The Vulnerables: A Novel

by Sigrid Nunez

Hardcover, 2023

Call number

FIC NUN

Collections

Fiction, New Fiction, Just Added Books

Genres

General Fiction

Publication

Riverhead Books (2023), 256 pages

Description

"Elegy plus comedy is the only way to express how we live in the world today, says a character in Sigrid Nunez's ninth novel. The Vulnerables offers a meditation on our contemporary era, as a solitary female narrator asks what it means to be alive at this complex moment in history and considers how our present reality affects the way a person looks back on her past. Humor, to be sure, is a priceless refuge. Equally vital is connection with others, who here include an adrift member of Gen Z and a spirited parrot named Eureka. The Vulnerables reveals what happens when strangers are willing to open their hearts to each other and how far even small acts of caring can go to ease another's distress. A search for understanding about some of the most critical matters of our time, Nunez's new novel is also an inquiry into the nature and purpose of writing itself"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member pomo58

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.

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LibraryThing member bobbieharv

"The Friend" is one of my favorite novels of all time; it and "What are You Going Through" were both 5 stars for me. I was very much looking forward to reading this novel, as I like (perhaps oddly) reading books set during the pandemic. But I'm sorry to report that this just fell short for me. The

writing was good, of course, but the removed, discursive style just didn't work when there was no plot to move it along. There was just too much detail about people I really didn't care about - except for Vetch and the parrot.

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LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe

There are connections in life, even a life in the midst of a pandemic, that tie our personal joy and pain to those of others. The narrator of The Vulnerables is a writer trapped by circumstance (the circumstance of not owning a second house in the country as it appears most of her friends do) in

New York City during COVID. If you recall those early months of 2020, you may also have had the sense that nothing was beyond strange. Even finding oneself in a friend’s palatial Manhattan apartment taking care of their parrot while one’s own apartment was being used by a doctor from Oregon volunteering her services in New York City. If a volatile youth joins you in the apartment — the former caretaker of the parrot — then that too is just one of those things that happen in life. And eventually, perhaps, one’s writer’s block will ease. Maybe.

Filled with beguiling discussions of art and life and seemingly random enthusiasms, Nunez’ novel takes its time to form a clear picture. Like the brain fog often identified as both a symptom of the illness and of isolation anxiety. But give it time and it will reward your patience. A gentle, thoughtful, very human take on vulnerability in uncertain times.

Recommended.

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