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shelfquest's review
5.0
The Portrait is another amazing book by Antoine Laurain. This makes three out of four of his books that I absolutely love. Pierre-François Chaumont is a lawyer and antiques enthusiast who comes across an 18th Century portrait of someone who looks just like him. His wife and their friends insist it looks nothing like him, which only causes him to obsess over it more until he finally identifies the man in the picture and makes the three-hour trip to his estate. I won't spoil the twists at the end, but I will say that he is related to the man in the picture.
My favorite thing about Laurain's books is that he manages to take actions that would seem obsessive and weird in real life and turn them almost whimsical in his books. At the very least he usually makes the actions acceptable. It makes me think that the characters are really owning what it means to be themselves while at the same time embracing their passions, whether that be a notebook and finding love, music and finding success, a hat and feeling powerful, or a portrait and finding yourself.
My favorite thing about Laurain's books is that he manages to take actions that would seem obsessive and weird in real life and turn them almost whimsical in his books. At the very least he usually makes the actions acceptable. It makes me think that the characters are really owning what it means to be themselves while at the same time embracing their passions, whether that be a notebook and finding love, music and finding success, a hat and feeling powerful, or a portrait and finding yourself.
welkinvault's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Quirky witty novella - with a hugely unreliable first person narrator. The ending had me cackling out loud.
montigneyrules's review
2.0
#readingchallenge2021 (my book with less than 1,000 Goodread reviews)
First book of the new year, swing & miss.
Laurain presents many witty novellas, however in this case I felt The Portrait lacked the beauty the others have provided.
The plot was a stretch, the characters had no depth, everything was a tad boring-no twist, no deep transformation-just a shallow change.
The whole novel felt like an attempt to re-create The Picture of Dorian Grey but wasn’t nearly as thought provoking or clever; also the novel wasn’t nearly as charming as his others.
First book of the new year, swing & miss.
Laurain presents many witty novellas, however in this case I felt The Portrait lacked the beauty the others have provided.
The plot was a stretch, the characters had no depth, everything was a tad boring-no twist, no deep transformation-just a shallow change.
The whole novel felt like an attempt to re-create The Picture of Dorian Grey but wasn’t nearly as thought provoking or clever; also the novel wasn’t nearly as charming as his others.
pumpkin_pie's review against another edition
2.0
It's an okay book. The characters are nice, but the book doesn't manage to give them proper depth. The characterization, even of the main character, stays very much on the surface, as does the whole story itself. Plus, sadly, the plot seemed quite predictable to me.
charlottejones952's review
3.0
Antoine Laurain is an author I've been wanting to read more from for a few years now. I read and enjoyed The Red Notebook and then struggled and ultimately put down The President's Hat, therefore I've wanted to give something else a go.
Unfortunately this was mixed for me. The attitude and actions taken towards women in this are uncomfortable and outdated. I also found the ending to not be satisfying. However, there were aspects of this that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I really liked the eerie quality that this book has and the way that the mystery kept getting deeper.
Overall I enjoyed this novella but it may have benefitted from being a bit longer.
Unfortunately this was mixed for me. The attitude and actions taken towards women in this are uncomfortable and outdated. I also found the ending to not be satisfying. However, there were aspects of this that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I really liked the eerie quality that this book has and the way that the mystery kept getting deeper.
Overall I enjoyed this novella but it may have benefitted from being a bit longer.
ellen1966's review
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Not my favourite of this author’s.
grafe_'s review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
bianca89279's review against another edition
2.0
I'm afraid this was quite disappointing. I've read three other books by Laurain which were far more enjoyable.
The plot was far fetched and I didn't care for any of the characters, who were very sketchy. I wasn't charmed in any way, if anything, I was bored.
This was the first novella Laurain ever wrote but it was only translated this year. I guess The Portrait is useful to prove how much Laurain has grown as a writer.
The plot was far fetched and I didn't care for any of the characters, who were very sketchy. I wasn't charmed in any way, if anything, I was bored.
This was the first novella Laurain ever wrote but it was only translated this year. I guess The Portrait is useful to prove how much Laurain has grown as a writer.
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