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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
I enjoyed the main voices of the novel and the story, but there was one unexpected voice that seemed to belong to a kitchier genre.
After I got used to the mixture, I enjoyed the book for the good story, the well-developed characters, and the art theme.
After I got used to the mixture, I enjoyed the book for the good story, the well-developed characters, and the art theme.
A great, quick novel for anyone to read. I would say that there are too many deviations from the central story line that lead nowhere and made me want to skim through.
Otherwise, the central story was fun to follow.
Otherwise, the central story was fun to follow.
The three stars are for quality not for enjoyment. If it was purely based on giggles, I would have given it five. One of the most absurd books I've read in a while but as the proverb goes 'Just because I like it doesn't mean it's good'
Art has become another kind of currency, a safer investment than cash. Up for auction is a painting that has been missing for twenty years, a painting with a biography and history, a website, a motion picture contract, and collectors of all kinds are vying for top bidder. They are not art lovers, per say, although the painting affects its viewer with peculiar effect. It is a beautiful parable of the nature of love, how love makes fools of men. The Improbability of Love was Antoine Watteau's paean to his first love, then repainted as a critique of love's improbability.
Hannah Rothchild's novel The Improbability of Love is hard to classify. Is it a drama, a mystery, a Holocaust novel, a romance, a satire? It is always a book about art, art as truth telling and as beauty, and the value of art socially and financially.
There is the human drama and romance angle. The heroine Annie buys a painting for a lover who dumps her. She is being pushed to check its provenance. It may be the real deal, a painting worth big bucks. But Annie is more interesting in getting her alcoholic mom out of her life and establishing a career as a chief. She works for the prestigious and powerful Winkleman family, premier art dealers. Meantime artist Jesse is enamored with Annie and hopes that by helping her he'll be there when she is willing to trust love again.
Memling Winkleman has been searching for the painting, once in his possession but lost when he gave it to his lover. His daughter Rebbecca suspects Annie has the painting. Eventually Rebbecca tracks down how the painting came into her family's possession and learns shocking truths, so horrific when her older brother discovered them he disappeared from an ocean liner.
The art world is seen through a critical eye in all it's absurdities, the sellers and buyers of power and wealth for whom art is a commodity. Social satire abounds in Rothchild's treatment of them.
The twist takes us into Nazi Germany and the sacking of art treasures from across Europe, and the mystery of where it all ended up.
Art lovers will enjoy being in the know as artist's names are dropped throughout the book. The painting speaks for itself in the story; it is quite prideful about its long list of stellar owners from the courts of Europe. It has ideas about how it should be treated.
I enjoyed the book and halfway through was motivated to keep going. It was unexpected to go from a chapter of humor to a dark chapter. The ending was too neatly wrapped up, told by the painting. I felt it kept the reader distant from Annie's story. But it was not Annie's story. It was really the story of The Improbability of Love.
I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Hannah Rothchild's novel The Improbability of Love is hard to classify. Is it a drama, a mystery, a Holocaust novel, a romance, a satire? It is always a book about art, art as truth telling and as beauty, and the value of art socially and financially.
There is the human drama and romance angle. The heroine Annie buys a painting for a lover who dumps her. She is being pushed to check its provenance. It may be the real deal, a painting worth big bucks. But Annie is more interesting in getting her alcoholic mom out of her life and establishing a career as a chief. She works for the prestigious and powerful Winkleman family, premier art dealers. Meantime artist Jesse is enamored with Annie and hopes that by helping her he'll be there when she is willing to trust love again.
Memling Winkleman has been searching for the painting, once in his possession but lost when he gave it to his lover. His daughter Rebbecca suspects Annie has the painting. Eventually Rebbecca tracks down how the painting came into her family's possession and learns shocking truths, so horrific when her older brother discovered them he disappeared from an ocean liner.
The art world is seen through a critical eye in all it's absurdities, the sellers and buyers of power and wealth for whom art is a commodity. Social satire abounds in Rothchild's treatment of them.
The twist takes us into Nazi Germany and the sacking of art treasures from across Europe, and the mystery of where it all ended up.
Art lovers will enjoy being in the know as artist's names are dropped throughout the book. The painting speaks for itself in the story; it is quite prideful about its long list of stellar owners from the courts of Europe. It has ideas about how it should be treated.
I enjoyed the book and halfway through was motivated to keep going. It was unexpected to go from a chapter of humor to a dark chapter. The ending was too neatly wrapped up, told by the painting. I felt it kept the reader distant from Annie's story. But it was not Annie's story. It was really the story of The Improbability of Love.
I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Entertaining, liked the narratives from the POV of the painting....I'm always looking for new books in the fine-arts-fiction genre, and this was a good one, but I felt like it went a bit downhill and became rushed in the last quarter of the book. Some reviews have complained about the writing style, but I didn't find anything jarring at all. Solid 4 stars for the first 300 pages, which felt very fresh to me.
I slogged through this book. I thought it was overwritten and pretentious. Out of a large cast of characters I only liked three of them - one of them was introduced in the last 15 pages. So happy to have finished.
Wonderful, amazing book!! Thankfully I was able to read an advanced copy of this delightful book about a talented young chef, an influential family in the art world and a presumed lost masterpiece by Watteau. A fun twist is the voice of the painting is included which adds a layer of unexpected depth and humor to the story. There is a great plot twist or two that make this book hard to put down and turns this lovely novel into a bit of a mystery! I heightened recommend this book!
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Most enjoyable account of the chance finding of a lost work of art by a struggling cook in a junk shop. Set against the seamy backdrop of the money making art world, it looks at matters of value and ownership of art through a cast of unlikely characters.
This was a delightful, delicious and most wonderful story. It grew on me with every page and every chapter, and the moment that the best character of all, the painting itself, was first introduced, I was in love. I should clarify. I was IN LOVE with the story of the painting, The Improbability of Love, not with the main character Annie McDee - a dull, uninteresting, foolish-on-many-levels 31-year old chef-but-more-of-a-loser. All in all, Annie remained as someone that I could care less about. And to be able to still LOVE and ADORE this book despite a boring main character (as well as her Jesse and her old beau) is saying a lot. The story of this painting is fascinating and I could so appreciate both the creativity and the depth of research and hard work that Rothschild has put into her labor of love.
Speaking of the author, she is incredibly accomplished and it was her debut novel (well, she has another book but this is her first major work, methinks.) This was an extremely well-written book, pulling aspects of history and modern world and giving us the grand tour of the fascinating world of art and artists and art lovers. The characters were out of this world crazy rich, and yet, real. If you love art, and especially paintings, you will enjoy this book.
My disappointments were again with Annie the main character and her boring fascination with food and her ex-boyfriend and her lack of interest in this amazing piece of art, as well as the very ending. I think I would have really loved more of a grand finale but alas, it all worked just fine.
I'd read anything else by the author, especially if it's about a piece of art! She captures the world impeccably well.
Speaking of the author, she is incredibly accomplished and it was her debut novel (well, she has another book but this is her first major work, methinks.) This was an extremely well-written book, pulling aspects of history and modern world and giving us the grand tour of the fascinating world of art and artists and art lovers. The characters were out of this world crazy rich, and yet, real. If you love art, and especially paintings, you will enjoy this book.
My disappointments were again with Annie the main character and her boring fascination with food and her ex-boyfriend and her lack of interest in this amazing piece of art, as well as the very ending. I think I would have really loved more of a grand finale but alas, it all worked just fine.
I'd read anything else by the author, especially if it's about a piece of art! She captures the world impeccably well.
medium-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