No one states problems more correctly, more astutely, more amusingly and more uncomfortably than Francine Prose. If there were a George Bernard Shaw Prize for Crisp Compassion and Amused Disappointment in the Species, Prose would have won it many times over ... Prose writes sentences that make me laugh out loud. Her insights, the subtle ones and the two-by-fours, make me shake my head in despair, in surprise, in heartfelt agreement. The gift of her work to a reader is to create for us what she creates for her protagonist: the subtle unfolding, the moment-by-moment process of discovery as we read and change, from not knowing and even not wanting to know or care, to seeing what we had not seen and finding our way to the light of the ending.
... witty, recursive, and complex—one could say meta—but also heartfelt. Sincerity has rarely been this much fun ... This novel completely captures the flannel suit decade ... If this novel’s ending seems too tidily wrapped up, and it does, it’s a small misstep in this accomplished work of fiction.
The most surprising thing about The Vixen...is how laugh-aloud funny it is ... It is a testament to Prose’s mastery as a storyteller that what emerges is a penetrating look at the underside of comedy—namely, how the human condition can be so predictably cruel and paranoid. And yet, this is also a book steeped in the warmth of Jewish family life, post–World War II ... the underlying heartbeat of The Vixen isn’t political so much as literary—a book within a book that keeps the narrative thrumming ... Francine Prose’s higher purpose as a novelist is fully realized in this delicious coming-of-age story in which everyone is afraid, anyone can be accused, and disinformation runs rampant. This novel also comes at a perfect time in American history, as hard-won voting rights are being suppressed and the fabric of democracy itself torn apart. Prose deftly reminds us of a chapter from nearly 70 years ago, during the Red Menace hysteria, when the government could jail and kill a couple for passing on secrets to the Soviets. Or, in Ethel’s case, for typing them up for her brother.
Prose has worked an amusing inversion: The plot is more paranoid than our well-meaning hero, a sort of editorial Candide. And it may be one of his saddest and sweetest delusions that a novel, then or now, could make much of a difference in the not-so-grand scheme of things.
Like instruments in a string quartet, the scene’s syncopated dialogue and vivid description play off each other, seamlessly, rhythmically, as the narrative shifts back and forth, from the execution coverage to the puerile TV sitcoms, and from the sardonic comments of Simon’s parents to his own confused sense of things ... the prevailing tone in The Vixen is more lively than somber, for this is the story of Simon Putnam, a disarming narrator familiar from countless novels of youth and inexperience ... makes a detour into Gothic pastiche. The diversion is, however, mercifully brief ... a pleasingly intricate plot that hinges, inevitably, on lies and betrayal, both personal and political. There are spies here, and traitors. But in the richly textured place and time that Ms. Prose portrays with her usual skill, there are few clear distinctions.
Prose nimbly employs the Rosenbergs' fate to launch The Vixen, an often funny escapade revolving around a fictional New York publishing house at Red Scare-mad midcentury ... Prose has crafted an inspired work of fiction that, while staying within a realistic framework, does for an invented New York publishing house what Ira Levin did for a certain Manhattan apartment building in Rosemary's Baby.
While the plot of The Vixen is rich and surprising, Simon’s narrative voice carries the novel ... In each moment, Prose evokes a sense of place that feels crucial to Simon’s process of discovery. This is, in many ways, a novel of New York in a particular moment ... doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s a lot of fun to read. Prose is a master of language, and her captivating words are all the more striking in contrast to the novel’s intentional profanity. Good fiction entertains and asks questions, gesturing to truths beyond the novel itself. The Vixen does just that, with an extra note of fun.
... a dark comedy, an antic farce that works on several levels at once ... This is all-too-recognizable and not the stuff of comedy. But it is the knife-edge of familiarity that gives The Vixen’s retro setting its comic sting ... Prose neatly wraps this dirty secret of American publishing into Simon’s own trajectory, as he starts to realize that there are wheels within wheels in the production and promotion of the ill-conceived Rosenberg bestseller ... And yet, we keep laughing, not because it doesn’t matter, but because it rings so true. There may be fewer of us every year who consider being 'handsy' as the boss’s prerogative, but the durable hold of an entrenched and partially hidden political establishment on cultural power, as well as intimate life, is tangibly still with us. Hence our nervous laughter in the face of Mad Men and its ilk. It also takes a very good writer to write the hilariously bad novel-within-a-novel that portrays the maternal, purse-carrying Ethel Rosenberg as a sexual predator ... Prose succeeds in something more difficult than it may appear. Through the hapless Simon, for whom the subway ride from middle-class, Jewish, Coney Island to the WASP redoubts of Manhattan is a journey without maps, she gives urgency to serious ethical questions. We too live in an urgent time, when necessity as well as conscience dictates that cultural maps must be redrawn or destroyed.
Depending on the light, it’s either a very funny serious story or a very serious funny story. But no matter how you turn it, The Vixen offers an illuminating reflection on the slippery nature of truth in America, then and now ... As a work of historical speculation, this is unlikely. But as a satire of the publishing industry, it’s hilarious ... You can practically hear Prose guffawing over these excerpts; they provide a wonderful excuse for this superb stylist to dress up like a literary tramp ... Ultimately, The Vixen is about guilt and innocence, but not the Rosenbergs'.
Prose has a lot of fun with the tropes of the cold war spy genre ... The Jell-O box, a key piece of evidence in the actual trial, provides a particularly delicious plot twist ... If it were purely comedic, The Vixen would be in poor taste, but the novel prods us to keep its serious core in sight ... Nutty fiction and sober fact are woven into an increasingly provocative fugue on the nature of betrayal, delusion, the perils of fake narratives, and responsibility to the truth
The dialogue is quick and the women are written with a range and vibrancy that nearly jumps off the page. But the true trial in reading the book is getting past the horrible people who populate it—it is very hard to like any of them, though Simon’s naivete could be endearing in the right light ... The latter part of the novel becomes over the top in a way that will certainly put off some readers, but there is a fun ridiculousness to be found in the thriller turn it takes. Gorgeously told through period detail, there are reasons to love The Vixen, but they are few and far between.
Prose’s exuberant, lighthearted novel immerses the reader in 1950s ambience, yet it’s full of winks and nods to the current political climate. Simon, our overheated narrator, pulls us along as he stumbles into Cold War intrigue, and we’re never sure which way the plot will turn until literally the last sentence. What a delightful read!
One of this bravura performance’s many piquant delights is Prose’s clever use of Simon’s fluency in ancient sagas as he struggles to comprehend just how malignant the scheme he’s bogged down in truly is. Mordant, incisive, and tenderhearted, Prose presents an intricately realized tale of a treacherous, democracy-threatening time of lies, demagoguery, and prejudice that is as wildly exhilarating as the Cyclone, Simon’s beloved Coney Island roller coaster.
A trashy anti-communist novel poses a moral dilemma for a young editor ... Hilarious excerpts from the appalling manuscript provide Prose’s characteristic humor in a story that otherwise has a more serious tone than her norm. Numerous hints are dropped that this project is not what it seems, and readers who know their American cultural history may spot the big reveal well before Simon does, but Prose maintains our interest with a vivid portrait of his internal conflicts ... Smart, assured fiction from a master storyteller and thoughtful social commentator.
Prose holds up a mirror to a fractured culture in this dazzling take on America's tendency to persecute, then lionize, its most subversive figures ... Sidelong commentary on Landry's sexual predation, shot through a lens informed by the #MeToo era, adds further resonance. This is Prose at the top of her game.
