I was really looking forward to the arrival of this book. After all, sad books need love too! I even loved the first lines...

"I held Vincent's skull in my hands. It was a strange and melancholy moment."

...but my love faltered midway through the reading. As the story dragged on I found it harder and harder to pick the book back up. It was so promising! I knew it wasn't going to be barrels of sunshine, but I never expected it to be boring. Le sigh. ( )

Somewhat disappointed by this book. I'd say it's because I love van Gogh so much, but my love for the artist is really the only thing that kept me reading. The writing was excellent, but nothing much happened in this novel. It could have been so much more. It's still fiction, so go ahead and make some stuff up- like a romance between van Gogh and the doctor's daughter? It was right there! Also, somewhat poor timing in light of the recent speculations that van Gogh was indeed murdered and did not commit suicide. ( )

Narrated by the doctor who cared for Vincent Van Gogh, Leaving Van Gogh is a fictionalized portrait of the last months of Van Gogh's life. His physician Dr. Paul Gachet is asked by Theo Van Gogh to look after Vincent because he is experienced in treating the mentally ill. In addition, Dr. Gachet is an amateur painter who has connections with other notable artists of the time. As he tries to understand what drives Vincent, a friendship develops between the two men. Van Gogh painted several versions of a portrait of Dr. Gachet. Themes of friendship, genius, melancholy and loss run through the novel. The information about the treatments for mental illness is fascinating, while the rich description reflects the bold colors of Vincent's paintings during this period. As I was reading the book, I found myself stopping and looking up the various paintings on Google Images so that I would have a point of reference. Starry Night has always been one of my favorite paintings, but I was not that familiar with many of Vincent's other works. I had trouble getting into the book at first, but once I became acquainted with the characters, I finished it quickly.

Reviewed as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. ( )

I was looking forward to reading this book because I once had a psych professor who did a wonderful presentation every year on Van Gogh. I think the presentation was better than this book. I think telling the story from the perspective of his doctor was a mistake. Too much of it felt like the author didn't know what to think about Van Gogh, so she just made it up as she went along. I prefer historical fiction to presented as truth, not conjecture. This book was very slow to develop and took a lot of effort for me to actually finish it. ( )

Leaving Van Gogh is a historical fictionalization of the final weeks preceding Vincent Van Gogh's suicide. He spent that time living Aurves, France and formed a good friendship with Dr. Paul Gachet, a physician that specialized in mental illness.

I had trouble getting into this book. I chose it because I love Vincent Van Gogh's paintings and wanted to learn more about him. However, he was really just a supporting character in this book. The reader never gets to know what's going in his brilliant mind. The story is told by Dr. Gachet and he is the center of the story.

The story meandered back and forth in time and at times I had trouble remembering if Gachet was talking about the past or present. The last fourth of the book picked up but I did not care for the ending. (I won't spoil it for you.) ( )