Tag: art

The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

The Virgin Blue reminded me of Labyrinth because of the split narratives between Isabelle Du Moulin and Ella Turner, and their familial ties. Isabelle Du Moulin is from the Protestant Reformation in 16th century France while Ella Turner is from the present day. As the story unfolds, the connection between the two women unfolds as well.

The book is Chevalier’s first novel, maybe that’s why it’s not as polished as the other two I’ve read…. It’s not as introspective as Girl with A Pearl Earring, or as fluidly narrative as The Lady and the Unicorn.

Nevertheless, the book gives an interesting glimpse into the lives of the two women, the historical ties that bind them, and a haunting family secret that makes its presence felt centuries later. Made for good airplane reading :)

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My copy: faded trade paperback from Book Sale

My rating: 3.5/5 stars

Chasing Cezanne by Peter Mayle


This was the first Peter Mayle book I ever read, and I had no idea that he was a travel writer so I was in a totally different frame of mind when I read it, expecting an art heist thriller. But like all Mayle’s books, Chasing Cezanne is more like a travel book than anything else. It also reads like chick lit, which is kind of weird, because the protagonist is male.
The premise was really good: photographer Andre Kelly is off on a shoot when he sees a Cezanne being removed from the premises of a former client. He photographs this event and is embroiled in a chase for the missing painting.

Except that it’s got to be the most leisurely chase I’ve ever read — Andre and his gang (a fastidious art dealer, plus Andre’s love interest Lucy) stop to eat and sightsee (and sleep together) every chance they get, hehe.

The language is languid and dreamy, the descriptions are beautiful and picturesque. No rip-roaring chases here — the book is more like Under the Tuscan Sun than Da Vinci Code.

Even Cezanne is only incidental, you can substitute some other painter’s name in the title and the story wouldn’t change, that’s how little Cezanne. And there’s very little actual art discussed, other than the process of selling famous paintings and a bit of forgery (haha, Incognito was a great movie for that!). Actually I think even the mystery is only incidental, it was just a reason for Andre to get together with Lucy and romp from New York to Paris and the South of France.

Worth reading for the travelogue and food commentary — this is what Mayle does best, and he delivers commendably, but mystery lovers might feel shortchanged.

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My copy: trade paperback upgraded into a hardcover with dust jacket

My rating: 3/5 stars

Photo courtesy of Amazon (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5154TY62ARL.jpg)

From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

This is a book that I remember seeing a lot when I was in Grade School at the LRC, but I don’t know why I never got around to reading it. Maybe it’s because of the long title, haha, or maybe it’s because the cover isn’t appealing to kids.

Most people have probably had dreams of running away (if they didn’t actually run away) as they were growing up. Haha, I remember I used to plan my escape when my siblings ganged up on me, or when I got scolded (except I couldn’t stand the thought of roaming around on the streets in rags, with matching gunky hair and kariton). I think this is why I liked this book so much, because it’s a story about two kids who run away and actually succeed at it.

The book has a Home Alone quality to it, except that they’re at a museum and there are no bad guys, but they do have a mystery to solve.

I loved that of all places that Claudia and Jamie could run away to, it was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art… Now if only we had a museum like that, maybe I’d have run away a long time ago. Haha, Jamie reminded me a lot like my brother, because he was the money shark and like Claudia, I used to be the brains that thought up ways of getting us into trouble when we were kids (uh, like the brilliant idea to polish the parquet with baby powder! boy, did we get punished for that!).

The characters are endearing, and I love that the book shows how smart kids can be, in a way adults would never expect.

There’s an old movie version (1973), with Ingrid Bergman as Mrs. Frankweiler, and a 1995 TV movie with Lauren Bacall as Mrs. Frankweiler. I wonder if I’ll ever get to watch those; I think the book makes for a really fun movie.

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My copy: mass market paperback, wanting to be upgraded haha

My rating: 4/5 stars

The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

After I enjoyed reading Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, I decided to get The Birth of Venus because Amazon listed it as a similar book.

The Birth of Venus is a historical novel, similar to Girl with a Pearl Earring in its themes of sensual awakening and art, although it goes into more detail, especially on history and politics (from the death of Lorenzo de Medici to the rise and fall of Savonarola), with a bit of Dante thrown in.

Set in 15th century Florence, it is the story of Alessandra Cecchi, precocious and artistic daughter of a well-to-do cloth merchant. The story unfolds with Alessandra’s coming of age at 14, forcing her to sacrifice her dreams to fulfill the expectations of womanhood amidst the turmoil around her, with Savonarola threatening to snuff out the influence of the Medicis, and the pending French invasion. The Florence she has known and loved is changing, and with this, Alessandra carves out a life she can call her own, and finally explore the passions she’s kept at bay.

Like Griet in Girl with a Pearl Earring, Alessandra is intoxicated with art, and falls in love with a painter. I love how these two books explore art and love in a similar fashion. Maybe it’s the artist in me, but it’s a heady combination. The richness of detail paints a very vivid picture — you can almost hear the fine scratching of Alessandra’s chalk on the wooden board, or smell the paint as it’s being mixed to the right shade…

The second half’s full of surprises, especially Part IV, where things you didn’t expect to have any significance fall into place, and tie the whole story into a very strong piece: a charming novel that’s hard to resist.

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My copy: trade paperback upgraded into hardcover with dustjacket, thanks to Triccie and Babing

My rating: 5/5 stars

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Some stories are driven by their plots; Girl with a Pearl Earring is driven by the sensory experience it provides the reader.

16-year old Griet is a Dutch girl who comes to serve as a maid in the house of the painter Johannes Vermeer. Her keen perception and artistic sensibilities allows her access into Vermeer’s inner sanctum: his painting studio, where she eventually becomes the master’s assistant.

On top of her work inside the studio, Griet must contend with household duties and serve Vermeer’s temperamental wife Catharina, his shrewd mother-in-law Maria Thins, the maid Tanneke, as well as Vermeer’s growing brood of children.

Griet is on the brink of becoming a woman, and has to deal with growing attentions of the local butcher’s son and Vermeer’s patron van Ruijven. And as Griet becomes more intimate with the master Vermeer, disruption and jealousy erupt within the household, and ripple in the world beyond.

I was fascinated by the novel because aside from the typical coming-of-age elements (discovery of sensuality, angst, etc), it deals with artistic awakening. Griet was innately artistic, with her predilection for arranging vegetables by color. She had an eye for art, as Vermeer noticed himself. Thus she was promoted from mere studio-cleaner to artistic assistant and eventually to Vermeer’s sitting model. And she learns to see how Vermeer sees, and understands how a real artist doesn’t paint something according to how the rest of the world sees it…

Because Griet has a real eye for detail, the imagery is so rich that you can picture so much in your mind: Griet’s favorite tile, the blood caked between the butcher’s fingers, the scalloped edges of a tortoiseshell comb, Vermeer’s gray eyes, the meat market on a busy day… It’s terrific how a book can transport you to a different world, and make you see it in Griet’s eyes.

She develops an attraction to Vermeer, and I love the way she doesn’t come right out and say it, but you can read through her thoughts and feel it. There’s a part in the novel where he’s teaching her to mix paint, and you can practically reach out and touch the electricity crackling in her…

Sigh, what else can I say? Art is the best romance.

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There’s a movie version, starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth, and it’s every bit as good as the book. Excellent cinematography!

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My copy: originally an old creased trade paperback bought at Book Sale, replaced with a second trade paperback in better condition, then upgraded to a hardcover copy (with dustjacket), mooched from the US

My rating: 5/5 stars