And Now You Can Go

I found Vida to be a skilled wordsmith, with beautiful phrasing, and a quirky way of expressing Ellis feelings and reflections. However, I felt that the reliance on her ability with words left a bit to be desired. I was left deeply in want of more story, and since I felt that most of the characters were topical, I was also left wanting to care more about these people.

Some of Bret Easton Ellis writing comes to mind when thinking of this book, as does Michael Chabons "Mysteries of Pittsburgh" - I was reminded of the moodiness of these works and the novel moves in a similar way but unlike these other works, she didnt seem to be aiming at depicting the emptiness of youth or the memory of it - she rather seemed to want to give us insight into her protagonist. However, Vidas novel needed a more cohesive story to do so.

I certainly didnt hate it, and think this woman shows much promise. She certainly has the words behind her, but Ill look forward to when she gets more comfortable in her skin, and fleshes out a story more. I was left wondering if this was a novel borne of a short story - as many first novels seem to, it seemed to exist in that middle place - ultimately, I wanted Vida to be braver in the writing choices that she made, there seemed a bit of hesitance in her writing.

If you love that twee, ironic spirit--if thats your idea of literary quality--this is just the novel for you.

But, perhaps Vendela Vida lets Ellis get a bit too whacked out. A man points a gun at Ellis in the park, she talks him out of hurting her, and then every nutball in her universe, past, present and future begins clammoring the walls around her.

Her roommate writes poems about taking out the garbage, Ellis has sex with some questionable guys, she goes home to visit her strange (kind of unbelievable) family, she travels to the Phillipines, her doorman is a drunk, she hides in cabinets, she cuts her hair into a mullet... it goes on and on and on- its as if the author was afraid that if she didnt use all of her good ideas in this slim volume, they might fade away forever.

Although at times I was slightly aghast at the world Ellis inhabits, I had to admire the quirky prose and the authors ability to have fun with the page.

Be prepared to suspend your disbelief and enjoy!