If Camille Claudel had been born a century later she would have been much more accepted and that is very tragic. She was talented, but she lived in a man's world and she just couldn't play by their rules. I mean women apparently had to send a request to wear trousers! All she wanted in her life was to sculpt, but she had to fight for that, her mother was against it, thanks to her father she could do it

Her relationship with Auguste Rodin was passionate, but her jealousy, her fierce nature, and, in the end, her illness just couldn't make the relationship work.

I liked the book, but I found it was hard to read also, partly because I know how it would end, but also because I felt that I really never got into the story. I felt sorry for Camille Claudel, but I never really liked her in the book, I liked that she struggled to do something that before just men had done. But often I felt that she lacked the will to compromise, do keep her mouth shut sometimes. But this could easily be a part of her illness, but that didn't make her more sympathetic. She drove her friends away with her sharp tongue and I can understand why they find it was hard to be her friend. I don't know if she was this way in real life or if Heather Webb has just portrayed her this way. But it really made it hard to read the book. Also the relationship between Rodin and Claudel, I just didn't feel any passion I was never engrossed by their tragic love story. I didn't feel that moved by their relationship. It was interesting to get to know more about them, but I could just as well have read a biographical book about them.

Still, it was a good book, it was never boring, and I liked the small part with Victor Hugo, made me want to know more about him.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

My first introduction to Camille Claudel came in the form of the 1988 French film of the same name, Camille Claudel so I entered into reading Rodin's Lover knowing a bit about her. However, the film did not quite capture the depth of her character as this book has.

Once again, the author has completely captured the character of Camille, as she did with Napoleon in Becoming Josephine. Camille struggles with being a woman in a man's world and fights for her independence at every turn. When she comes under the tutelage of Auguste Rodin, her work continues to grow, but their tumultuous affair starts to take its toll on her. Always a passionate and outspoken person, Camille begins to exhibit signs of a mental disorder which is later confirmed as schizophrenia. The excellent writing brings her struggles and triumphs to light in vivid color and so, makes it all the more difficult to read the eventual tragedy of her life. In those days, it was so easy to put a woman away in an institution and so, Camille had little say when her beloved brother has her committed. One can only wonder what she more she could have accomplished had she not been struck down with mental illness and then put aside as an inconvenience and burden.

The author has written another excellent work of historical fiction. Her exquisite prose and captivating characters really make this book a must read. She is clearly becoming one of my favorite authors in the genre. ( )

You don't have to love historical fiction to love this book. Nor do you have to appreciate sculpture, or care about the politics of public art. You don't even have to be able to find Paris on a map. No, all it takes to love this book is a willingness to lose yourself in a story about a woman whose motto, if she lived now, would've been "Go big or go home."

Camille Claudel (about whom I knew exactly nothing) is a heroine I won't soon forget. Consumed by her drive to create, and inflamed by her love for her tutor, Auguste Rodin, Camille achieves more than any woman sculptor of her time, and pays the price at every level. Passion, heartache, entanglements and betrayal--it's all here.

Webb frames the story beautifully, carrying us into nineteenth century Paris and through the studios, salons and homes of the working artists and their models, benefactors, rivals and families. Her writing is precise (but never arch), assured and utterly convincing. I could feel the clay in Claudel's hand, and the fire in her heart.

Fast-paced and filled with raw emotion, Rodin's Lover is an impressive achievement, and a reminder of the power of great stories about great lives, whenever they were lived.

( )

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kudos to the author for her attempt at historical fiction - based on her notes and acknowledgements, she certainly did her homework. I am always amazed at how an author can take a historical figure and imagine the conversations and interactions that took place surrounding the events that formed their mark on history.

There were many parts of the story I enjoyed, I often paused to research the works mentioned, Claudel had some amazing pieces and what was more impressive was the obstacles she faced being a woman in the male-dominated art world. Where the story fell flat for me was Claudel herself - I don't know if the author took liberties with her character, making her unlikable by other women (and the reader) with her sharp demeanor, but it made me limp through the book. Perhaps the disconnect was done on purpose to illustrate her mental decent.

I also wasn't overly invested in Claudel's relationship with Rodin. It was supposed to be a passionate, at times jealous affair, but I didn't buy into it, the writing wasn't strong enough and Webb seemed to say the same thing over and over about their passion for each other.

I found this book just okay. I did expect more passionate, especially based on the title, but I found the book a bit boring.
( )

This novel is based on the true-story relationship between Rodin and one of his students, Camille Claudel. It is very well written, and really creates a sense of time and place. The passion Rodin and Claudel felt for each other, and for art, comes through strongly making the book a joy to read. Also, Claudel's struggles as a woman trying to make it in a "male" profession is something many women can relate to today. I know this isn't usually done in fiction, but I would have loved more pictures of Rodin, Claudel, and their works. ( )