![]() ![]() ![]() (I won't say more about the encounter so as to avoid spoilers, but I want to clarify that it does NOT involve sexual violence. Ellis, or El, a young art history grad student at Columbia, has a brief, violent encounter with a man in Riverside Park. The formula I just detailed is reductive, but make no mistake about it: Vida is not formulaic, and this novel is magnificent. ![]() Strenuous exotic travel usually plays some role in some part of this, but Vida is also a master of detailing the day-to-day and uncovering the epic nature of the taken-for-granted quotidian grind. That theme goes a little something like this: woman is confronted with shocking news or experience that jolts the foundation of her identity and is somewhat isolating, then seeks to develop coping, self-soothe, restore equilibrium and sense of self. Having read several of her more recent works before getting around to reading this, her debut, I was already aware that Vida writes variations on a theme. 2015 was the year of Vendela Vida for me I discovered this author's books and can't get enough of them. ![]()
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