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martha_fa's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
logophile_life's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
loribeth1961's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
"The Improbability of Love" by Hannah Rothschild (who is, apparently, one of THE Rothschilds), is the April pick for one of my online book clubs. The heroine is Annie McDee, a 31-year-old chef who lives in a small flat in London, recovering from a broken heart after splitting up with her longtime partner. (Warning: Do NOT try reading this book on an empty stomach! ;) ) She buys a painting in a junk store for $75 (that she can't really afford) as a gift for a new love interest -- who ghosts her before she can give it to him. She decides to return it, only to find the store -- and the man who sold it to her -- went up in flames in a suspicious fire, just hours after she left.
At a London art gallery, trying to learn more about her painting, Annie meets Jesse, a tour guide and artist himself. As they investigate the mysterious painting's origins together, they are drawn into the murky, cut-throat world of art collectors, dealers and thieves -- many of whom would love to get their hands on the painting, for various reasons. Unbeknown to Annie, this includes the father of her current employer -- an elderly Holocaust survivor and ultra-wealthy art dealer, who rules both his family and his company with an iron fist.
The story picked up for me midway through the book, when Annie's boss, the old man's daughter, Rebecca, discovers her late brother's hidden notebook, setting off a chain of unexpected events...
I don't want to give too many spoilers away, but here's one: "The Improbability of Love" is not only the title of the book, it's the name of the painting itself. (I had to check: the artist is real; the painting is not.) The painting is actually a character in the book who narrates some chapters (!), where we gradually learn more about its history, who painted it and who its previous owners were. (Over time, the painting was often given as a token of love to wives, lovers and beloved mistresses.) When I started reading the first chapter where this happens, I was hearing a certain voice in my head, and I couldn't figure out where this was coming from? Then I realized...! I was thinking of an episode of The Simpsons (lol!) -- "Moe Goes From Rags to Riches" -- where Jeremy Irons provides the voice of an ancient tapestry that winds up as a rag at Moe's bar, and then gets adopted by Santa's Little Helper -- i.e., the dog, lol.
As I read, I was also reminded of a couple of other art-related books I've read in the past -- "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt, for one, as well as certain scenes in "Killers of a Certain Age" by Deanna Raybourn.
Overall, I wound up enjoying this book more than I thought I would. It's a little long, and the multiple characters are hard to keep track of (albeit colourfully rendered). It took a while to pick up some momentum -- but I absolutely tore through the last third of the book.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
At a London art gallery, trying to learn more about her painting, Annie meets Jesse, a tour guide and artist himself. As they investigate the mysterious painting's origins together, they are drawn into the murky, cut-throat world of art collectors, dealers and thieves -- many of whom would love to get their hands on the painting, for various reasons. Unbeknown to Annie, this includes the father of her current employer -- an elderly Holocaust survivor and ultra-wealthy art dealer, who rules both his family and his company with an iron fist.
The story picked up for me midway through the book, when Annie's boss, the old man's daughter, Rebecca, discovers her late brother's hidden notebook, setting off a chain of unexpected events...
I don't want to give too many spoilers away, but here's one: "The Improbability of Love" is not only the title of the book, it's the name of the painting itself. (I had to check: the artist is real; the painting is not.) The painting is actually a character in the book who narrates some chapters (!), where we gradually learn more about its history, who painted it and who its previous owners were. (Over time, the painting was often given as a token of love to wives, lovers and beloved mistresses.) When I started reading the first chapter where this happens, I was hearing a certain voice in my head, and I couldn't figure out where this was coming from? Then I realized...! I was thinking of an episode of The Simpsons (lol!) -- "Moe Goes From Rags to Riches" -- where Jeremy Irons provides the voice of an ancient tapestry that winds up as a rag at Moe's bar, and then gets adopted by Santa's Little Helper -- i.e., the dog, lol.
As I read, I was also reminded of a couple of other art-related books I've read in the past -- "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt, for one, as well as certain scenes in "Killers of a Certain Age" by Deanna Raybourn.
Overall, I wound up enjoying this book more than I thought I would. It's a little long, and the multiple characters are hard to keep track of (albeit colourfully rendered). It took a while to pick up some momentum -- but I absolutely tore through the last third of the book.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition
5.0
What a marvelous book! What a rich meal of delights, with every bite a new treat. All the characters have their charms, even the most questionable, but probably the most amusing is the painting itself, which is only too ready to relate what it has been through an share its world-weary observations.
I would have been happy for the story to go on. What complete reading pleasure.
I would have been happy for the story to go on. What complete reading pleasure.
amlibera's review against another edition
4.0
Probably more like 3.5 stars, I liked this a great deal while I was reading it but less when I was thinking about it afterward. I really enjoy this sort of novel, character studies and art history, and food descriptions along with a puzzle to figure out. There's more than a whiff of Trollope here as well but in retrospect, the characters weren't as full and rich as I wanted and the plotting felt like a draft away from where it should be (the story was all there but it needed to be tightened and have the threads pulled through somehow).
librarylizzie's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
4.0
jannemaan's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
essjay1's review against another edition
2.0
A good pool or plane read. Fast paced, some amusing lines about the follies of the mega rich.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
2.0
If I were to make a list of things I liked in books, this one would check off a good number of them. It's set in the London't art world. It has a plucky heroine. There's a forgotten masterpiece discovered in a junk shop. It's shortlisted for a prize. There's a love story. It goes a bit meta, in that the painting itself narrates portions of the novel. There are even Nazis and Holocaust survivors. It really does check off so many boxes for me.
And yet, I had to push myself to finish. While Rothschild clearly knows a great deal about art, she communicates as little of that knowledge as she can. This is a novel written as though the author is imagining the subsequent screenplay as she writes. I've read other books that give the impression that the author is picturing the story more as a movie than a book, and it can work, but here, with the large cast of characters and references to history and art, it does not. What happens instead is that the characters, of which there are simply too many, become cartoon-like. Rothschild needs each one to be memorable based not on their inner lives, but on physical quirks and exaggerations. Humorous novels are difficult to pull off, and Rothschild relies heavily on stereo-types to make her characters funny. So the gay man spends the book wearing more and more outrageous outfits. The male lead falls in love with our plucky and beautiful heroine at first sight and never deviates from his slavish devotion (which quickly made him more creepy than anything else, but tastes in stalkerish behavior vary). And the leading professional expert on Rococo art? Well, she's overweight. So every single scene that involves her, has her either eating while the other characters look on disdainfully, or mentions that her shirt is smeared with whatever she just finished eating off-stage. A second fat woman appears near the end of the novel, and here Rothschild simply has the other characters yell insults at her for being so unattractive. Her husband makes a comment about how she'd be lucky to get raped. This is a humorous moment.
And so, this book, that held so much potential, became an exercise in endurance, and I have no doubt that the dislike I felt for this book colored my impressions of it. I noticed every continuation error or factual mistake that, in a better book, I might have been willing to overlook. Rothschild clearly knows about the art she's writing about and she also knows about expensive items, but she failed to do even cursory research on the criminal side of things, leading her to point out that because one bad guy wore gloves, no DNA could be found on the scene, for example, and she failed to look up some of the more basic working of the British criminal justice system.
Many other readers have enjoyed this novel, and it has made the shortlist for this year's Baileys Prize, so if the premise of the novel appeals to you, don't be put off by me. But don't say I didn't warn you.
And yet, I had to push myself to finish. While Rothschild clearly knows a great deal about art, she communicates as little of that knowledge as she can. This is a novel written as though the author is imagining the subsequent screenplay as she writes. I've read other books that give the impression that the author is picturing the story more as a movie than a book, and it can work, but here, with the large cast of characters and references to history and art, it does not. What happens instead is that the characters, of which there are simply too many, become cartoon-like. Rothschild needs each one to be memorable based not on their inner lives, but on physical quirks and exaggerations. Humorous novels are difficult to pull off, and Rothschild relies heavily on stereo-types to make her characters funny. So the gay man spends the book wearing more and more outrageous outfits. The male lead falls in love with our plucky and beautiful heroine at first sight and never deviates from his slavish devotion (which quickly made him more creepy than anything else, but tastes in stalkerish behavior vary). And the leading professional expert on Rococo art? Well, she's overweight. So every single scene that involves her, has her either eating while the other characters look on disdainfully, or mentions that her shirt is smeared with whatever she just finished eating off-stage. A second fat woman appears near the end of the novel, and here Rothschild simply has the other characters yell insults at her for being so unattractive. Her husband makes a comment about how she'd be lucky to get raped. This is a humorous moment.
And so, this book, that held so much potential, became an exercise in endurance, and I have no doubt that the dislike I felt for this book colored my impressions of it. I noticed every continuation error or factual mistake that, in a better book, I might have been willing to overlook. Rothschild clearly knows about the art she's writing about and she also knows about expensive items, but she failed to do even cursory research on the criminal side of things, leading her to point out that because one bad guy wore gloves, no DNA could be found on the scene, for example, and she failed to look up some of the more basic working of the British criminal justice system.
Many other readers have enjoyed this novel, and it has made the shortlist for this year's Baileys Prize, so if the premise of the novel appeals to you, don't be put off by me. But don't say I didn't warn you.
lurdesabruscato's review against another edition
5.0
When a Rococo master's painting resurfaces in a pawn shop and is purchased by a lovelorn cook who has little idea what she's found, everyone starts coming out of the woodwork, including wacky art historians, London fixers, a Russian tin tycoon, Holocaust survivors, a talking painting, and even a clown. Rothschild's novel feels a little Da Vinci Code-esque in mystery solving with a tiny bit of Janet Evanovich quirkiness combined. After peeling away at the surface, the bigger picture is worth admiring.