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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
At first I didn't like this book, it was hard to care to want to finish but I knew if I ditched it I would always wonder how it ended. I always found the painting, Christina's world haunting and I never knew if I liked it or didn't like it. But after reading this book I think I love it. The book is a really wonderful backstory to what Christina's world may have been like and as I read the book I found it more and more compelling. The characters were very full and interesting. The backdrop is a very New England life where people are stoic and don't care for waste or frills. Maybe that's due to the fact they can't afford waste or frills.
reflective
sad
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Such an interesting portrait of the subject of a painting by the well known artist. While Wyeth is only in the story partly, the focus on Christina of Christina’s World gives an immersive picture into the farm he visited and painted so often over decades. Such a great compliment to the art and a memorable read.
"The truth is, this place - this house, this field, this sky - may only be a small piece of the world. But Betsy's right: it is the entire world to me."
This novel is about the history behind the painting Christina's World by the artist Andrew Wyeth, which is/was available to view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
I did enjoy this novel, however, this will not be one of those books that is enjoyable to all readers. It is slow paced. And it is character driven. But the pacing works for the characters and the setting. I don't really think the story could have been written any other way.
I really enjoyed the historical components of the story. It was fascinating to learn about the people involved. Christina did have an illness that affected her whole life and it was interesting to see how the author wrote that. And I'm even more curious now to know how realistic that was to the real Christina's life.
"This is a girl who has lived through broken dreams and promises. Still lives. Will always live on that hillside, at the center of the world that unfolds all the way to the edges of the canvas. Her people are witches and persecutors, adventurers and homebodies, dreamers and pragmatists. Her world is both circumscribed and boundless, the place where the stranger at the door may hold the key to the rest of her life. What she wants most - what she truly yearns for - is what any of us want: to be seen.
And look. She is."
I listened to this one on audiobook and the narrator's voice fit the story very well and it was very well done, but I personally didn't love it. There's no real reason why, it just never really connected for me, and I kind of do wish that I had read this one to myself.
"No one will ever know, when we're gone to dust, the life we've shared here, our desires and our doubts, our intimacy and our solitude."
Some of the themes and quotes in this book definitely made me have a little bit of an existential crisis 😅. The story made me think pretty deeply about life in general and about my own little piece of the world that will just disappear when I'm gone. Not the physical location of course, but my story and my experiences. For those to just be gone when we're gone is a crazy thought and I'm glad that Christina's story lives on through the painting and also now through this book.
This novel is about the history behind the painting Christina's World by the artist Andrew Wyeth, which is/was available to view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
I did enjoy this novel, however, this will not be one of those books that is enjoyable to all readers. It is slow paced. And it is character driven. But the pacing works for the characters and the setting. I don't really think the story could have been written any other way.
I really enjoyed the historical components of the story. It was fascinating to learn about the people involved. Christina did have an illness that affected her whole life and it was interesting to see how the author wrote that. And I'm even more curious now to know how realistic that was to the real Christina's life.
"This is a girl who has lived through broken dreams and promises. Still lives. Will always live on that hillside, at the center of the world that unfolds all the way to the edges of the canvas. Her people are witches and persecutors, adventurers and homebodies, dreamers and pragmatists. Her world is both circumscribed and boundless, the place where the stranger at the door may hold the key to the rest of her life. What she wants most - what she truly yearns for - is what any of us want: to be seen.
And look. She is."
I listened to this one on audiobook and the narrator's voice fit the story very well and it was very well done, but I personally didn't love it. There's no real reason why, it just never really connected for me, and I kind of do wish that I had read this one to myself.
"No one will ever know, when we're gone to dust, the life we've shared here, our desires and our doubts, our intimacy and our solitude."
Some of the themes and quotes in this book definitely made me have a little bit of an existential crisis 😅. The story made me think pretty deeply about life in general and about my own little piece of the world that will just disappear when I'm gone. Not the physical location of course, but my story and my experiences. For those to just be gone when we're gone is a crazy thought and I'm glad that Christina's story lives on through the painting and also now through this book.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Phenomenal story. I learned so much about the woman and her home that inspired many of Andrew Wyeth's famous paintings. The author does an incredible job of showing how people lived in these remote areas during the early 1900's.
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Christina's World" is one of my favorite pieces of art. I have a print hanging in my office behind my desk. I've visited Andrew Wyeth's studio in Chadd's Ford, PA. So, naturally, I was very excited when this book came out. I listened to the audio version by Polly Stone, which was quite good. This book was well-written and I feel like I got to know Christina Olson better.
I have Christina's World hanging in my spare room--that painting has always made me think and appreciate my rural upbringing. And, so, of course, I had to read this historical fiction novel written about the life of Christina Olson, the woman in the painting. It's slow-going, but the audiobook narrator was good, and I stuck with it until Wyeth painted the famous work at the end of the novel.
I didn't care for [b:Orphan Train|15818107|Orphan Train|Christina Baker Kline|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1362409483s/15818107.jpg|21545713] either, so I won't be reading anymore by this author.
I didn't care for [b:Orphan Train|15818107|Orphan Train|Christina Baker Kline|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1362409483s/15818107.jpg|21545713] either, so I won't be reading anymore by this author.
This was a nothing book. This is a book I probably won't even remember having read. Read for a book club or else I would not have kept on reading. Main character is the worst. Won't do anything to help her situation but yet complains about how she is "tired of this mutinous body." She is a hypocrite & manipulator, & after losing her own chance at freedom she expects other family members to suffer life along side her instead of going off to be happy. She is horrible.