality and live more openly.
Until next time 😎
Abra, thanks for taking the time to circle back to this book with me and trusting me to have anything important to say about it!
Abra - love this format and the conversation was engaging. Thank you.