Sigrid Nunez

The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez is a short novel that covers a lot of intellectual ground while staying in a very limited physical area.

I found myself reading this novel too quickly the first time, thoughts I wanted to consider, both of the protagonist and my own, went by too quickly because I was intent on the act of reading. While I enjoyed it the first time through, it was the second more reflective reading that really struck home for me. This isn't a novel to read to "find out what happens next," but rather to think about. In particular to think about whatever ideas the novel may stir within your own mind and from your own experiences. If you've ever worked your way through a book of prompts, maybe writing prompts or poetry prompts, I think you might have some idea of what this book can offer. Two big differences: these are thinking prompts and they aren't isolated prompts but fit within an impactful framework that gives you a perspective on each thought from which to take off. Maybe in agreement, maybe in disagreement, maybe simply in recalling moments from your own life.

The three characters we come to know best, yes the bird is included here, give us a dynamic from which we observe what relationships can mean to a person. Interpersonal, interspecies, intergenerational, and with the society we live in, every relationship is examined from multiple perspectives, some positive and some negative, but always in flux.

This likely won't appeal to readers who want more action, in the form of physical activity. Much of this is personal contemplation and low activity interaction between a limited number of characters. But if you're a reader who likes to read books that make you think, about big thoughts as well as mundane smaller ones, you will love this novel. Allow yourself to pause while reading to interact with the ideas. These aren't lessons or sermons, these are thoughts that welcome more thoughts. Engage and you will be rewarded.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (mer)

Nunez uses essentially the same fragmented, allusive, meditative format for this novel that she used in the two fictional works that preceded it. I felt the approach was much less effective here. This novel lacks the focus and drama of the earlier books. One dealt with the suicide of a former lover and the narrator’s inheritance of his large dog. The other concerned the protagonist’s terminally ill friend’s request for assistance in ending her life.

The Vulnerables is set during the Covid pandemic, which was strike one for me; I’m just sick of reading about lockdowns and isolation at this point. Babysitting a parrot just didn’t compel me either; Nunez was not able to make me care for the bird—strike two. And strike three: the lack of any real tension in the female protagonist’s having to cohabit with a male university student, the original bird-sitter who defaulted on his care-taking responsibilities but then decided he really hadn’t after all. He returned to the apartment where the protagonist had installed herself and the two had to get along. Ho-hum.

I was interested enough to complete the book. This is Nunez, so of course it’s calmly and fluently written, but I found it a rather limp novel overall. Yes, there are the requisite pithy literary allusions and observations about the state of the world. Marriage, fidelity, psychedelic drug therapy, and Me-Too all figure—among other things. Nothing really startling or particularly thought-provoking, though. For me The Vulnerables lacked both emotional and intellectual resonance. Disappointing.… (mer)

Really a 4.5 — really interesting portrait of 60s-80s New York, highlighting how social mores have changed in that time. Very engaging, very readable, and I really liked the structure. My main complaint about this is that the main characters is mostly uninteresting, with little spirit or drive. The people around her are the real stars. Interstingly (maybe) I was watching Yellowjackets at the same time as reading this, and with its similar teen / adult split narrative I couldn't help but picture the main character, Georgette, as Shauna from Yellowjackets. It covers a lot of ground, but the main story theme is the struggle of someone from a privileged background struggling to fight for social justice, rejecting her privilege — I felt this was conveyed and explored very effectively. The almost monomaniacal focus, and destructiveness that entails, reminded me of The Moon & Sixpence.

(Also have no recollection of how I came to be reading this book — recommendation? mentioned in an article?)… (mer)

Sigrid Nunez writes fascinating stories about the quirks of everyday life. So when she turns her hand to 2020, you know it’s going to be good. For the most part, this novel is fascinating about the types of characters the pandemic throws together and eerily reminiscent of the discomfort everyone was feeling at the time.

The story is narrated by an unnamed writer, who is getting on in years but is still spritely and engaged with the world. She attends the funeral of one her friends, which is an opportunity to meet with her other friends from college. Through connections, she ends up looking after a green parrot called Eureka back home in New York and ending up living in the apartment when she offers hers to a respiratory physician come to work in New York to assist with the increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients in the hospital. But the original parrot and apartment sitter comes back to New York after finding life at home too difficult to handle. Initially, the pair avoid each other but then start to open up about their problems and form a friendship.

Overall, the story is interesting and even though Nunez’s narrator segues into past events and friendships, it’s never boring. There is always just enough detail and random events to make it memorable. Initially, the narrator and her friends lament that they are likely to be classed as ‘the vulnerables’ for COVID-19 due to their age. But as the story goes on, it shows that we are all vulnerable at times. There’s the author who can’t get back to New York in time to have her baby and the young man cast aside by his parents (to the point where his mother has written a memoir about how annoying it is to have a child). Despite the grim setting of the book, there is hope amongst the longing to return to everyday life.

I wasn’t as keen on the narrator’s attempts to work through writer’s block, by going through various techniques and review of other authors. I felt it took me away from the main theme of the pandemic and connections with the past, but other readers may enjoy this. There is a lot of detail and some was interesting (e.g., discussion of a Joan Didion essay) but some wasn’t for me. But overall, the story was a reminder that the toughest days have passed and hope for the future, even if it is just the ability to walk outside and go to the supermarket. Nunez has a writing style that is engaging, capturing every absurd detail of pandemic life.

Thank you to Hachette for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (mer)