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sarahc3319's review against another edition
4.0
Based on the life of Peggy Guggenheim. Lara is taken to an artist's colony in Mexico because her flighty mother wants to open a museum in the jungle. The art is en route from Europe on a boat that never arrives. Lara misses her brother, is infatuated by a mysterious sculptor named Jack, and tries to learn to paint to impress her mother, who is largely unaware that Lara is there. It's a good little book. I wish it had been longer.
anneaustex's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the narrative voice of 15-year-old Lara who has been transplanted from her European home to an artists compound in the Mexican jungle. Her ‘real father’ and brother have been left behind in her mother’s efforts to save art and artists from the Nazi regime. It’s 1937 and “Mum says our artists are the ones the Führer decided were the most degenerate in Europe and that they couldn’t stay there...because the Führer is a terrible artist so he’s jealous of the good ones. ”
The story is told from winsome Lara’s perspective through a mix of letters, journal entries, and drawings. Her voice is young, and a little confused, and very very lonely. It is such an intriguing way to tell this story of the protection of the arts from the approaching devastation of WWII. It worked for me but I would guess that this will be a love-it or hate-it book for readers.
Based upon the story of Peggy Guggenheim and her daughter Pegeen, this short book made my day.
The story is told from winsome Lara’s perspective through a mix of letters, journal entries, and drawings. Her voice is young, and a little confused, and very very lonely. It is such an intriguing way to tell this story of the protection of the arts from the approaching devastation of WWII. It worked for me but I would guess that this will be a love-it or hate-it book for readers.
Based upon the story of Peggy Guggenheim and her daughter Pegeen, this short book made my day.
thegirlwhoreadsbooks13's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this one up as a Blind Date with a book at my local bookstore. The description sounded interesting but I found myself having to really concentrate when reading this book. It felt very fragmented and I really felt there wasn’t really a storyline. The writing was good but the book’s overall structure didn’t really make sense.
bethwis's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
writerrhiannon's review against another edition
5.0
**I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
I devoured Costalegre by Courtney Maum in just a couple hours and while it was a quick read it will stay with me forever. The 15-year-old narrator was naive and pining for the knowledge of the artists who surround her and the love of her mother. Written in diary form (I love that!) this book will have you remembering what it was like to be 15 (in the best and worst ways). Going into this book I did not know that this story is based on the real-life relationship between heiress Peggy Guggenheim and her daughter, Pegeen, but now I will be on the lookout for anytime the Guggenheim name pops up again.
I devoured Costalegre by Courtney Maum in just a couple hours and while it was a quick read it will stay with me forever. The 15-year-old narrator was naive and pining for the knowledge of the artists who surround her and the love of her mother. Written in diary form (I love that!) this book will have you remembering what it was like to be 15 (in the best and worst ways). Going into this book I did not know that this story is based on the real-life relationship between heiress Peggy Guggenheim and her daughter, Pegeen, but now I will be on the lookout for anytime the Guggenheim name pops up again.
emfahastra's review against another edition
3.0
A chittering book full of vitality that asks big questions. I'm sure its audience is out there but not my cup of tea as I found little empathy with the characters...though the writing is lovely.
marissab's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
babydmarie's review against another edition
5.0
Love, love, love this book! I read this in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. The entries in this fictional diary all feel marked by a heady, humid, anticipation, much like the novel's anticipation of the storm to come. Our teenage narrator, Lara, feels authentically adolescent, but never dumbed down or hyper-juvenile. She talks with complex grace about a very genuine desire for love, romantic love, familial love, platonic love. This book is brilliant, dreamy, and packs a punch in a brief package. I also loved the illustrations throughout and the small details of the diary format. While Courtney Maum's books are all wildly different, and this one is her most ambitious yet, they all manage to take complex and dazzling ideas, about art or tech or humanity or love, and pull them into intimately rendered characters.