Book on CD read by Karen White

Vreeland is best known for her historical novels focusing on various artists (Auguste Renoir, Emily Carr, Johannes Vermeer, etc). This is a collection of short stories that focus on art, but more on the people around the artist, rather than on the artist him/herself. The first half of the book is set in an historical time frame, the second half is contemporary.

We see a father’s eyes opened to his young daughter after August Renoir takes an interest in painting her. A woman who was befriended by Camille and Claude Monet (and would become the artist’s second wife), suffers through the rumors and gossip following her husband’s abandonment, and Camille’s death. A young woman hunts for clues about her father, Modigliani. A young girl is asked to water her neighbor’s plants while the neighbor is on vacation, and her eyes are opened to art she never imagined before. A teacher is faced with the possibility of miracles when a drawing by a student cannot be erased, and appears to cry. A mother recognizes that her son is growing into an adult when they both participate in a Tableaux Vivant.

I really liked some of these stories, and others left me feeling ‘meh.’

Karen White’s performance on the audio was adequate, but I never really connected to the work. I thought she did a better job on the contemporary stories. ( )

I like Vreeland books because I like art. She always takes an artist or a painting and writes a work of fiction around it, including lots of art history. This one was a little different in that she wrote short stories about various artists from the perspective of another person in their lives, sometimes a family member and sometimes just a friend of employee. Having the artist be the minor character was unique and I enjoyed all the stories.
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Susan Vreeland has established her own cottage industry in writing fiction based on the lives and works of famous artists. The first half of this book contains stories in a similar vein, while the second half is focused primarily on regular people discovering the power of art and artistic creation. Some of these stories worked better than others - in particular, one focused on Modigliani’s daughter and one on a young girl exposed for the first time to death and to art were very moving. Unfortunately, more of the stories felt rushed and somehow incomplete.

I actually started this book in February and would dip into it now and then. I can’t tell if it would have had a bigger impact on me taken as a whole, and perhaps I did not give it enough of my attention. As I said, some of the stories were lovely, and all of them were well-written but none have really stayed with me. Still, an interesting take on the role of art in illuminating the ordinary of the everyday. ( )

http://bookcrossing.com/journal/4529995 ( )

Short stories about art, different artists and common people who had a chance to meet them. ( )