Elizabeth Robards

Unless you are a fan who enjoys romance with a blue tint, don't read this book. In my efforts to read historical fiction with an artistic bent, I made my way to this book. It is about Edouard Manet, and it's also about the birth of the Impressionist movement with Renoir, Degas, Claude Monet and others, There is a lot of angst, romance, and non-explicit sex in the book. It tells the story of Berthe Morisot who is a young woman who lives in Paris and who is trying to bring her artistic works to the forefront at the same time as all the great 19th century artists that lived and worked in and around Paris at that time. There are some true historical events mentioned in the book such as the four month 1871 Paris Commune revolution. It depicted quite clearly the effect of this socialist revolution on the ruling aristocratic class. It also depicted the birth of the Impressionist movement which was formed when a group of painters decided to go against the French establishment, who have been keeping a tight rein on the artists and paintings that are"acceptable" for their annual Salon. There was no room for any hotheaded disagreements with what the establishment was determining was acceptable artistic license and what wasn't. The story is about the love affair of the married Edouard Manet and his favourite model of the time who was the unmarried Berthe Morisot. I found the book to be very literate and lyrical. Ms. Robards has a way with words and her descriptions of places and people was excellent. I found the book to be overly melodramatic though. I thought that someone should give Berthe a kick in the butt for her mindless and unsound judgement in all her dealings with a totally unavailable and unacceptable man. She does finally pull whatever dignity she has left around herself, and she makes a final move away ,which removes her from Manet's orbit and his pursuit of her. The book was ok, but not as enjoyable for me as some of the other books I've read about famous artists and their paramours.… (altro)

It was a pleasant beach read but not as great as I was hoping it would be. It promises a lot and sets up high goals with it's setting (around French Revolution) and with the great painters, like Monet, but it still seemed lacking. It had potential but wasn't my cup of tea. Also, there was almost too much French going on for a book written in English. It's as if the author was unsure the reader would remember where this story was taking place.
It's labeled as "Women's Fiction" which I find insulting and yet appropriate.… (altro)