Drinker of Ink by Shannon Castleton
Paris-born Vivienne Lebrun longs for a different life. One where she doesn’t attend college three thousand miles away from her family in New York City. A life where she is sophisticated and has kissed many men, both standing up and sitting down, like the lovers in Rodin’s sculpture. In that life, she would skip her final year of school and start writing books and working at a New York bakery. And her French mother wouldn’t (possibly, maybe) be dealing with the return of cancer.
In her real life, all Vivienne can do is obsessively catalog her longings in her journal.But as a new semester begins, she enrolls in a poetry class taught by Peter Breznik, a handsome Yugoslavian graduate instructor. In a heartbeat, she’s taken by his spell-casting blue eyes, his almost-smile, and his romantically-worn canvas satchel. Soon—though Vivienne suspects she’s stumbled into a dream—Peter is talking to her in chance library encounters about poems, future plans, and his violently unraveling country. And Vivienne is not just writing her fantasies, but wondering if she might (possibly, maybe) be singled out by the universe to live one.
Until struggles intensify for both their families—Vivienne’s mother’s health, Peter’s brother’s recklessness in war-torn Croatia—and they are pulled by demands beyond their control. Through distance and heartbreak, can Vivienne and Peter find one another and choose the life they had dreamed of together?
Review: Vivienne Lebrun is attending college in California, thousands of miles away from her family in New York City. She has decided she made a poor choice in traveling so far. If she had stayed in New York, she imagines she could be sophisticated, graduate early, and become a writer and baker. And she wouldn't worry if her mother's cancer had come back because she would be right there, close by. But in real life, she has none of those things. Instead, she worries about her family from afar while taking a poetry class taught by Peter Breznik, a young Yugoslavian graduate instructor. They silently fall for one another over their mutual love of poetry and writing. But the pull of their families and homes pulls them apart.
This book has so many glowing reviews. I did like elements of it! I loved the epistolary structure of the novel, which is composed of a series of journal entries from the two main characters. I loved their love of words, language, poetry, writing. Many famous poems are referenced throughout. It was wonderful! The second half of their love story, when they reunite was much better than the first half and I did enjoy most of the conclusion.
But. I ultimately could not move past the fact that they met when they were technically teacher and student. Coming from a family of teachers, a spouse of a teacher, and working in education myself, this just feels like the ultimate in unethical choices. I know that these two don't technically express or act on their feelings for each other until she is no longer enrolled in his class, but it just did not sit well with me. And arguing that they waited until after the teaching dynamic is a technicality only didn't cut it for me either; everyone in the class acknowledges their mutual crush while she is still in the class! Gave me major ick vibes. Their physical relationship (although the book is written relatively chastely) which takes place in the school library, his office, etc. was just shocking to me. This is very inappropriate and crosses a lot of boundaries. He was still employed by the college, and she was still a student! I cannot believe more reviews don't mention this.
I also didn't particularly care for Vivienne. She comes across as immature and anxious to the point of annoying. She is just exceedingly whiny and it's hard to believe she's just this brilliant, gifted writer when she comes across on the page as this tedious girl. She gives her mother the silent treatment, pitches a little fit and flees from Peter, and just generally behaves in a sort of bratty manner. The tension between her and her mother felt particularly overwrought and melodramatic to me. Of course, it makes sense to worry if your mother is ill! But the way the author had both her mother and Vivienne handle it felt silly to me. Finally, for a book that prides itself on it its literary references and two main characters who are supposedly beautiful writers, I found the writing very poor in parts. At one point, Peter describes Vivienne as "the same degree of adorable as baby pandas and bunnies" which 1) is cringeworthy to me and far from poetic but 2) is not exactly how I would want my romantic partner to see me - as a tiny baby. Yikes.
Stars: 3
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