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jansbookcorner's review against another edition
3.0
I was looking forward to this story but was let down. After a while Christina began to wear on me, I never grasped why she became Wyeth’s muse, and the story was not that engaging. It’s a testament to Christina Baker Kline’s writing that I still liked it enough for a 3 star rating.
khornstein1's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Quite good on a number of levels. I have wrestled with my liking for both Andrew and Jamie Wyeth's paintings when critics have often hate them: https://observer.com/2016/08/why-do-critics-still-hate-andrew-wyeth/ Even looking at "Christina's World" now brings up memories of (my parents? art teachers?) saying "exploitative" and "not very good" but the painting has long fascinated me.
I thought Baker Kline created a very real portrait of a woman with disabilities, something that is hard to do without being "exploitative" or romantic. But perhaps even better was her description of life on a Maine farm in the early 20th Century, which she described in some detail, again not romantically, or harshly, or with the laundry lists of details that historical writers sometimes resort to.
The only thing I wrestled with was the back-and-forth of time periods so that I had to keep asking myself the age of the characters. There's a real warmth in Baker Kline's writing often missing from historical novels and for that, I was grateful.
I thought Baker Kline created a very real portrait of a woman with disabilities, something that is hard to do without being "exploitative" or romantic. But perhaps even better was her description of life on a Maine farm in the early 20th Century, which she described in some detail, again not romantically, or harshly, or with the laundry lists of details that historical writers sometimes resort to.
The only thing I wrestled with was the back-and-forth of time periods so that I had to keep asking myself the age of the characters. There's a real warmth in Baker Kline's writing often missing from historical novels and for that, I was grateful.
brittneygrace's review against another edition
2.5
This book was so boring. I mean, it’s fine but also. Dude.
suvata's review against another edition
4.0
Continuing my TBR project:
This is one the oldest selection on my TBR list - Originally added August 14, 2017.
This is a fictionalized account about the subject of Andrew Wyeth 1948 painting, Christina’s World. I have always been attracted to that painting. So, I really enjoyed the story behind this mysterious woman.
This is one the oldest selection on my TBR list - Originally added August 14, 2017.
This is a fictionalized account about the subject of Andrew Wyeth 1948 painting, Christina’s World. I have always been attracted to that painting. So, I really enjoyed the story behind this mysterious woman.
cindy_f's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was a well written fictional story about a real character in history- Christina Olson. She was the inspiration and muse for Andrew Wyeth’s painting called “Christina’s World.” The story delves into the life of Christina living and working in her family farm (1900- 1940’s Maine) despite her physical affliction. She is described as tenacious, stubborn and prideful. She refuses treatment for this physical defect while chastising those that pity her. A long term love who abruptly ends their relationship leaves her bitter. She is forced by family obligations to leave school after 8th grade but yearns for so much more. The story goes back and forth from her younger days to later on (1939) when Andrew Wyeth stays at the farm to paint. The bond between Christina and Wyeth is masterfully told.
book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Digital audio book performed by Polly Stone
3.5***
From the book jacket: To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family’s remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead for more than twenty years, she was host and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth, and became the subject of one of the best-known paintings of the twentieth century, Christina’s World
My reactions:
As she did in Orphan Train, Kline uses multiple time lines to tell the story. I thought Christina was a marvelous character, and appreciated the way Kline took what little is known of this real woman to weave this narrative. I liked that she focused more attention on Olson’s relationships with her family and friends than on her connection to Wyeth. Her physical condition made life in a relatively remote, and simple homestead (they lacked any modern conveniences), all that more difficult. Yet, as Kline depicts her, she persevered with a fierce independence.
Christina Olson was a complex woman, and Kline does a good job of showing that complexity. I was already familiar with Wyeth’s painting, Christina’s World, but this “portrait” makes me appreciate the painting even more.
The audiobook is performed by Polly Stone, and she does a fine job. She sets a good pace for the narrative. I did get a little confused about the timeline at first, but this was more the result of Kline’s style of storytelling, than it was any fault of Stone’s performance.
3.5***
From the book jacket: To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family’s remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead for more than twenty years, she was host and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth, and became the subject of one of the best-known paintings of the twentieth century, Christina’s World
My reactions:
As she did in Orphan Train, Kline uses multiple time lines to tell the story. I thought Christina was a marvelous character, and appreciated the way Kline took what little is known of this real woman to weave this narrative. I liked that she focused more attention on Olson’s relationships with her family and friends than on her connection to Wyeth. Her physical condition made life in a relatively remote, and simple homestead (they lacked any modern conveniences), all that more difficult. Yet, as Kline depicts her, she persevered with a fierce independence.
Christina Olson was a complex woman, and Kline does a good job of showing that complexity. I was already familiar with Wyeth’s painting, Christina’s World, but this “portrait” makes me appreciate the painting even more.
The audiobook is performed by Polly Stone, and she does a fine job. She sets a good pace for the narrative. I did get a little confused about the timeline at first, but this was more the result of Kline’s style of storytelling, than it was any fault of Stone’s performance.
karnaconverse's review against another edition
Andrew Wyeth spent his summers from 1939 to 1948 in Cushing, Maine working on what would become his most famous painting. This novel is a fictionalized portrayal of the artist and his subject, the melancholy that drew them together, and how the Olson House became "Christina's World."
Kline's interpretation reflects a monotony of rural life which, at times, was boring and hard for me to continue reading—even though I know that monotony to be accurate and true. The Prologue however is beautiful and introduces Christina Olson as one who accepts the life she's been given yet yearns for much more:
<blockquote>"He did get one thing right: Sometimes a sanctuary, sometimes a prison, that house on the hill has always been my home. I’ve spent my life yearning toward it, wanting to escape it, paralyzed by its hold on me. (There are many ways to be crippled, I’ve learned over the years, many forms of paralysis.) My ancestors fled to Maine from Salem, but like anyone who tries to run away from the past, they brought it with them. Something inexorable seeds itself in the place of your origin. You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel. And the skeleton of a house can carry in its bones the marrow of all that came before."</blockquote>
Kline's interpretation reflects a monotony of rural life which, at times, was boring and hard for me to continue reading—even though I know that monotony to be accurate and true. The Prologue however is beautiful and introduces Christina Olson as one who accepts the life she's been given yet yearns for much more:
<blockquote>"He did get one thing right: Sometimes a sanctuary, sometimes a prison, that house on the hill has always been my home. I’ve spent my life yearning toward it, wanting to escape it, paralyzed by its hold on me. (There are many ways to be crippled, I’ve learned over the years, many forms of paralysis.) My ancestors fled to Maine from Salem, but like anyone who tries to run away from the past, they brought it with them. Something inexorable seeds itself in the place of your origin. You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel. And the skeleton of a house can carry in its bones the marrow of all that came before."</blockquote>
barnesbookshelf's review against another edition
2.0
Nothing really happened in the book. Its a quick and easy read, but there's not really a plot. It is calming to read, so its got that going for it.
tophat8855's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this story and it was well-written. I listened to it as an audiobook on Hoopla so I had to be careful about hearing the dates so I know where the story was jumping around to. For a lot of the book I did not like Christina, but I think by the end she realizes that she was disagreeable and at least she acknowledged it. I know the art that this piece was based on- I had to write a short story about it myself when I was in seventh grade. I did poorly on that assignment and to this day it haunts me that I let my partner down. That is neither here nor there. This book led to some good personal questions: are you where you are because you chose it or because you ended up there?
roseleaf24's review against another edition
4.0
This book is as quiet and austere as the paintings and the life it describes. I enjoyed this story of Christina Olson, and I enjoy the way Kline can mix historical fact into her historical fiction, bringing life into the bones of a story. I'm fascinated by Maine and the false piety depicted here, to a god of hard work, independence, land ownership, and a familial duty that honors family history and legacy more than individuals.