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2.73 AVERAGE
2.73 AVERAGE
This art-theft mystery earned mixed reviews but I liked it. The plot revolves around stolen paintings and paintings hidden under paintings, and the author does a pretty good job with twists and turns. Some readers complained about the mini-lectures on art history but I enjoyed them and I am not knowledgeable about art at all. I think the problem with this book is the author is trying to do too many things--a caper, a whodunit, and a Da Vinci Code-esque cryptic--all while building literary characters. I liked some of the characters but there are too many for a 300-page book and we don't really get to know them in depth. Charney also tries to tie everything together at the end via long speeches by characters and a few decent scenes, but he expects you to remember too many tiny details and I am still not sure of exactly what happened.
The author is a young art historian and student of art crime, and based on the interview and the annoying French and Italian sentences in the book, it appears he thinks highly of himself. I would pick up a second book by him but would hope he builds on his talent to create a tighter story that allows his characters more space.
The author is a young art historian and student of art crime, and based on the interview and the annoying French and Italian sentences in the book, it appears he thinks highly of himself. I would pick up a second book by him but would hope he builds on his talent to create a tighter story that allows his characters more space.
I tried to audiobook this but the whole production was just a little too much for me.
A pretty generic whodunnit-type thriller with paintings as the object of the crime. Lots of info about the intersection of art, crime, and law enforcement, and well written, but lacking any real revelation or statement. I'm torn between wanting to read it again to get all the plot points straight, and wishing I'd never bothered.
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
I loved all the bits of art lessons in this book. I wish I had had an instructor in college just like Professor Borrows.
I hope to see more from this writer!
I hope to see more from this writer!
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
challenging
informative
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Enjoyed the art history lecture parts but there were too many sub plots that made it too hard to follow and keep the characters straight imo
It's been a busy summer, so I've been reading a lot more audio books than print books. Sometimes I look for an audio book that is on my list of books to read, and sometimes I just scan what is in. The Art Thief by Noah Charney was one that looked intriguing recently.
It starts out with the theft of an altar piece in Italy. The thief repeatedly sets off the alarm but doesn't distrub anything so that the elderly priest assumes it is a malfunction and turns it off. The next morning he notices that the painting is missing. We then skip to Paris and learn that another painting has been stolen from a locked storage area. The reader thinks they may be related (otherwise why would the author have mentioned them), but of course, the main characters are unaware of each other's loss.
We then skip to London and get an art history lesson (which actually was very interesting, if a bit pedantic) from a professor who is whisked away by thugs in the middle of the lecture, and learn of yet another theft from a locked room in a musuem.
How are these thefts (and near kidnappings) related? The police in London and Paris try to sort it out. With lots of mysterious characters and double crosses the plot is pretty interesting. Some of the characters get a bit long-winded, and some seem to be there for comic relief, but it was a nice little mystery.