Plot relied on men, despite it being about a woman. Pedestrian. ( )

Rating 3.45

After reading her most current book, "Metropolis" I was taken with Shapiro's style, wit and narrative. And while somewhat engaging, this story pales in comparison due to predictability and tedious pace.

Set in the 1920's during the time of Matisse, Picasso and others, we meet Pauline Mertens, the youngest child of an affluent German family passionate about art and history. Innocent yet extremely attractive, she meets George, who's older when studying at the Slade School of Art. Inexperienced with love, sex and intimacy she falls head over heals and introduces him to her family unaware George had identified them as a mark. In some ways he bears similarity to "Mr. Ripley", a slick con artist who changes identities with ease. Over time he manages to bilk her father of millions, steal his treasured art collection and disappear into thin air.

Distraught from what she brought on her family, Pauline escapes to Paris to start over. Months later, she's broke, and nearly homeless when she manages to find a job at a small art gallery. Under the identity of Vivienne Gregsby, her art knowledge impresses Edwin Bradley, a wealthy American collector and over time, he's taken by her eye. Bradley is friends with Henri Matisse, Gertrude Stein, Picasso and others, and as a result, Vivienne is introduced a world she'd always fantasized about. She learns of Bradley's plan to acquire works of the leading Impressionists to set up a private gallery and school and she's eventually offered a position. Before she leaves with him for the US, Matisse seeks her as a lover.

The story toggles back and forth between her journey and a trial where we learn she's the defendant accused of murder. While 30 years Bradley's junior, she finds his strong will, demanding and forceful persona to be challenging. Subject to emotional outbursts and angered easily, Vivienne is the soft spot in his heart. Noticing her disenchantment, Bradley doubles her salary, adds untold benefits and suggests their relationship become personal causing jealousy with his wife Ada. When he decides to make Vivienne sole beneficiary of his will, the plot as they say, thickens.

Meanwhile George continues to change identities bilking millionaires, industrialists and others while keeping tabs on Pauline. As with most predictable plots the 'writing is visible on the wall'.

As a character, Pauline/Vivienne is a bit weak when compared to those in The Art Forger or Metropolis which takes away from the engagement. And while the illuminating elements of Impressionism and the artists that created it is interesting, a book is as strong or weak as the characters and plot. As mysteries go, the lack of twists, the unexpected and predictable outcome make this as weak as the central character.

Shapiro's knowledge of art is one thing, but her failure to deliver a story with engaging characters disappoints. Nothing more need be said. ( )

The Collector's Apprentice reawakened my interest in and love or art. Since I especially love Impressionist and post-Impressionist art and had recently been to the actual museum that the fictional museum in the book was based on, the book appealed to me all the more. Thus, the book communicates to me much more than its mere plot, storyline and theme.
The story the novel portrays centers around love and betrayal. But there are really several love stories in this book, each dealing with different kinds of love. First, there is the love of a daughter for her father. next is the platonic love between the two main characters of the book. Then, there is the manipulative kind of love between the villain and the protagonist, the tope of love that is really based on the ego needs of one of the lovers. And there is also the kind of reciprocal love where each partner truly loves the other in spite of the difficulty and possible impossibility of being joined for a lifetime.
Beyond the kinds of love that people experience with one another, the novel deals deeply with the type of passionate love one person can feel for something outside them selves. It this case, that thing is art, particularly Impressionism, but it could have just as easily been love of music, dance, poetry, or any of the more everyday experiences of life such as cooking, cars, books, hiking, surfing or anything else that stirs the soul and awakens the emotions of the person involved.
I was disappointed in the last few chapters of the book where it seemed that too much happened too quickly and a bit too contrived by the author, but those chapters were at least redeemed by both eh final chapter and the elements of plot and story discussed above.
Now that I have read the book, I am anxious to learn more about art, to understand it better and to then experience more of it in the many places it is found. ( )

This was an interesting work of historical fiction based on the Barnes Museum now in Philadelphia. The characters will well developed, and I liked that the book was not chronological. I also liked reading about the personalities of historical figures. ( )

The Collector's Apprentice reawakened my interest in and love or art. Since I especially love Impressionist and post-Impressionist art and had recently been to the actual museum that the fictional museum in the book was based on, the book appealed to me all the more. Thus, the book communicates to me much more than its mere plot, storyline and theme.
The story the novel portrays centers around love and betrayal. But there are really several love stories in this book, each dealing with different kinds of love. First, there is the love of a daughter for her father. next is the platonic love between the two main characters of the book. Then, there is the manipulative kind of love between the villain and the protagonist, the tope of love that is really based on the ego needs of one of the lovers. And there is also the kind of reciprocal love where each partner truly loves the other in spite of the difficulty and possible impossibility of being joined for a lifetime.
Beyond the kinds of love that people experience with one another, the novel deals deeply with the type of passionate love one person can feel for something outside them selves. It this case, that thing is art, particularly Impressionism, but it could have just as easily been love of music, dance, poetry, or any of the more everyday experiences of life such as cooking, cars, books, hiking, surfing or anything else that stirs the soul and awakens the emotions of the person involved.
I was disappointed in the last few chapters of the book where it seemed that too much happened too quickly and a bit too contrived by the author, but those chapters were at least redeemed by both eh final chapter and the elements of plot and story discussed above.
Now that I have read the book, I am anxious to learn more about art, to understand it better and to then experience more of it in the many places it is found. ( )