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A review by sloatsj
The Art Lover: A Novel by Carole Maso
3.0
This is an accomplished book, with moments of intense beauty and sadness about losing someone you love, often tied to artwork interspersed in the pages. (But don't expect quality reproductions.) One of the most prominent is Giotto's "Noli Me Tangere," as well as a Matisse drawing of a woman asleep. The author also brings in this excerpt from a book about Giotto:
"One of Giotto's most poignant figures is that of the Magdalen in Noli Me Tangere. Christ, in his first appearance after resurrection, meets the Magdalen, who reaches out to touch Him. Kneeling and stretching her arms toward Christ, her entire figure conveys a sense of almost unbearable yearning and emotion. The very idea that she cannot, must not, touch Him is used by Giotto to suggest the idea of not only the transcendent nature of Christ but the very human tragedy of two people at a fateful and final moment, separated by an enormous gulf..."
And that sums up the entire book. It shifts back and forth among "plot lines," but is always tied to the themes of loss and deep love, and is not hard to follow. Near the end, the way the author herself breaks into the book is remarkable.
Still, for all its emotional depth, there were two things that I found irritating. First, the book sometimes lapses into the "poetic" ("She breathes deeply and sighs. She is in love with light. Her eye caresses each blade of grass, each lavender shadow."), especially at the beginning. In the course of the book it either dissipates or becomes more bearable, but at the beginning it's a turn-off.
Second, while I love NYC as much as anyone, there are moments of unadulterated adulation for NYC that made me feel like someone was wringing out my internal organs. ("I am back in your city of fire-eaters, jugglers, magicians, fortune-tellers, three-card montes. I don't know how you've stood it all these summers since the country - unicyclists, parrots - twenty or so years now, in this madness that descends on Greenwich Village each year..." etc etc).
If you can stick out the first half of the book, you'll probably be rewarded for your time.
Footnote: After I finished reading, I flipped back to the beginning to see - "For Andrew, I am sorry to hear about your father. I want you to have this. Carole, Provincetown 1991"
Wow! A signed copy. I love second-hand. (But I hope I haven't embarrassed Andrew.)
"One of Giotto's most poignant figures is that of the Magdalen in Noli Me Tangere. Christ, in his first appearance after resurrection, meets the Magdalen, who reaches out to touch Him. Kneeling and stretching her arms toward Christ, her entire figure conveys a sense of almost unbearable yearning and emotion. The very idea that she cannot, must not, touch Him is used by Giotto to suggest the idea of not only the transcendent nature of Christ but the very human tragedy of two people at a fateful and final moment, separated by an enormous gulf..."
And that sums up the entire book. It shifts back and forth among "plot lines," but is always tied to the themes of loss and deep love, and is not hard to follow. Near the end, the way the author herself breaks into the book is remarkable.
Still, for all its emotional depth, there were two things that I found irritating. First, the book sometimes lapses into the "poetic" ("She breathes deeply and sighs. She is in love with light. Her eye caresses each blade of grass, each lavender shadow."), especially at the beginning. In the course of the book it either dissipates or becomes more bearable, but at the beginning it's a turn-off.
Second, while I love NYC as much as anyone, there are moments of unadulterated adulation for NYC that made me feel like someone was wringing out my internal organs. ("I am back in your city of fire-eaters, jugglers, magicians, fortune-tellers, three-card montes. I don't know how you've stood it all these summers since the country - unicyclists, parrots - twenty or so years now, in this madness that descends on Greenwich Village each year..." etc etc).
If you can stick out the first half of the book, you'll probably be rewarded for your time.
Footnote: After I finished reading, I flipped back to the beginning to see - "For Andrew, I am sorry to hear about your father. I want you to have this. Carole, Provincetown 1991"
Wow! A signed copy. I love second-hand. (But I hope I haven't embarrassed Andrew.)