Immagine dell'autore.

Susan Daitch

Autore di L.C.

9+ opere 227 membri 8 recensioni

Sull'Autore

Fonte dell'immagine: City Lights

Opere di Susan Daitch

Opere correlate

The Future Dictionary of America (2004) — Collaboratore — 627 copie
After Yesterday's Crash: The Avant-Pop Anthology (1995) — Collaboratore — 66 copie
Black Clock 19 (2014) — Collaboratore — 2 copie

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Data di nascita
1954
Sesso
female
Nazionalità
USA
Luogo di residenza
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Istruzione
Barnard College
Attività lavorative
artist
writer

Utenti

Recensioni

This book started off really fast paced and very interesting. Somewhere in the middle I got lost in the main characters thoughts, and it lagged. She is amazingly capable of surviving any situation! I loved all the art history information. Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.
 
Segnalato
McBeezie | 2 altre recensioni | Jul 27, 2022 |
Probably my favorite Wallace interview.
 
Segnalato
Adammmmm | Sep 10, 2019 |
I received a free advance e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I like murder mysteries but this book didn’t trip my trigger. I found my mind wandering as I read. I did find the info about repairing painted masterpieces and different types of paints and how they were used very interesting. The story was confusing and hard to follow. The story lines didn’t mesh well and there seemed to be too many characters none of which were developed fully. It seemed like it took me forever to finish the book. This was a disheartening read.… (altro)
 
Segnalato
iadam | 2 altre recensioni | Nov 13, 2016 |
Don’t call Stella Da Silva an art restorer. She’s a conservator. Instead of adding to a painting, she painstakingly cleans & mends to preserve whats already there. She was lucky to get her job at the Claiborne Auction House & spends her nights working in solitude.
Despite her inexperience, she’s given the chance to work on a famous painting by Velazquez that has been secretly shipped to New York for restoration. To say things don’t go as planned is an understatement. Her first night on the job ends with a dead body, a stolen painting & Stella on the run for her life.

It’s a great premise for an exciting tale & begins well enough. Unfortunately, the story becomes lost in a sea of characters, numerous convoluted subplots, an abundance of technical details about paint & the MC’s tendency for long streams of internal monologue in the middle of a scene.

Stella is a normal woman with a largely unremarkable background & that’s not a bad thing. But there were several things that kept me from connecting with & more importantly, believing in her character. Suffice to say her safe, quiet life is completely trashed by the fallout from the missing painting. She is in mortal danger because she can identify one of the men responsible for the carnage & he knows it. Yet, she has an oddly flat affect when it comes to situations that qualify as full on WTF moments & repeatedly makes decisions the average person would consider suicidal. Add to that a superhero-like ability to survive numerous attacks (plus she knows how to hit someone to cause “just enough head damage to make him lose consciousness”) & I’m afraid the last kernel of credibility quickly exits the stage.

There is a large cast of characters who are all self absorbed by their personal plights & not particularly likeable. The exception is Calvin, the night janitor at the auction house who befriends Stella. A couple of potential love interests pop up but there is little chemistry as both are snugly wrapped up in their own dramas.

A great deal of time & space is devoted to the history & science of paint. Although this tends to freeze action & slow the pace, I have to give the author credit. It’s obvious she did a tremendous amount of research on the subject & knows her stuff.

I really wanted to like this book as it combined 2 things I love, a puzzling murder mystery & art. In the end, it was just too over the top. A pared down story line, fewer subplots, more character development & a believable heroine would have helped me enjoy this more than I did. But hey…that’s just my $0.02.

Recommended for: fans of “Die Hard”
… (altro)
½
 
Segnalato
RowingRabbit | 2 altre recensioni | Oct 11, 2016 |

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Statistiche

Opere
9
Opere correlate
3
Utenti
227
Popolarità
#99,086
Voto
3.2
Recensioni
8
ISBN
19
Lingue
2

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