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candacesiegle_greedyreader's review against another edition
4.0
The narrator of this novel is a fifteen year old girl living in rural 1940's Mexico where her wealthy mother has gathered. a coterie of European surrealist artists to keep them out of Hitler's hands. Leonora Callaway is an American art collector who uses her influence to save artists and tote them to a remote village to keep them safe. She brings daughter Lara as well, even though the girl would much rather be with her father and brother, going to school.
As readers, we should be glad Lara did get hauled along on this trip. Her diary is tart, well-observed, and funny. Nearly all the rescued artists are awful, as is her mother. They're stressed-out, drunk, nasty, scared by a lack of information coming from Europe and dwindling art supplies. Leonora tried to get the Louvre to store her extraordinary modern art collection before leaving Paris. The museum sneered at her and called the collection trash, so now the result of her audacious collecting is on a ship heading to New York, dodging submarines and bombs, at least everyone hopes. The terror of losing this work shimmers across Costalegre.
Lara is a wonderful narrator, and the story is loosely based on Peggy Guggenheim and her rocky relationship with her daughter Pegeen. Peggy was responsible for funding efforts to save at-risk artists during the war, and she did ship her extraordinary art collection to New York after the Louvre refused to hide it. Besides that? Who can say.
Now come the treat of reading Courtney Maum's other novels. She is a fine writer and "Costalegre" is thoughtful and a pleasure to read. I look forward to reading her existing work and watching for her in the future.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read and review this book.
~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader
As readers, we should be glad Lara did get hauled along on this trip. Her diary is tart, well-observed, and funny. Nearly all the rescued artists are awful, as is her mother. They're stressed-out, drunk, nasty, scared by a lack of information coming from Europe and dwindling art supplies. Leonora tried to get the Louvre to store her extraordinary modern art collection before leaving Paris. The museum sneered at her and called the collection trash, so now the result of her audacious collecting is on a ship heading to New York, dodging submarines and bombs, at least everyone hopes. The terror of losing this work shimmers across Costalegre.
Lara is a wonderful narrator, and the story is loosely based on Peggy Guggenheim and her rocky relationship with her daughter Pegeen. Peggy was responsible for funding efforts to save at-risk artists during the war, and she did ship her extraordinary art collection to New York after the Louvre refused to hide it. Besides that? Who can say.
Now come the treat of reading Courtney Maum's other novels. She is a fine writer and "Costalegre" is thoughtful and a pleasure to read. I look forward to reading her existing work and watching for her in the future.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read and review this book.
~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader
toniak's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
arayo's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Animal death
Minor: Abortion, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, and Forced institutionalization
kaps's review against another edition
4.0
A delicious treat. History, family, and wild imagination. Utterly captivating. A surrealist dream
the_spines's review against another edition
2.0
FULL REVIEW HERE: meganprokott.com/costalegre-courtney-maum/review
Here’s the thing about this book. I was SO excited to pick it up because it has so many of my favorites themes: Art, dramatic family relationships, & secretive travel to name a few. However, from the very first page I could not get into the writing style, which I blame almost completely on the vehicle for the story. Narrating for the reader throughout is the diary of a young girl who was bored, listless, and struggling to find her place.
And let me just say, reading the perspective of a 15-year-old was such an irritating experience. I couldn’t get myself to care about her observations about the artists and her surroundings, and I really couldn’t have been less invested in her perspective. I think my main issue with Lara as the driving force for this actually really interesting story is that Lara didn’t know about anything that was happening in their eccentric community of artists and collectors and, by extension, neither did the reader. I always felt slightly removed from the story and I think the reason for that is because Lara, our narrator, was always removed herself from the goings-on and the actual interesting parts of the story.
Here’s the thing about this book. I was SO excited to pick it up because it has so many of my favorites themes: Art, dramatic family relationships, & secretive travel to name a few. However, from the very first page I could not get into the writing style, which I blame almost completely on the vehicle for the story. Narrating for the reader throughout is the diary of a young girl who was bored, listless, and struggling to find her place.
And let me just say, reading the perspective of a 15-year-old was such an irritating experience. I couldn’t get myself to care about her observations about the artists and her surroundings, and I really couldn’t have been less invested in her perspective. I think my main issue with Lara as the driving force for this actually really interesting story is that Lara didn’t know about anything that was happening in their eccentric community of artists and collectors and, by extension, neither did the reader. I always felt slightly removed from the story and I think the reason for that is because Lara, our narrator, was always removed herself from the goings-on and the actual interesting parts of the story.
annetjeberg's review against another edition
2.0
What did I read? First of all, the book looks stunning, but otherwise I am not really sure what I read. I get the point that it fictionalizes a real occurrence, but is that enough to make a story?
I did not mind it, it was a fast read and interesting, but the afterthought was: WHAT?
I did not mind it, it was a fast read and interesting, but the afterthought was: WHAT?
emilybryk's review against another edition
2.0
There's nothing that's *not* good here. Just noodley.