The book's unnamed narrator is an English professor at a small college. She teaches alongside her husband, who is in danger of losing his job for having a significant number of relationships with female students. She isn’t troubled that he slept around—they’ve always kept their marriage fairly open with regard to sexual pursuits. In fact, she’s more upset at the scrutiny she’s being forced to endure, to play the outraged or wounded spouse, to suddenly have her every move analyzed. And she’s even angrier at the women who’ve raised a fuss because in her mind, they knew what they were getting themselves into.
When she meets the college's newest English professor, Vladimir Vladinski, a handsome writer whose first novel has gotten some recognition, she finds herself becoming increasingly obsessed. She’s jealous of his literary success (her first novel got a blip of notice, her second novel failed), she's drawn to him sexually, and his life and presence are causing her to evaluate her life, her femininity, her marriage, her career, growing older, and her relationship with her husband and adult daughter.
At one point, the book takes a little bit of a strange turn, and I wasn’t sure where Jonas was going to take the plot, but luckily it never got too weird for me. Vladimir was an interesting one—completely character-driven and thought-provoking, but I never quite warmed up to it. Others have loved it, though, so if character-driven books are your jam, definitely give it a shot!!
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