Book Review: Blood Water Paint, by Joy McCullough @JMCwrites

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Blood Water Paint.

Written mostly in verse, Blood Water Paint is a fictionalized account of the life of painter Artemisia Gentileschi, who was born in 1593. Her mother dies, and either she must enter the convent or work for her father mixing his paints.  Eventually her artistic skills surpass her father’s, and he passes off her work as his own. He hires a teacher, Agostino Tassi,  to help her with her painting. Her father is hoping Tassi's connections will win him a huge commission.  She is raped by this teacher.

Of course in this time period, she isn't expected to tell anyone. Her support and her strength come from her visions of two ancient heroines, Susanna and Judith, whose stories she heard from her mother. These stories are recounted in prose and are woven through Artemisia's story. Both of these women bore many hardships and persevered in the face of insurmountable challenges. These women become subjects for Artemisia's paintings and gave her the will to persevere. Eventually she tells her father and he (since a woman isn't allowed to) brings charges against Tassi. After a lengthy investigation, trial, and much physical suffering, he is eventually found guilty. But when I say "physical suffering" -- well, you have no idea. Since Artemisia may never be able to paint again and this man gets only a five year banishment, this isn't much of a victory.

Some scenes are brutal, so be warned. And Blood Water Paint is more of a challenge than some books in verse. The poetry sections read like poetry - it's not just prose written in little lines.

Ultimately a story of feminist strength and survival, It may be a challenge to entice teens to pick Blood Water Paint up. I almost wish it was marketed to adults, but its powerful message may be worth the effort to push it to certain teens.

Published by Dutton Children's, March 6, 2018
ARC obtained from School Library Connection Magazine
292 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

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Book Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Well, The Picture of Dorian Gray means another classic completed.  It's short.  It's a good story. But it's written like a classic.

Everyone is mesmerized by Dorian Gray.  It starts with Basil Hallward, who paints a portrait of Dorian that he feels is his best work.  He can't even stand to put it in a show for the public to see.  He then introduces Dorain to his friend, Lord Henry Wotton, who takes Dorian under his wing and "teaches" him his hedonistic views of society.

Dorian is taken by Henry, and falls into a life of debauchery, hurting almost everyone with which he comes in contact without a care. His path through this deplorable existence is enhanced by the fact that Dorian never ages.  It seems his age, as well as his sins, are only depicted in his portrait, which he keeps hidden.

It's a strange and entertaining story and gives an insightful look at life in late nineteenth century England. And, even though its a relatively short book, it is still filled with overly descriptive passages indicative of almost every classic I've read.

I'm glad I read The Picture of Dorian Gray. Once again, my Serial Reader app made it bearable.

Originally published in 1890 in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine
eBook obtained from Serial Reader
176 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

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Audio Book Review: The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman

As is often the case with the audiobooks I choose, I enjoyed The Marriage of Opposites but if I were reading a paper copy I wouldn't have made it through.

It's an interesting story and based on true characters. In the early 1800s, Rachel and her parents have escaped the Jewish inquisition and fled to the island of St. Thomas. There is a substantial Jewish community on the island as well as the native population and the slaves the Jewish people brought with them. Rachel ends up giving birth to the famous painter Camille Pissarro, the father of impressionism, but The Marriage of Opposites is very much Rachel's story.

Rachel is forced to marry an older widow for the sake of the family business. When this man dies, his nephew, Frederick, arrives from France to settle the financial matters and run the business. Frederick and Rachel fall in love and even though the Jewish religion won't allow their marriage, they live together and begin a family. This scandal is one of the biggest dramas of the story.

Rachel also has a friend, Jestine, who is their housekeeper's daughter. Jestine provides more drama as she gives birth out of wedlock, and the child is stolen by the father. I don't want to say too much more about that.

Rachel doesn't want Camille to be an artist. They want him to be a part of the family business. Various people go in and out of Rachel's and Camille's lives and add interest, but I found the story to be very meandering. Hoffman, however is a great writer, and the narrators were very good so I never wanted to abandon the story.

But when you look back on it, not that much happened. I've listened to The Dovekeepers also and thought that was a much more exciting story.

While The Marriage of Opposites was an interesting story, it just wasn't very exciting and moved a bit slowly for me.

Published by Simon & Schuster, 2015
Copy obtained from the library
384 pages

Rating: 3/5

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Book Review: Da Vinci's Tiger by L. M. Elliott

Da Vinci's Tiger is a fictionalized historical account of Ginevra de' Benci who is the subject of Leonardo Da Vinci's first painting, the only Da Vinci that exists in the United States.

The story is Elliott's take on how that painting might have been created. Ginevra is a real character, as are most of the characters in Da Vinci's Tiger. The author supposes that there may have been a romantic interest between the Genevra and Leonardo.

Da Vinci's Tiger is also a study of what it was like to be a woman in the 1400s. The politics involved in arranged marriages and the existence of Platonic lovers--no, I'm not kidding.  Genevra was chosen by the ambassador from Venice, Bernardo Bembo, to be his Platonic lover. This means he admired her and would give her gifts and pay her attention as if courting her, but the relationship is platonic. As it should be, since Genevra is married. Her husband was honored that Genevra was chosen. How weird. So Elliott speculates that it was Bembo that commissioned Leonardo to paint Genevra.

We are given a taste of several other aspects of the time: jousting, life in a convent, how art was created. It all adds a richness to the story. Genevra wrote poetry, and the only line of poetry of hers that still exists is I beg your pardon, I am a mountain tiger. Hence the name of the book.

Da Vinci's Tiger is a well researched fictional account and includes an afterward from the author about the factual information she started with.

I wouldn't say Da Vinci's Tiger is riveting or fast paced. It's a relatively short book that held my interest mostly because I was interested in the subject. I did have trouble keeping the characters straight at first (this tends to be a weakness of mine, so it might not be an issue.) The Italian names that all sounded the same challenged me. I'm not sure this will be an easy sell to the average teenager, however art students should really enjoy Da Vinci's Tiger. Maybe if they've read any of Elliott's other books they would be interested.

Published by Katherine Tegen, November 10, 2015
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
304 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

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Audio Book Review: The Swan Thieves, by Elizabeth Kostova

The characters in The Swan Thieves are what set it apart. The plot, while interesting, moves very slowly.

Robert Oliver has attacked a painting with a knife at a museum and is under the psychiatric care of Andrew Marlow, our main character and one of the narrators of The Swan Thieves. Other than initially speaking a few sentences when he checked into the hospital, Oliver hasn't spoken or even paid much attention to Marlow since that first day. Oliver did tell Marlow that he could speak to anyone he wanted.

Marlow gives the impression that this was a unique case for him and that he may feel there was some impropriety in his treatment of Oliver. Oliver himself is a fairly successful artist, and Marlow also paints so they have this in common. Not that it helps. Oliver obsessively paints the same woman over and over. Who is she?

Marlow ends up interviewing Kate, Oliver's ex wife. And also Mary, who I'm not really going to tell you about. These two characters are also narrators of the story. There's also a narration from the past -- 1889 -- which takes place in France and is based on some letters that Oliver possess, written in French, about a woman named Beatrice, also a painter, and a man who becomes her lover.

As you can see there are multiple layers to the story. What at first seems superfluous information ends up being relevant, so the reader must be patient while Marlow weeds through bits and pieces of information at a painstakingly slow pace.

Each character's story is told completely and serves to connect the reader to their story. The way everything comes together at the end is very clever and surprising (and worth the wait.)

I was a bit confused at times about the French portion of the narration. It starts out as just the letters that Oliver gave Marlow to read, but ends up telling a romantic story between two people. This divergence from the letters is subtle. I became confused because the reader is learning things that Marlow doesn't know, and it's hard to keep track of what is a letter (that Marlow knows about) and what is the rest of the story (that he doesn't). While not essential to understanding what is going on, it did bother me a bit.

I learned a lot about the life of artists--painters in particular. Their daily routine was something I've never thought about. And how one breaks into the art world and gets their work exposed was explored a bit too.

As I often say about audiobooks, I'm very patient. This is another one of those books that I'm not sure I would have had the patience to finish if not for the audio format. The narrators were spot on. The multiple narrations were read by different people which helped a great deal.

If you like epic, character driven stories that contain some sweet romance(es) and some surprises, you will enjoy The Swan Thieves. I highly recommend the audio version.

Published by Little, Brown & Company, (Hachette Audio) 2010
Audiobook obtained from the library
800 pages

Rating: 4/5

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