Rating: 
Summary: Reads like a first novel...
Review: "And Now You Can Go" is a novel that seemed to have been written in the same style that so many other first novelists select. The usage of first person narrative guiding us through an assortment of experienced events informed by a place or life changing experience. It's a story of a woman's life after being attacked by a stranger and how the effects of this event color all of her thoughts and interactions thereafter. 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 Chabon's "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 didn't 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, Vida's novel needed a more cohesive story to do so. I certainly didn't hate it, and think this woman shows much promise. She certainly has the words behind her, but I'll 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.
Rating:
Summary: Reads like a first novel...
Review: "And Now You Can Go" is a novel that seemed to have been written in the same style that so many other first novelists select. The usage of first person narrative guiding us through an assortment of experienced events informed by a place or life changing experience. It's a story of a woman's life after being attacked by a stranger and how the effects of this event color all of her thoughts and interactions thereafter. 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 Chabon's "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 didn't 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, Vida's novel needed a more cohesive story to do so. I certainly didn't hate it, and think this woman shows much promise. She certainly has the words behind her, but I'll 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.
Rating: 
Summary: An unstoppable read
Review: After seeing this book lauded in several magazines and newspapers I was curious to check it out for myself. This book is an unstoppable read with a lot of wit, a dash of thriller and fanstastic detail. Vida is a great storyteller. I agree with the other reveiws on the length - I was sad there wasn't more to savor.
Rating: 
Summary: Cosmo Girl
Review: Aside from the language being as superfical and as workshopped as can possibly be, the book reads as a Readers Digest story drawn out into a novel. There is no weight here. There is no urgency here. It feels completely constructed. There is a reason why American Fiction is on its deathbed with publications such as the New York Times pulling fiction reviews and replacing them with nonfiction reviews, and its because of these abominable MFA books. I had a horribly difficult time doing this review because in the end, I just didn't know what to say about the book. There is nothing there. You come away with nothing. Maybe this is a new(or the reigning) genre of Anti-literature.
Rating: 
Summary: Trauma With A Twist
Review: Ellis is a self-absorbed graduate student when she is accosted by the man with the gun; the man doesn't want money, he just wants to die and he wants someone to die with him. Somehow she keeps them both alive by talking, talking, talking, quoting poetry, and trying to get him into a bookstore. Then, suddenly he runs away. The remainder of the book follows Ellis as she tries to deal with this experience, with her friends, with the police, with her room-mate, with a series of half-hearted affairs, and with a mediocre therapist. Along the way she reconnects with her family and follows her mother on a mission trip to the Phillipines. It's all a little loose, sometimes goofy, always unpredictable right up to the surprising ending. I was hooked on this book from page one, but then, alas, in the aftermath to the incident, it began to drag. There were too many shallow characters, too many frivolous encounters, too little trauma. It was hard to connect with all these characters; hard to connect the events into a meaningful story. Still, author Vendela Vida has a good way with language, and the story is generally entertaining. If you're looking for a light-hearted read with an unusual angle, I can recommend this one. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I've Read All Year!
Review: I absolutely could not put this book down once I read the opening page. It was everything I expected given Vida's brilliant work in the Believer (a fabulous magazine/journal)--The prose was fresh and insightful and it was full of the wonderfully constructed, beautiful sentences a reader is lucky to find even once in a book. Ellis was at once believable and easy to identify with, yet also was a portal to seeing a familiar world in a new way (in short, everything you could want in a protagonist). I highly recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Uncanny and True
Review: I did not expect to like this book because of all the media hype around its author, who is married to wunderkind Dave Eggers and edits the ridiculously trendy journal The Believer. I took it off the shelf on a whim and was immediately absorbed. The narrative has such fluidity and the author writes with such unaffected verve that the story seems to happen in real-time. Vida has captured something uncannily true about what is at risk in a society and its people when belief is no longer necessary to being. Her particular talent is in the seeming artlessness of her style, which is so plain it approaches lyricism. The observations are without guile; the interactions hopeless, ambivalent, and honest. Very little happens in this story, but the resonance of the narrator's emotional paralysis is powerful and stays with you long after the story ends. I have great admiration for Ms. Vida and this fine novel.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, intelligent , authentic
Review: I don't usually read books like this, but the premise seemed so interesting, I felt compelled to give this genre a try. What I like most about the book was it's authenticity. I was totally charmed by the writing and the attention to detail. There's a part where Ellis talks about learning to shoot a .55. Well, that's exactly the type of mistake that a person unfamiliar with firearms would make. At first, I thought it was a mistake and then I realized that it was probably intentional. Sort of a "Monkesque" move. Clever! But what I got most out of this book was a glimpse of female perspective. Ellis was a great window and I genuinely felt like I had access to the inner workings of her mind. Edifying and funny, Ms. Vida's prose is sheer pleasure to read.
Rating:
Summary: More McSweeneys MFA Assignments
Review: I just barely made it through this book. I would have put it down, but I figured the rave reviews might have some merit. They didn't. The protagonist is shallow and self-conscious, and the novel lacks the subtlety of similar works--the prose was so pomo that I was thinking Vida is a pen name for David Foster Wallace--only it lacks David Foster Wallace's well-developed characters and interesting plots. Wait for it to show up in paperback, or browse through it at Borders.
Rating:
Summary: Most Overhyped Book of The Year
Review: I saw about eight million reviews of this book, so I bought it. Somebody needs to be sued. This is a classic pump-and-dump scheme. Vida must have some serious connections in the publishing world. In the novel a single incident happens. Someone gets held up at gunpoint. End of story. But no. She writes an entire novel about it. This is the only thing that happens for a couple hundred pages. I'm not kidding. She wrote a whole damn novel based on one event. Boring.
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