A lovely little book which brings to life the artist Mary Cassatt and her older sister Lydia, who posed for her over 1878-81 while slowly deteriorating from a kidney disease. It’s told in five parts, each centered around one of the resulting paintings, and the insights that Chessman provides make it impossible to see these works in the same way again. The chapters are like little impressionist paintings of their own, and the book doesn’t get bogged down in details or attempt to be more comprehensive, which for the most part I found a strength, but confess it left me wanting a little more. Edgar Degas was in Cassatt’s life at this time and so he figures prominently, and it was interesting to read Chessman’s take on their enigmatic relationship. Most of all, I appreciated the reminder of the humanity of these individuals, and that the fleeting images left behind in the artwork are just small reflections of their dreams, loves, and frustrations in life. There is something profound in shifting the focus to Lydia Cassatt, who led a quiet little life and had it cut short at 45, someone who like the rest of us would soon be forgotten by the world, and yet lives on in a way because of her sister’s art and Chessman’s book. ( )

This novel had much more depth of understanding than I thought it would when I picked it up at a used book sale. Told in the first person, Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper delves into the model's thoughts and feelings as she sits for her sister, the impressionist painter Mary Cassatt.
Older by eight years, Lydia has Bright's Disease, an historical name for a number of kidney diseases, which, in the 1870's, was untreatable and almost always fatal. Although fiction, the book considers the process of painting from the model's perspective, and therefore lends greater insight into the paintings themselves. There are five reproductions included. Recommended for anyone with interest in art, impressionism, or the dying process. ( )

Beautiful. I cried. I shall look at paintings differently in future. ( )

Superbly beautiful! I only hope that my own writing will contain this lyricism and depth of emotion! ( )

This is the author's fictionalised attempt to get into the head of Lydia Cassatt as she posed for her sister, impressionist artist Mary Cassett, in Paris in the late 1880s.

Written in a stream-of-consciousness style, full of unfinished thoughts and hints of past tragedies never fully explained, this is nevertheless a quick and engrossing read. I neither loved it nor hated it, but Lydia isn't a fully three dimensional character so the story feels incomplete. What is here though makes the reader feel as though they are present in the studio, in Lydia's room, while Mary paints.

If you're a fan of Mary Cassatt you might find this of marginal interest (say, if you were to stumble upon it at the library). ( )