Vicky, nu Victoria 2

I’ll admit, I side-eyed this audiobook at first. A 13-year-old’s sex-and-drugs monologue? Been there, read the *Less Than Zero* knockoffs. But *Vicky, nu Victoria 2* blindsided me with its sheer *authenticity*. Nemerovschi writes teenage nihilism like a poet—less ‘woe is me’ and more ‘the world’s on fire, pass the lighter fluid.’ The plot (if you can call it that) is a series of vignettes: Vicky’s threesome of ‘forbidden loves,’ her half-hearted dog ownership, the way she treats friendship like a hostage negotiation. It’s messy, but the mess feels *earned*. Livia Taloi’s narration is a masterclass in tonal balance. She nails Vicky’s oscillating between deadpan apathy (‘*Am 13 ani și fac sex pentru că e fun*’) and sudden, furious vulnerability. The production’s minimalist—no frills, just Vicky’s voice in your ear like a secret—but the pacing stumbles in the middle, where the vignettes start to blur. My one gripe? The joint-smoking, skull-t-shirt aesthetic risks feeling like a gimmick if you’re not sold on Vicky’s voice. But if you’re here for the ride, it’s a wild one: imagine *Eleanor Oliphant*’s darkness meets *Euphoria*’s chaos, but with a Romanian twist and zero Hollywood gloss.