Veronica (edition 2006)

one of my all-time favorite writers. ( )

There were moments when I truly enjoyed this book and got wrapped up in the voice of the narrator, but unfortunately, there were far more sections where I was bored, and simply reading to read. Simply, the narrator is herself apathetic enough that it's far too easy for readers to find themselves feeling the same way, and just not caring about what happens going forward. In the end, I felt that the title came from the fact that the book is something of a character study of two women, albeit one that takes time to even move into a phase of discovery; as a result, I found the characters and writing interesting...but as far as the novel as a whole goes, I just never found myself in a position where I really cared about moving forward with the story or discovering the next step on the so-called plot. Simply, I wouldn't recommend this one. It wasn't bad...but then, it wasn't much of anything. ( )

Veronica is another book I picked up because I had to; it was assigned for my Contemporary Novel class. Now, if you know me, you know that I usually love books that I read for class, so this was not necessarily a deterrent. In fact, that class had been really enjoyable so far, so I was looking forward to discovering another great book. Sadly, Veronica didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Set between the 60's and the 90's, Veronica is the story of a young model named Allison and her friendship with an older woman, Veronica, who is dying of AIDS. While the present action is a fifty-year-old Allison narrating her day in the first person present, describing going to work and walking home and other routine things, the timeline continuously jumps back into the past, telling the story of Allison's life, how she got into modeling, her rise and fall in the career, and her friendship with Veronica. The novel spends more time in the past, going over memories and events in Veronica's life, than it does in the present action. This jumping back and forth in time, mixed with the rarely-used first person present point of view, makes the novel hard to understand at first, but within an hour of reading you get used to it.

The writing in Veronica is sometimes very beautiful, and it's clear that Gaitskill can turn a phrase, but that beauty is marred by the self-consciousness of the writing. I was almost always aware of the writing itself, and it gave me a feeling that the author was trying too hard to sound meaningful or artsy. It came off as self-conscious and even pretentious at times, and that really annoyed me while I was reading. I'm all for evocative artistic writing, but often this book skipped past beautiful and went straight into the realm of truly purple prose. The first person present point of view, while an interesting choice, wasn't executed as well as I would have liked in some cases. There were times when Allison was thinking things that no-one could possible think in the present. No-one sums up their entire friendship with someone and that friend's philosophy on life in the few seconds it takes to shake their hand, and those kinds of realizations and philosophizing should have been used in retrospection only. In a book otherwise focused on accurately portraying consciousness through flashbacks and sentence structure that mimics thought patterns, this kind of inaccuracy sticks out like a sore thumb. Add that to the times when the author had a "Here's a metaphor, let me explain it to you" moment, and the writing in this book annoyed more than it pleased.

Veronica wasn't a complete failure. I could tell what the author was trying to do, and there were times when she succeeded. The juxtaposition of cruelty and beauty in her descriptions and the sequence of events was a good way of communicating the theme of the novel. Though the tone was too detached for me to ever feel for the characters, the events that took place were often glamorously violent or destructive, and that has its own interest. Still, the occasional shock value of the plot and the attempts at thematic meaning just weren't enough to make this novel worthwhile. If I hadn't been reading it for class, I don't think I would have finished it, and I'm almost positive that by this time next year I will have forgotten it completely.

Rating: 2.5
Recommendations: Lots of sex, drugs, cursing, and other things of that nature. ( )

A painful and honest look at the subtle, complex, and conflicting thoughts and feelings that are involved in relationships. The protagonist, Alison, is not a very likeable person most times, but I could identify with her. An older and wiser Alison looks back on her past relationships with her father, mother, sisters, lovers, and above all, with her friend Veronica. ( )

I only read this book because I needed a book that started with the letter V for my alphabet challenge. The reviews on Amazon were extremely mixed, people seemed to really either love or hate this book. I can understand, as I definitely loved this book.

The story is told from the point of view of a woman in her 40s who was once very beautiful - a model in fact. She went through her teens and twenties traveling back and forth from Paris and San Francisco and had little to do with her middle class, Midwestern family. As she grew older she began to do drugs and engage in self destructive and abusive relationships. She soon learned how quickly her age and her lifestyle were catching up with her.

The main problem people on Amazon had with this book is that it's not told in any kind of linear way. It travels from present day, to 20 years ago, to 10 years ago and back to present day, sometimes in the span of a single page. Many people had trouble following it and I was a little concerned that I would as well, but I found it to flow beautifully. For me, the time jumping was the first successful attempt I've read at stream of consciousness writing.

In addition to the main character's story is the story of Veronica, a woman with AIDS, that the young protagonist befriends out of pity. In the parts of the books that are told when the MC is in her 40s, she's stunned by how she once looked upon Veronica, especially considering that they are now very similar people (though Veronica died 10+ years ago).

In summation, I found this book to be really interesting and to capture the fleetingness of youth very well, as well as the way that time can change the way we see ourselves and each other. I would recommend it to people who want a challenging read, as it does require your undivided attention. ( )