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3.52 AVERAGE

informative mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
ljm57's profile picture

ljm57's review

5.0

Wow, this book packs so much into its 400 pages. With a huge cast of flamboyant characters, it delves into the cut-throat world of high-end art dealership & the mega rich who move in these circles. Through the eyes of a lost, but never-forgotten masterpiece, the history of Europe & its art is revealed. But there is so much more - a love story, a ruthless murder, fraud, identity theft, Nazi war crimes, family secrets, to name but a few threads. One of my favourite aspects of the story are the sumptuous art-history inspired gourmet feasts prepared by Annie, the aspiring chef & main character, who unwittingly finds herself caught up in all these extraordinary events when, on a whim she buys a dusty, old painting in a derelict second-hand shop. The other joy was a plot where all the loose ends are neatly tied up at the end & the reader learns the fates of most of the major players. Wonderful reading.

I knew without reading its description, just by looking on the cover, that this story is about art. That alone sold it for me. I had high expectations on this book because I like reading historical fiction that circles on art. However, I was disappointed with its plot line. Maybe it was because I was expecting it to be an adventure type of story but it circled on a theme I am not interested in. I mostly skipped the chapters that is not narrated by the actual art piece. I only enjoyed reading from the point of view of the painting itself, it was hilarious.

As a heritage worker, I would have to give it to the writer that the experience of the characters in finding the provenance of the painting is realistic. That, probably is, the highlight for me of this book.
adventurous informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
rosereads19's profile picture

rosereads19's review

4.5
challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring tense slow-paced

martha_fa's review

4.0
hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
mysterious medium-paced

"The Improbability of Love" by Hannah Rothschild (who is, apparently, one of THE Rothschilds), is the April pick for one of my online book clubs. The heroine is Annie McDee, a 31-year-old chef who lives in a small flat in London, recovering from a broken heart after splitting up with her longtime partner. (Warning: Do NOT try reading this book on an empty stomach! ;) ) She buys a painting in a junk store for $75 (that she can't really afford) as a gift for a new love interest -- who ghosts her before she can give it to him. She decides to return it, only to find the store -- and the man who sold it to her -- went up in flames in a suspicious fire, just hours after she left.

At a London art gallery, trying to learn more about her painting, Annie meets Jesse, a tour guide and artist himself. As they investigate the mysterious painting's origins together, they are drawn into the murky, cut-throat world of art collectors, dealers and thieves -- many of whom would love to get their hands on the painting, for various reasons. Unbeknown to Annie, this includes the father of her current employer -- an elderly Holocaust survivor and ultra-wealthy art dealer, who rules both his family and his company with an iron fist.

The story picked up for me midway through the book, when Annie's boss, the old man's daughter, Rebecca, discovers her late brother's hidden notebook, setting off a chain of unexpected events...

I don't want to give too many spoilers away, but here's one: "The Improbability of Love" is not only the title of the book, it's the name of the painting itself. (I had to check: the artist is real; the painting is not.) The painting is actually a character in the book who narrates some chapters (!), where we gradually learn more about its history, who painted it and who its previous owners were. (Over time, the painting was often given as a token of love to wives, lovers and beloved mistresses.) When I started reading the first chapter where this happens, I was hearing a certain voice in my head, and I couldn't figure out where this was coming from? Then I realized...! I was thinking of an episode of The Simpsons (lol!) -- "Moe Goes From Rags to Riches" -- where Jeremy Irons provides the voice of an ancient tapestry that winds up as a rag at Moe's bar, and then gets adopted by Santa's Little Helper -- i.e., the dog, lol.

As I read, I was also reminded of a couple of other art-related books I've read in the past -- "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt, for one, as well as certain scenes in "Killers of a Certain Age" by Deanna Raybourn.

Overall, I wound up enjoying this book more than I thought I would. It's a little long, and the multiple characters are hard to keep track of (albeit colourfully rendered). It took a while to pick up some momentum -- but I absolutely tore through the last third of the book.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

What a marvelous book! What a rich meal of delights, with every bite a new treat. All the characters have their charms, even the most questionable, but probably the most amusing is the painting itself, which is only too ready to relate what it has been through an share its world-weary observations.

I would have been happy for the story to go on. What complete reading pleasure.

Probably more like 3.5 stars, I liked this a great deal while I was reading it but less when I was thinking about it afterward. I really enjoy this sort of novel, character studies and art history, and food descriptions along with a puzzle to figure out. There's more than a whiff of Trollope here as well but in retrospect, the characters weren't as full and rich as I wanted and the plotting felt like a draft away from where it should be (the story was all there but it needed to be tightened and have the threads pulled through somehow).