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gwydion's review against another edition
3.0
The story was just kind of ho hum. I really didn't like the ending. There have been so many WWII and Paris books, and this one comes in at the bottom of the bunch I have read.
ebasile's review against another edition
2.0
I admit to hoping for more based on the review by Kristin Hannah. While she did create likeable characters, at times the story seemed to go into too much detail and other times felt rushed and with little attention given to what could have and perhaps should have been given a bit more depth. Upon research of Marthe there is more known of her than the author portrays in her novel. It would have been a more satisfying read if it would have included some of the more factual information on her life.
gmh711's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderfully evocative
"There are those who can look at something and only see the outer beauty, but it's always the story behind it that renders it priceless." This novel is a beautiful attempt to render the story behind Boldini's 1889 portrait of Madame de Florian.
It portrays the imagined lives of Solange Beaugiron and her grandmother, Marthe de Florian, a little known courtesan of the demimonde in the Belle Époque. Inspired by the rediscovery of Marthe's Paris apartment in 2010, it is a beautiful book inspired by a beautiful woman and the mystery of a time capsule apartment. Reading the description of a rose-colored gown, the reader can easily imagine Boldini's portrait.
The narrative switches easily between Marthe's recounting of her life at the turn of the century, and her granddaughter Solange's life in pre-war Paris. Through her grandmother's stories and the history of an ancient Talmudic text left to her by her mother, Solange discovers her family's past and what in life means the most to her.
"There are those who can look at something and only see the outer beauty, but it's always the story behind it that renders it priceless." This novel is a beautiful attempt to render the story behind Boldini's 1889 portrait of Madame de Florian.
It portrays the imagined lives of Solange Beaugiron and her grandmother, Marthe de Florian, a little known courtesan of the demimonde in the Belle Époque. Inspired by the rediscovery of Marthe's Paris apartment in 2010, it is a beautiful book inspired by a beautiful woman and the mystery of a time capsule apartment. Reading the description of a rose-colored gown, the reader can easily imagine Boldini's portrait.
The narrative switches easily between Marthe's recounting of her life at the turn of the century, and her granddaughter Solange's life in pre-war Paris. Through her grandmother's stories and the history of an ancient Talmudic text left to her by her mother, Solange discovers her family's past and what in life means the most to her.
lucylovesreading's review against another edition
4.0
Solange Beaugiron meets her estranged grandmother for the first time in 1938 at the age of 19. She was not prepared to meet a beautiful courtesan surrounded by objects d'art with a rich history beyond her imagination.
Marthe de Florian is in her prime in Paris, 1888. She has a lover who supports her lifestyle gifting her with money, jewelry and security for her future. Before her lover is no longer in the picture he gifts her with a strand of pearls so expensive they will be able to fund her the rest of her life. He also seeks to immortalize her with a portrait painted by the famous Giovanni Boldini.
The story switches between Marthe and Solange in the time frames of 1888 and 1938. The story describes their relationship as well as pre war Paris and the effect the war has on Solange as a part Jewish woman.
I loved to find out that though this story is fictional it is in fact based on real people. There was a painter Giovanni Boldini who painted Marthe de Florian and you can look up the painting that they describe in the book.
4⭐️’s
Marthe de Florian is in her prime in Paris, 1888. She has a lover who supports her lifestyle gifting her with money, jewelry and security for her future. Before her lover is no longer in the picture he gifts her with a strand of pearls so expensive they will be able to fund her the rest of her life. He also seeks to immortalize her with a portrait painted by the famous Giovanni Boldini.
The story switches between Marthe and Solange in the time frames of 1888 and 1938. The story describes their relationship as well as pre war Paris and the effect the war has on Solange as a part Jewish woman.
I loved to find out that though this story is fictional it is in fact based on real people. There was a painter Giovanni Boldini who painted Marthe de Florian and you can look up the painting that they describe in the book.
4⭐️’s
direads's review
4.0
I really like stories with multiple points of view and in multiple times, but it can be hard to do it well. Richman nailed it. Sometimes when only one is in the first person, it can be hard to connect with the other. I like that the plot was heavier on the third person narrative early on, which I think helps you connect with both.
I think my favorite thing is that Richmond wrote this based on a real-life story with very few details. According to the author's note, Richmond found an article with the bones of this story. She wondered about the details and so she wrote them herself. She really made the characters come alive.
I think my favorite thing is that Richmond wrote this based on a real-life story with very few details. According to the author's note, Richmond found an article with the bones of this story. She wondered about the details and so she wrote them herself. She really made the characters come alive.
abookishaffair's review
4.0
"The Velvet Hours" is a book told in two time periods. It is told during the Belle Epoque in the late 1800s and during World War II in the 1940s. After enjoying a couple of Richman's other books, I knew that I wanted to read this book without really knowing what it was about. Luckily, once again, Richman has put together a great story about family secrets and how things are not always the way that they seem.
We have two main characters here. There is Marthe, a woman who lives for beauty, who has a great love affair during the height of the Belle Epoque. Then there is Solange, a young woman who is just finding out her origins from her grandmother, Marthe. Solange is dealing with a different set of problems in trying to figure out whether it is better to wait out the war or to leave with her beau and his family where she knows she will be safer. The stories go back and forth between these two women and both of them are equally fascinating. I loved the juxtaposition of the two different time periods that the women were living and thriving in!
The writing in this book is indicative of why I keep coming back to Richman's books. She has a great way of weaving characters in with historical detail that feels like a treat for historical fiction lovers. This story was based on a true story about a real Solange who locked up her grandmother's apartment during the war, continued to pay for it while she was abroad, and the pristine apartment stuck in time was only found out in 2010 after Solange died and was no longer making payments on the house. It is a truly amazing story and I am so glad that Richman chose to capture it!
We have two main characters here. There is Marthe, a woman who lives for beauty, who has a great love affair during the height of the Belle Epoque. Then there is Solange, a young woman who is just finding out her origins from her grandmother, Marthe. Solange is dealing with a different set of problems in trying to figure out whether it is better to wait out the war or to leave with her beau and his family where she knows she will be safer. The stories go back and forth between these two women and both of them are equally fascinating. I loved the juxtaposition of the two different time periods that the women were living and thriving in!
The writing in this book is indicative of why I keep coming back to Richman's books. She has a great way of weaving characters in with historical detail that feels like a treat for historical fiction lovers. This story was based on a true story about a real Solange who locked up her grandmother's apartment during the war, continued to pay for it while she was abroad, and the pristine apartment stuck in time was only found out in 2010 after Solange died and was no longer making payments on the house. It is a truly amazing story and I am so glad that Richman chose to capture it!
tonstantweader's review
3.0
I well remember the news stories of Marthe de Florian’s Paris apartment that was opened for the first time in decades, an unexpected time capsule of the past. As a former history teacher, it fascinated me. When I read about The Velvet Hours, Alyson Richman’s novel imagining her life and that of her granddaughter Solange, whose death in 2010, revealed the apartment to world.
Solange is a young woman whose mother has recently died. To draw her out of her grief, he takes her to meet his biological mother Marthe de Florian, who gave him up at birth. She is a woman of the demimonde, elegant, beautiful and refined. Solange spends hours with her grandmaman, listening to her stories of her great love affair and the fabulous painting of her that hangs over her mantle. Solange, intrigued by her story, hopes to write a novel of her grandmother’s life.
Meanwhile, while the Belle Epoque continues in Marthe’s apartment, the rest of the world is heading toward World War II. There are many stories of pre-World War II Paris, the anxiety about if or when the Germans would invade, whether the Maginot Line would hold. For Parisian Jews, the anxiety was even more intense. The Velvet Hours attempts to capture that anxiety when Solange discovers her recently deceased mother was Jewish and falls in love with Alex, a Jewish son of a bookseller who knew her maternal grandfather.
This is a good novel, interesting and absorbing. It is fascinating to get this glimpse of the writer/research process. I read that article. I was fascinated. I googled for photos of the apartment and the painting. I was not inspired to create a fictional life, to write a novel, to imagine a completely different life for the two women. That is what makes novelists different from the rest of us.
I liked The Velvet Hours, but I did not love it. There was a dreamlike feeling to much of it, a drifting through life while the world is falling apart, until the Germans invade. Then things speed up. However, the love affair with Alex felt more like a plot device. I did not understand why she loved him or he loved her. Their relationship was just a reason to draw Solange toward Judaism and the risk of Nazi anti-semitism. I thought it was unnecessary.
So much effort was spent on Marthe that when other suffered tragedy it felt exploitive. The people involved in them were so peripheral to the story that their tragedy felt exploitive. We did not fall in love with them, so their tragedy did not break our hearts. Their tragedy merely served to give a luster of tragedy and meaning to Solange, and for me, that is exploitive even if they are simply imagined people. She can get her depth some other way.
The Velvet Hours will be released on September 6th. I received an advance uncorrected proof from the publisher through a drawing at GoodReads.
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/the-velvet-hours-by-alyson-richman/
Solange is a young woman whose mother has recently died. To draw her out of her grief, he takes her to meet his biological mother Marthe de Florian, who gave him up at birth. She is a woman of the demimonde, elegant, beautiful and refined. Solange spends hours with her grandmaman, listening to her stories of her great love affair and the fabulous painting of her that hangs over her mantle. Solange, intrigued by her story, hopes to write a novel of her grandmother’s life.
Meanwhile, while the Belle Epoque continues in Marthe’s apartment, the rest of the world is heading toward World War II. There are many stories of pre-World War II Paris, the anxiety about if or when the Germans would invade, whether the Maginot Line would hold. For Parisian Jews, the anxiety was even more intense. The Velvet Hours attempts to capture that anxiety when Solange discovers her recently deceased mother was Jewish and falls in love with Alex, a Jewish son of a bookseller who knew her maternal grandfather.
This is a good novel, interesting and absorbing. It is fascinating to get this glimpse of the writer/research process. I read that article. I was fascinated. I googled for photos of the apartment and the painting. I was not inspired to create a fictional life, to write a novel, to imagine a completely different life for the two women. That is what makes novelists different from the rest of us.
I liked The Velvet Hours, but I did not love it. There was a dreamlike feeling to much of it, a drifting through life while the world is falling apart, until the Germans invade. Then things speed up. However, the love affair with Alex felt more like a plot device. I did not understand why she loved him or he loved her. Their relationship was just a reason to draw Solange toward Judaism and the risk of Nazi anti-semitism. I thought it was unnecessary.
So much effort was spent on Marthe that when other suffered tragedy it felt exploitive. The people involved in them were so peripheral to the story that their tragedy felt exploitive. We did not fall in love with them, so their tragedy did not break our hearts. Their tragedy merely served to give a luster of tragedy and meaning to Solange, and for me, that is exploitive even if they are simply imagined people. She can get her depth some other way.
The Velvet Hours will be released on September 6th. I received an advance uncorrected proof from the publisher through a drawing at GoodReads.
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/the-velvet-hours-by-alyson-richman/
stackwoodlibrary's review
4.0
Enjoyed this, will recommend @ work. Based on some nuggets of reality, well-imagined tale, characters. Quick read.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/05/the-parisian-belle-epoque-time-capsule.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/05/the-parisian-belle-epoque-time-capsule.html
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