by Rachel Cusk
This is the second of three books. In this book we learn more about the protaganist from the first book. She has moved to London with her two children to try to get away from the memories of her bad marriage. She buys a rundown house in a nice neighbourhood and starts fixing it up. The neighbours who live below her constantly complaining about them walking on the floor and other noise. The construction noise makes them even angrier. The neighbour even complains to the other neighbours about the woman.
The chaos in the house seems to reflect the woman's mental state. She tries to write part of the day and teaches writing the other part of the day. She seems to be fighting to not feel or care about things so she won't get hurt again.
"For a long time I said that I believed that it was only through absolute passivity that you could learn to see what was really there. But my decision to make a disturbance by renovating my house had woken a different reality, as though I had disturbed a sleeping beast in its lair. I had started in effect to become angry. I had decided to desire power becuase what I realized was that other people had it all along. that what I called fate was merely a reverbation of their will...by people who would elude justice for as long as their actions were met with resignation rather than outrage". Is she saying that people will do whatever they can get away with as others will be resigned to it rather than challenge them?
Again a lot of the book involves the protaganist listen to other people as they tell her about their lives and disappointments. I found the book hard to read, everyone she encounters seems to be unhappy in their marriages, don't care about their children. Does what she sees switch her from ennui to outrage?
Wednesday, 9 May 2018
Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Outline
by Rachel Cusk
This book is nominated for the Giller and the GG award this year.
The Narrator is travelling to Greece to teach a writing course for a few days. She is staying at the apartment of another academic.
She has a long discussion on the plane with thrice divorced man who tells her about his life, his failed marriages and his mistake. He loved his first wife the best but she has made a life with a ski instructor, abandoning him and their son (schizophrenic).She meets another teacher who tells her about his life, his temptations, etc. She also meets other people, an old friend from Athens, an acquaintance of his has thrust herself upon him. She asks her students to talk about themselves and to tell a story about animals. One of the students walks out saying the course is crap. Very few ever ask her about herself. We learn very little about her other than that she is divorced and has left her children behind in England.
Notes from the book:
The narrator comments to a man she met on the plane "I said that on the contrary I had come to believe more and more in the virtues of passivity, and of living a life as unmarked by self-will as possible.... There was a great difference, I said between the things I wanted and the things that I could apparently have, and until I had finally made forever made my piece with the fact, I had decided to want nothing at all".
The end of the book, a playwright arrives as the narrator is preparing to return home. The playwright has been traumatized by a brutal assault and finds she cannot take any idea seriously enough to write about. She has weight but eats compulsively and ravenously. She mentions meeting a diplomat on the plane...
"It had made something clear to her by a reverse kind of exposition; while he talked she began to see herself as a shape, an outline, with all detail filled in around it while the shape itself remained blank. Yet this shape, even while its content remained unknown, gave her for the first time since the incident a sense of who she now was".
The main character seems to be a person people want to download their life and experiences on. In her writing class she encourages her students to be observant but she herself doesn't seem to be doing that. All the people in he books seem to have had bad relationships.
The language in the books is lovely. The author has a very eloquent way of describing and commenting on things. She has a gentle way of portraying people.
This book is nominated for the Giller and the GG award this year.
The Narrator is travelling to Greece to teach a writing course for a few days. She is staying at the apartment of another academic.
She has a long discussion on the plane with thrice divorced man who tells her about his life, his failed marriages and his mistake. He loved his first wife the best but she has made a life with a ski instructor, abandoning him and their son (schizophrenic).She meets another teacher who tells her about his life, his temptations, etc. She also meets other people, an old friend from Athens, an acquaintance of his has thrust herself upon him. She asks her students to talk about themselves and to tell a story about animals. One of the students walks out saying the course is crap. Very few ever ask her about herself. We learn very little about her other than that she is divorced and has left her children behind in England.
Notes from the book:
The narrator comments to a man she met on the plane "I said that on the contrary I had come to believe more and more in the virtues of passivity, and of living a life as unmarked by self-will as possible.... There was a great difference, I said between the things I wanted and the things that I could apparently have, and until I had finally made forever made my piece with the fact, I had decided to want nothing at all".
The end of the book, a playwright arrives as the narrator is preparing to return home. The playwright has been traumatized by a brutal assault and finds she cannot take any idea seriously enough to write about. She has weight but eats compulsively and ravenously. She mentions meeting a diplomat on the plane...
"It had made something clear to her by a reverse kind of exposition; while he talked she began to see herself as a shape, an outline, with all detail filled in around it while the shape itself remained blank. Yet this shape, even while its content remained unknown, gave her for the first time since the incident a sense of who she now was".
The main character seems to be a person people want to download their life and experiences on. In her writing class she encourages her students to be observant but she herself doesn't seem to be doing that. All the people in he books seem to have had bad relationships.
The language in the books is lovely. The author has a very eloquent way of describing and commenting on things. She has a gentle way of portraying people.
Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Every Note Played
by Lisa Genova
This book is about a self-absorbed concert pianist who gets ALS. It documents his denial and then decline. It is a very difficult book to read as you learn of how is body stops working. He is divorced. His wife left him after he had numerous affairs and because she basically sacrificed her career as a jazz pianist to support him and look after their daughter. Their daughter does not have a good relationship with the father, she sympathizes with the Mother.
His ex-wife agrees to let him come live with her so she can look after him. It is exhausting and she resents him because he still can be thoughtless and demanding. The husband realizes he was not a good husband and father but cannot bring himself to apologize to his wife and daughter. Eventually he loses his voice and cannot say he is sorry.
As time goes by his wife realizes that she is partly responsible for her own fate. At the end the husband decides to let himself slowly die as his systems are shutting down. It would be incredibly expensive to try to keep him alive, about $400, 000/year which he cannot afford.
After he dies his wife receives a tape from a Doctor who was recording his voice. It is what he calls a legacy message. In it the husband apologizes to his wife. Too bad he didn't do it when he was alive.
I am afraid I did not have much sympathy for the husband. The book was a powerful story but I think it would have been more satisfying if he had apologized to his wife and daughter before he died. The man kept hoping he would reconcile with his father, the father thought his athletic sons were valuable and disparaged him. However, the man's father dies so they are never able to settle with each other. You would think he would have learned something from that considering his own death was imminent.
This book is about a self-absorbed concert pianist who gets ALS. It documents his denial and then decline. It is a very difficult book to read as you learn of how is body stops working. He is divorced. His wife left him after he had numerous affairs and because she basically sacrificed her career as a jazz pianist to support him and look after their daughter. Their daughter does not have a good relationship with the father, she sympathizes with the Mother.
His ex-wife agrees to let him come live with her so she can look after him. It is exhausting and she resents him because he still can be thoughtless and demanding. The husband realizes he was not a good husband and father but cannot bring himself to apologize to his wife and daughter. Eventually he loses his voice and cannot say he is sorry.
As time goes by his wife realizes that she is partly responsible for her own fate. At the end the husband decides to let himself slowly die as his systems are shutting down. It would be incredibly expensive to try to keep him alive, about $400, 000/year which he cannot afford.
After he dies his wife receives a tape from a Doctor who was recording his voice. It is what he calls a legacy message. In it the husband apologizes to his wife. Too bad he didn't do it when he was alive.
I am afraid I did not have much sympathy for the husband. The book was a powerful story but I think it would have been more satisfying if he had apologized to his wife and daughter before he died. The man kept hoping he would reconcile with his father, the father thought his athletic sons were valuable and disparaged him. However, the man's father dies so they are never able to settle with each other. You would think he would have learned something from that considering his own death was imminent.
Saturday, 14 April 2018
The Woman on the Orient Express
by Lindsay Jayne Ashford
I read a previous book by this author, about the death of Jane Austen. As I read my review of this book it seems I thought it was okay but wasn't really gushy about it.
This book is about Agatha Christie. The book starts with a young man arriving at an aged Christie's home with a couple photos. He wants to know who the people in the photo are. He knows one of the women is Christie.
Then the book moves to the past. Agatha wants to get away from England as her ex-husband is to be remarried. After the scandal after she disappeared for a period at a hotel in England she decides to travel under a false name.
On the train she meets two women Nancy and Katherine, both of whom also have secrets. Nancy is a married woman, from a wealthy family. She was devastated to find her husband in bed with another woman, on their honeymoon. In her despair about this she is comforted by a married man and gets into a relationshipo with him. She is now pregnant with his child. She hopes he will leave his family and join her in Baghdad. Katherine is working on an archeological dig, partly as an artist. Her first husband committed suicide in Egypt and she has been told she cannot continue to work on the dig as a single woman so she is returning to get married to the leader of the dig. She has told her second husband that she will marry him on the condition that they not have sex. He agreed. She does not want to tell him the reason why... while she looks like a woman she actually has male sex organs rather than female organs. This was discovered after she got married. She found sex very painful and upon medical investigation the problem was unearthed.
Agatha stops Katherine from committing suicide, then Katherine falls ill and Nancy and Agatha nurse her. Katherine invites them to come visit the dig. Kather has figured out who Jane really is (she was reading one of Christie's books and noticed the resemblance to the photo on the book. She doesn't confront her for quite a while.
Nancy had planned to live with a relative, who was working for the British Embassy, in Baghdad. She is distraught when she receives a telegram saying her relative has died. Nancy doesn't have much money so Christie offers to hire her to type up her notes as long as she is in Baghdad.
When Agatha and Nancy go to visit the dig Nancy gives birth to a baby boy. An official at the British Embassy told her husband where she was and he shows up to claim the child. He is murdered by a Bedoin when he attacks Katherine who is trying to take the child to the Bedouins to ask them to hide the child. When is body is discovered in the desert it is assumed he got lost and succumbed in a storm. Decomposition of his body is so severe there is no evidence he was shot. The one weak point in this story is that Nancy's husband arrived so quickly. He seems to show up only a few days after the Official visited the dig. I know there were telegrams at that time but it would still take some time for the husband to travel from England. It took the women several days and a five day drive to get to Baghdad.
Katherine, upon urging from Agatha eventually tells her second husband why she can't have sex. She fears what is reaction will be but his response is that he just wants to be loved. When Nancy dies of a childbirth fever Katherine and her husband adopt the boy. As all this is happening, Agatha is developing a relationship with one of the other dig staff, a man who eventually will be come her second husband.
At the end of the book Agatha agrees to tell her young visitor, Nancy's son, the truth. He wants to know who is father is.... it is implied that the young man's father is likely Agatha's first husband. It seems that he was having an affair with Nancy, while he was wooing and preparing to marry another woman.
I found the book very engaging. I enjoyed it much more than the first book I read by this author.
I read a previous book by this author, about the death of Jane Austen. As I read my review of this book it seems I thought it was okay but wasn't really gushy about it.
This book is about Agatha Christie. The book starts with a young man arriving at an aged Christie's home with a couple photos. He wants to know who the people in the photo are. He knows one of the women is Christie.
Then the book moves to the past. Agatha wants to get away from England as her ex-husband is to be remarried. After the scandal after she disappeared for a period at a hotel in England she decides to travel under a false name.
On the train she meets two women Nancy and Katherine, both of whom also have secrets. Nancy is a married woman, from a wealthy family. She was devastated to find her husband in bed with another woman, on their honeymoon. In her despair about this she is comforted by a married man and gets into a relationshipo with him. She is now pregnant with his child. She hopes he will leave his family and join her in Baghdad. Katherine is working on an archeological dig, partly as an artist. Her first husband committed suicide in Egypt and she has been told she cannot continue to work on the dig as a single woman so she is returning to get married to the leader of the dig. She has told her second husband that she will marry him on the condition that they not have sex. He agreed. She does not want to tell him the reason why... while she looks like a woman she actually has male sex organs rather than female organs. This was discovered after she got married. She found sex very painful and upon medical investigation the problem was unearthed.
Agatha stops Katherine from committing suicide, then Katherine falls ill and Nancy and Agatha nurse her. Katherine invites them to come visit the dig. Kather has figured out who Jane really is (she was reading one of Christie's books and noticed the resemblance to the photo on the book. She doesn't confront her for quite a while.
Nancy had planned to live with a relative, who was working for the British Embassy, in Baghdad. She is distraught when she receives a telegram saying her relative has died. Nancy doesn't have much money so Christie offers to hire her to type up her notes as long as she is in Baghdad.
When Agatha and Nancy go to visit the dig Nancy gives birth to a baby boy. An official at the British Embassy told her husband where she was and he shows up to claim the child. He is murdered by a Bedoin when he attacks Katherine who is trying to take the child to the Bedouins to ask them to hide the child. When is body is discovered in the desert it is assumed he got lost and succumbed in a storm. Decomposition of his body is so severe there is no evidence he was shot. The one weak point in this story is that Nancy's husband arrived so quickly. He seems to show up only a few days after the Official visited the dig. I know there were telegrams at that time but it would still take some time for the husband to travel from England. It took the women several days and a five day drive to get to Baghdad.
Katherine, upon urging from Agatha eventually tells her second husband why she can't have sex. She fears what is reaction will be but his response is that he just wants to be loved. When Nancy dies of a childbirth fever Katherine and her husband adopt the boy. As all this is happening, Agatha is developing a relationship with one of the other dig staff, a man who eventually will be come her second husband.
At the end of the book Agatha agrees to tell her young visitor, Nancy's son, the truth. He wants to know who is father is.... it is implied that the young man's father is likely Agatha's first husband. It seems that he was having an affair with Nancy, while he was wooing and preparing to marry another woman.
I found the book very engaging. I enjoyed it much more than the first book I read by this author.
Tuesday, 10 April 2018
Erotic Stories for Punjab Widows
by Balli Kaur Jaswal
This story takes place in London. A young Sikh woman who dropped out of law school, to her parent's great disappointment is approached by her sister for help finding a man for an arranged marriage. The main character, Nikki, objects to her sister's decision as she considers herself an independent woman. She is supporting herself by working at a bar, living above the bar.
One day when she reluctantly goes to post an advert about her sister on a bulletin board at the Sikh temple she sees an ad looking for someone to teach some sikh widows how to write. She goes to the person on the ad and is offered the job. However, she doesn't realize that the person who prepared the ad didn't word it correctly--- she actually wanted someone to teach the women to read and write in English.
However the women seem to have more interest in socializing and get into telling somewhat saucy stories/fantasies. One woman is intent on learning to write and eventually leaves in disgust. Nikki tries to befriend the woman but the story about herself that the woman tells Nikki is contradicted by another woman in the group. Nikki doesn't seem to mind the direction the class is going in but she doesn't want the woman who hired her to find out. They then move on to recording the women's stories and transcribing them into Punjabi. The transcriber shares a few of the stories with a relative and soon copies are spreading throughout the neighbourhood.
Nikki meets a Sikh man and then enter a relationship. She is troubled that he often gets calls and has to leave. He tells her it is work issues but she eventually learns he is married. She is furious when she finds this out. The truth about what is really going on in the classes is discovered and the class gets cancelled. Nikki decides to invite the women to her workplace to hold their class.
Nikki learns that there are some secrets in this community, a young woman died in the past and no one wants to talk about it. She eventually finds out what really happened and actually finds proof that the woman did not kill herself but was murdered by her husband. Bringing this information into the open endangers Nikki and she is assaulted in her apartment and it is set on fire. She survives and the guilty man is arrested. Her lover informs her that he has divorced his wife.
The book was okay, I found it a bit ponderous even with the lightly pornographic stories included in the book.
This story takes place in London. A young Sikh woman who dropped out of law school, to her parent's great disappointment is approached by her sister for help finding a man for an arranged marriage. The main character, Nikki, objects to her sister's decision as she considers herself an independent woman. She is supporting herself by working at a bar, living above the bar.
One day when she reluctantly goes to post an advert about her sister on a bulletin board at the Sikh temple she sees an ad looking for someone to teach some sikh widows how to write. She goes to the person on the ad and is offered the job. However, she doesn't realize that the person who prepared the ad didn't word it correctly--- she actually wanted someone to teach the women to read and write in English.
However the women seem to have more interest in socializing and get into telling somewhat saucy stories/fantasies. One woman is intent on learning to write and eventually leaves in disgust. Nikki tries to befriend the woman but the story about herself that the woman tells Nikki is contradicted by another woman in the group. Nikki doesn't seem to mind the direction the class is going in but she doesn't want the woman who hired her to find out. They then move on to recording the women's stories and transcribing them into Punjabi. The transcriber shares a few of the stories with a relative and soon copies are spreading throughout the neighbourhood.
Nikki meets a Sikh man and then enter a relationship. She is troubled that he often gets calls and has to leave. He tells her it is work issues but she eventually learns he is married. She is furious when she finds this out. The truth about what is really going on in the classes is discovered and the class gets cancelled. Nikki decides to invite the women to her workplace to hold their class.
Nikki learns that there are some secrets in this community, a young woman died in the past and no one wants to talk about it. She eventually finds out what really happened and actually finds proof that the woman did not kill herself but was murdered by her husband. Bringing this information into the open endangers Nikki and she is assaulted in her apartment and it is set on fire. She survives and the guilty man is arrested. Her lover informs her that he has divorced his wife.
The book was okay, I found it a bit ponderous even with the lightly pornographic stories included in the book.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky
by Mark Sullivan
This fiction book is based on a real person.
It is the story of a young Italian man, Pino Lella during WWII. He is only 17. As Germany and Italy are at war with the rest of Europe Pino's parents send first his brother away and then Pino reluctantly goes too. Their parents want them to be safe and not recruited to fight. Prior to going Pino meets a girl on the street and falls for her. He invites her to join him at a movie but she stands him up. While Pino and his brother are at the movie a bomb drops on the building. Pino sustains a facial cut, his brother is okay but many people in the theatre and surrounding streets are killed or injured.
The boys go to a church school high in the mountains. When Pino arrives the head Priest gets Pino climbing the surrounding mountains to get in shape and to learn different routes. The Priest doesn't explain his reason at first but eventually tells Pino that he will be leading Jews out of Italy to safety in Switzerland. Pino is very happy to be contributing to the war in this way.
While Pino is up in the mountains he meet a local boy who aspires to a racing car driver. He agrees to teach Pino to drive fast if Pino will teach him how to ski.
Then one day Pino is summoned back to Milan and his parents tell him they want him to enlist in the Nazi Army, in a Technical Group. They think that in this way he won't go to the front and be killed. They also encourage him to be a spy back to the allies. He is given a general admin role but one day he finds a nazi soldier struggling with a car. Pino is able to fix the problem and the German Official, one of the senior Nazis in Italy, decides to take him on as his driver. This is a great opportunity for Pino as he is able to report on a lot, but he also observes firsthand the cruelty of his boss and the German army. He is shocked to find that the maid for the mistress of his boss is the girl he was smitten with. They eventually develop a relationship.
As the story goes on Pino saves the life of his boss by dodging a strafing plane. His boss is very impressed and grateful. Pino is torn, he doesn't know why he saved the man when he really hates him for all the atrocities he is committing on Jews and on Italians (stealing all the food from farms to feed German troops).
As the Germans are losing the war Pino eventually is ordered to arrest his boss. He is delighted to do so. But he later learns that by arresting the man his girlfriend and the German's mistress were captured and hung. He is distraught by this. Ironically he later has to deliver his former boss to safety in Switzerland. The boss had made some friends by doing favours and is "pardoned" by the Allies. This really upsets him also. Later Pino is able to move to America and has a successful life.
I really enjoyed the book. It gave a very detailed description of what life was like in Italy at that time and what people experienced and also what they did to fight the Nazis and the fascists.
This fiction book is based on a real person.
It is the story of a young Italian man, Pino Lella during WWII. He is only 17. As Germany and Italy are at war with the rest of Europe Pino's parents send first his brother away and then Pino reluctantly goes too. Their parents want them to be safe and not recruited to fight. Prior to going Pino meets a girl on the street and falls for her. He invites her to join him at a movie but she stands him up. While Pino and his brother are at the movie a bomb drops on the building. Pino sustains a facial cut, his brother is okay but many people in the theatre and surrounding streets are killed or injured.
The boys go to a church school high in the mountains. When Pino arrives the head Priest gets Pino climbing the surrounding mountains to get in shape and to learn different routes. The Priest doesn't explain his reason at first but eventually tells Pino that he will be leading Jews out of Italy to safety in Switzerland. Pino is very happy to be contributing to the war in this way.
While Pino is up in the mountains he meet a local boy who aspires to a racing car driver. He agrees to teach Pino to drive fast if Pino will teach him how to ski.
Then one day Pino is summoned back to Milan and his parents tell him they want him to enlist in the Nazi Army, in a Technical Group. They think that in this way he won't go to the front and be killed. They also encourage him to be a spy back to the allies. He is given a general admin role but one day he finds a nazi soldier struggling with a car. Pino is able to fix the problem and the German Official, one of the senior Nazis in Italy, decides to take him on as his driver. This is a great opportunity for Pino as he is able to report on a lot, but he also observes firsthand the cruelty of his boss and the German army. He is shocked to find that the maid for the mistress of his boss is the girl he was smitten with. They eventually develop a relationship.
As the story goes on Pino saves the life of his boss by dodging a strafing plane. His boss is very impressed and grateful. Pino is torn, he doesn't know why he saved the man when he really hates him for all the atrocities he is committing on Jews and on Italians (stealing all the food from farms to feed German troops).
As the Germans are losing the war Pino eventually is ordered to arrest his boss. He is delighted to do so. But he later learns that by arresting the man his girlfriend and the German's mistress were captured and hung. He is distraught by this. Ironically he later has to deliver his former boss to safety in Switzerland. The boss had made some friends by doing favours and is "pardoned" by the Allies. This really upsets him also. Later Pino is able to move to America and has a successful life.
I really enjoyed the book. It gave a very detailed description of what life was like in Italy at that time and what people experienced and also what they did to fight the Nazis and the fascists.
Sunday, 25 March 2018
The Italian Teacher
by Tom Rachman
This is the second book I have read by this author. Right now I can't recall the first one, the Imperfectionists, I still have it so I may reread it.
This books is about the relationship with a young man, nicknamed "Pinch" and his famous artist father Bear Bavinsky. When the book opens Pinch is a young boy and his father is living with him and his mother, in Rome, having left behind a wife and kids in the U.S.
Bear is self-absorbed and a serial adulterer. While he is living with Pinch and his mother, Bear s having an affair with at least one other woman. He eventually divorces Pinch's mother and moves onto to another woman and to starting another family. By the end of his life Bear as 7 or so wives and has fathered 17 children.
Bear loves to cuddle with Pinch when he is in the mood but most of the time he locks himself away in his studio and refuses to let anyone see his work. Bear is a perfectionist. He labours over his paintings and frequently burns those he is not happy with. Bear thinks he is the genius of the age, disparages the new modern artists. He refuses to sell his art to private collectors. He wants all his art to go to museums (so he will be honoured in posterity) and not hidden away.
He promises to do things with Pinch but never lives up to his promises. One of Pinch's step sisters arrives from the U.S. for a visit. Bear treats her in the same way as Pinch, hardly spending any time with her. Pinch's mother is an aspiring Potter but she sacrifices her art to serve Bear. When he leaves her and Pinch they struggle in poverty and she can't do much of her craft. Before Bear leaves he on one occasion takes Pinch into his studio and gives him some instruction about painting.
One day Bear reluctantly takes Pinch to an art launch in London. He tells people at the event that his son is an artist to watch. Pinch is so excited by this praise. Midway through the evening his father takes him back to the hotel and dumps him there so he can go back to the art launch and schmooze. Pinch never forgets this attention and aspires to be a painter after his father leaves.
When Pinch goes to visit his father in the U.S. with his next family he takes along a piece of art he has done and asks for his father's opinion. Bear stalls looking at it but just before Pinch leaves he does have a look at it.... his response is hot positive and Pinch is devastated, vowing never to paint again.
Pinch's mother is very fragile emotionally but Pinch decides to go to the U.S. to study, leaving his mother behind in England. He doesn't call her as often as he should. Eventually she commits suicide. Pinch makes friends with a male student and gets in a relationship with a girl. They talk about getting married but when she gets accepted to a presigious New York University and he doesn't they part company. Pinch is devastated by this. Around the same time he separates himself from his male friend, who has been kicked out of university.
Pinch continues to have a relationship with his father. Often going to help him at his cabin in France when he is summoned. He is very hurt when his father tells him one day "you work for me!" but he doesn't sever contact.
Pinch gets a PhD but cannot find a job as an Art Prof so he becomes an Italian teacher at a London language school. He marries, but divorces not long after.
One time when Pinch and his father are at the cabin in France they have a big fight and Pinch drives away. Pinch goes into the studio where is father has been storing a number of pieces of art. Pinch returns to the cabin and studio and in a fit of anger at his father punches one of the paintings and puts a hole in it. He is horrified by what he has done and tries to patch the painting. He lives in fear that his father will come discover what he has done.
One of his step sisters contacts him, telling him that she is in an abusive marriage but can't afford to leave. Pinch decides to make a copy of the painting he damaged. He then goes to an agent and offers the painting, as a Bear original, but insists it must go to a private buyer. The painting sells and he gives the money to his step sister. Pinch now has two things to worry about being "outed". He thinks everything will be okay but then he is contacted one day and asked the value of the painting as the man who bought it and his wife are divorcing and the painting may go up for auction. It works out okay for him as the husband rebuys the painting in the divorce settlement. Pinch thinks that things are okay until one day the owner of the painting tries to meet his father at an art exhibit. Pinch successfully gets his father away from the man before the lie can come out.
Pinch and his univeristy friend, with whom he has renewed his friendship, are visiting his Father in France. At one point his father does tell him that he thought he, Pinch, did have some talent. Pinch is furious that his father lied to him initially. He feels that his father is responsible for him giving up on art and his very unimpressive life and career. They have another fight and Pinch drives away. His father has a heart attack and dies, leaving Pinch all his estate. The siblings are furious that Pinch is getting all the art. After being threatened with lawsuits he decides to share the art with them. But what he does is make copies of all the art stored in the studio and give these copies to his siblings. He keeps the originals stored in the attic of the studio. He is of course torn up with worry about this being discovered.
Bear had been saying for years that he was working on new pieces but it turns out he had nothing new. Pinch finds some pictures of his various siblings at the cabin and starts painting them. He then decides to give these paintings to the siblings as original Bear art. The siblings, who like Pinch felt ignored by their father, feel great that their father thought enough about them to paint them. Eventually there is an exhibition of this "faces" series and there is talk of them being sold. Again Pinch is terrified as these are frauds.
Pinch has not aged well, he looks much older than his 50 years. He and his father both smoked pipes. Pinch has always been quite frail physically but he is devastated when he learns he has cancer and has a short time to live He has to have part of his tongue cut out because of cancer so he can no longer speak (symbolism). He leaves his fathers cabin to a fellow language teacher he has been living with. When she and Marsden (Pinch's friend) go to the Cabin and studio in France the discover copies of some of Bear's famous art. At first they think that he must have made two copies of his art, but knowing that he burned many of his pictures they realize this is not the likely explanation. They suspect that Pinch is the one who made the copies. They realize there will be legal chaos if the truth comes out that the paintings in the market are copies.
Pinch's lover decides to destroy the originals. At first Marsden is horrified at the thought of destroying the original work of a great master. But he then helps her burn them. They feel good that Pinch's artistic efforts will be enjoyed into the future.
This was a fascinating story. The author did a great job of portraying the cruel father, the doting son.
You really felt the pain the father had inflicted on all his families and sad for Pinch who, like all his siblings, desparately wanted his father's praise and attention, only to be ignored or even emotionally wounded by the father. A very powerful story.
This is the second book I have read by this author. Right now I can't recall the first one, the Imperfectionists, I still have it so I may reread it.
This books is about the relationship with a young man, nicknamed "Pinch" and his famous artist father Bear Bavinsky. When the book opens Pinch is a young boy and his father is living with him and his mother, in Rome, having left behind a wife and kids in the U.S.
Bear is self-absorbed and a serial adulterer. While he is living with Pinch and his mother, Bear s having an affair with at least one other woman. He eventually divorces Pinch's mother and moves onto to another woman and to starting another family. By the end of his life Bear as 7 or so wives and has fathered 17 children.
Bear loves to cuddle with Pinch when he is in the mood but most of the time he locks himself away in his studio and refuses to let anyone see his work. Bear is a perfectionist. He labours over his paintings and frequently burns those he is not happy with. Bear thinks he is the genius of the age, disparages the new modern artists. He refuses to sell his art to private collectors. He wants all his art to go to museums (so he will be honoured in posterity) and not hidden away.
He promises to do things with Pinch but never lives up to his promises. One of Pinch's step sisters arrives from the U.S. for a visit. Bear treats her in the same way as Pinch, hardly spending any time with her. Pinch's mother is an aspiring Potter but she sacrifices her art to serve Bear. When he leaves her and Pinch they struggle in poverty and she can't do much of her craft. Before Bear leaves he on one occasion takes Pinch into his studio and gives him some instruction about painting.
One day Bear reluctantly takes Pinch to an art launch in London. He tells people at the event that his son is an artist to watch. Pinch is so excited by this praise. Midway through the evening his father takes him back to the hotel and dumps him there so he can go back to the art launch and schmooze. Pinch never forgets this attention and aspires to be a painter after his father leaves.
When Pinch goes to visit his father in the U.S. with his next family he takes along a piece of art he has done and asks for his father's opinion. Bear stalls looking at it but just before Pinch leaves he does have a look at it.... his response is hot positive and Pinch is devastated, vowing never to paint again.
Pinch's mother is very fragile emotionally but Pinch decides to go to the U.S. to study, leaving his mother behind in England. He doesn't call her as often as he should. Eventually she commits suicide. Pinch makes friends with a male student and gets in a relationship with a girl. They talk about getting married but when she gets accepted to a presigious New York University and he doesn't they part company. Pinch is devastated by this. Around the same time he separates himself from his male friend, who has been kicked out of university.
Pinch continues to have a relationship with his father. Often going to help him at his cabin in France when he is summoned. He is very hurt when his father tells him one day "you work for me!" but he doesn't sever contact.
Pinch gets a PhD but cannot find a job as an Art Prof so he becomes an Italian teacher at a London language school. He marries, but divorces not long after.
One time when Pinch and his father are at the cabin in France they have a big fight and Pinch drives away. Pinch goes into the studio where is father has been storing a number of pieces of art. Pinch returns to the cabin and studio and in a fit of anger at his father punches one of the paintings and puts a hole in it. He is horrified by what he has done and tries to patch the painting. He lives in fear that his father will come discover what he has done.
One of his step sisters contacts him, telling him that she is in an abusive marriage but can't afford to leave. Pinch decides to make a copy of the painting he damaged. He then goes to an agent and offers the painting, as a Bear original, but insists it must go to a private buyer. The painting sells and he gives the money to his step sister. Pinch now has two things to worry about being "outed". He thinks everything will be okay but then he is contacted one day and asked the value of the painting as the man who bought it and his wife are divorcing and the painting may go up for auction. It works out okay for him as the husband rebuys the painting in the divorce settlement. Pinch thinks that things are okay until one day the owner of the painting tries to meet his father at an art exhibit. Pinch successfully gets his father away from the man before the lie can come out.
Pinch and his univeristy friend, with whom he has renewed his friendship, are visiting his Father in France. At one point his father does tell him that he thought he, Pinch, did have some talent. Pinch is furious that his father lied to him initially. He feels that his father is responsible for him giving up on art and his very unimpressive life and career. They have another fight and Pinch drives away. His father has a heart attack and dies, leaving Pinch all his estate. The siblings are furious that Pinch is getting all the art. After being threatened with lawsuits he decides to share the art with them. But what he does is make copies of all the art stored in the studio and give these copies to his siblings. He keeps the originals stored in the attic of the studio. He is of course torn up with worry about this being discovered.
Bear had been saying for years that he was working on new pieces but it turns out he had nothing new. Pinch finds some pictures of his various siblings at the cabin and starts painting them. He then decides to give these paintings to the siblings as original Bear art. The siblings, who like Pinch felt ignored by their father, feel great that their father thought enough about them to paint them. Eventually there is an exhibition of this "faces" series and there is talk of them being sold. Again Pinch is terrified as these are frauds.
Pinch has not aged well, he looks much older than his 50 years. He and his father both smoked pipes. Pinch has always been quite frail physically but he is devastated when he learns he has cancer and has a short time to live He has to have part of his tongue cut out because of cancer so he can no longer speak (symbolism). He leaves his fathers cabin to a fellow language teacher he has been living with. When she and Marsden (Pinch's friend) go to the Cabin and studio in France the discover copies of some of Bear's famous art. At first they think that he must have made two copies of his art, but knowing that he burned many of his pictures they realize this is not the likely explanation. They suspect that Pinch is the one who made the copies. They realize there will be legal chaos if the truth comes out that the paintings in the market are copies.
Pinch's lover decides to destroy the originals. At first Marsden is horrified at the thought of destroying the original work of a great master. But he then helps her burn them. They feel good that Pinch's artistic efforts will be enjoyed into the future.
This was a fascinating story. The author did a great job of portraying the cruel father, the doting son.
You really felt the pain the father had inflicted on all his families and sad for Pinch who, like all his siblings, desparately wanted his father's praise and attention, only to be ignored or even emotionally wounded by the father. A very powerful story.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)