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cstefko's review against another edition
4.0
I can't speak to how historically accurate this book is, but I really enjoyed it. Ginevra was a great character. She was definitely what we would call a feminist in today's world, but L.M. Elliott kept her true to the time period as well. I guess I had never read much about Leonardo da Vinci, because I didn't know he was rumored to be queer. So that was unexpected, but I appreciate how the author handled it. Poor Ginevra through :P And I loved that bit about Ginevra's husband being a potential friend after all, because they were both in a marriage they didn't want to be in.
I hope I get a chance to swing by the National Gallery of Art when I'm in DC in March so I can see the painting in person!
I'm glad this book was included in December's Owl Crate :)
I hope I get a chance to swing by the National Gallery of Art when I'm in DC in March so I can see the painting in person!
I'm glad this book was included in December's Owl Crate :)
rsarnelli's review against another edition
3.0
This is a tough one to rate and talk about. I definitely liked it, but I think it’s something that will appeal more to people who like quiet, introspective stories. It reminds me a bit of [b:A Wicked Thing|22535481|A Wicked Thing (A Wicked Thing, #1)|Rhiannon Thomas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1404899924s/22535481.jpg|25134209] by Rhiannon Thomas - character-driven, little to no action, lots of introspection/reflection. That’s not a bad thing, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
This book is basically a fictionalized examination of a period in Ginevra de’ Benci’s life and her inner struggles, with some passing mentions of Florentine festivals and political movements that stay more in the background. I liked Ginevra as a main character; she doesn’t exactly leap off the page, but it was easy to sympathize with her struggle to maintain her identity and creativity despite the constraints placed on women during that time period. Unfortunately the other characters felt kind of flat or were practically nonexistent. The only ones who actually stood out and felt prominent were Leonardo da Vinci and Bernardo Bembo.
I also enjoyed the overall story and atmosphere, especially the beautiful, lush descriptions of Florence and art. This feels a bit like a love letter to the city and the time period, and it’s obvious that this was meticulously researched and that this is a subject the author cares about. I did get the feeling that this story was being told from a distance, though. It has the feel of someone recounting something, rather than actually being immersed in it. I had a hard time really getting invested in the characters and Ginevra’s life for that reason.
Overall I did like this, even though it was rather slow. This might appeal more to people who are interested in the “historical” side of historical fiction.
This book is basically a fictionalized examination of a period in Ginevra de’ Benci’s life and her inner struggles, with some passing mentions of Florentine festivals and political movements that stay more in the background. I liked Ginevra as a main character; she doesn’t exactly leap off the page, but it was easy to sympathize with her struggle to maintain her identity and creativity despite the constraints placed on women during that time period. Unfortunately the other characters felt kind of flat or were practically nonexistent. The only ones who actually stood out and felt prominent were Leonardo da Vinci and Bernardo Bembo.
I also enjoyed the overall story and atmosphere, especially the beautiful, lush descriptions of Florence and art. This feels a bit like a love letter to the city and the time period, and it’s obvious that this was meticulously researched and that this is a subject the author cares about. I did get the feeling that this story was being told from a distance, though. It has the feel of someone recounting something, rather than actually being immersed in it. I had a hard time really getting invested in the characters and Ginevra’s life for that reason.
Overall I did like this, even though it was rather slow. This might appeal more to people who are interested in the “historical” side of historical fiction.
emilykatereads's review against another edition
2.0
Honestly I don't think I could've been more bored while reading this. But the history was quite well done and thoroughly researched. I love the Renaissance and I went into this really excited, but it lacked the emotional depth to get me attached to any of the characters at all.
I felt nothing towards any of it. It was interesting. But it didn't make me feel anything. Ginevra had so much potential, but she was just a flat character. The only bit of this book that made me enjoy the characters was the dialogue between Da Vinci and Ginevra.
What kept me reading was that I enjoyed the history. It was well researched, aside from the fact that it says something about "homosexual men" after Da Vinci is arrested. The term homosexuality didn't exist until the 19th century, and sexuality is only very recently seen as an identity. In the afterward of the book, Elliott mentions that the term "homosexuality" wasn't coined yet so instead she uses "sodomy" and "Florenzer" which is accurate, but yet she still says "homosexual men."
While reading, that made me question how accurate the book was, but at least I saw her thorough research described later on. Easy enough mistake to make.
I felt nothing towards any of it. It was interesting. But it didn't make me feel anything. Ginevra had so much potential, but she was just a flat character. The only bit of this book that made me enjoy the characters was the dialogue between Da Vinci and Ginevra.
What kept me reading was that I enjoyed the history. It was well researched, aside from the fact that it says something about "homosexual men" after Da Vinci is arrested. The term homosexuality didn't exist until the 19th century, and sexuality is only very recently seen as an identity. In the afterward of the book, Elliott mentions that the term "homosexuality" wasn't coined yet so instead she uses "sodomy" and "Florenzer" which is accurate, but yet she still says "homosexual men."
While reading, that made me question how accurate the book was, but at least I saw her thorough research described later on. Easy enough mistake to make.
booksandpops4000's review against another edition
4.0
Strong book. I loved how it had so many actual elements to support this novel. The names and politics confused me but i really loved the main character the world that was built. It was a face pace novel with a amazing lead. It inspired me to be more creative!
canderson's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ashleynestlermsw's review against another edition
1.0
I was quite disappointed in this book. I loved the concept of it, because I enjoy novels that give life to figures in famous paintings, but this story was dumbed down and I felt that the author was looking down on her readers. The way this novel was written made me feel that L.M. Elliott didn't want to write the story to its full potential, because she didn't have faith that her readers would understand the story if she did. I don't like when young adult novels look down on their readers, because young adults are more than capable of grasping and understanding many different stories and writing styles. If a young adult novel can't be enjoyed by adults alike, I consider it a failure, and that is what my view of this novel has come to.
ejpass's review against another edition
4.0
4/5 stars
Recommended for people who like: historical fiction, short reads, Renaissance Italy, art, history
TW attempted sexual assault
This book was an interesting read in terms of historical moments. I liked Renaissance Italy and it's not really a time period I see a lot in YA fiction, so I appreciated finding a book set during that time. As is expected for a historical fiction book, important characters like da Vinci and the Medici's were included in the book, and Ginevra in particular was in the circles of the powerful families of Florence.
While I liked the historical aspects, there was some stuff I was confused about in this department as well. For one, I can't tell if Elliot purposefully ignored the fact that the Medici's were schemers and did, in fact, make huge grabs for power and money, or if she was playing on the fact that Ginevra wouldn't have been privy to that sort of information to say that the Medici's were less power-hungry than the other prominent families at the time.
Ginevra is someone who knows what her duty is in the world but who also desires something more. She's a poet and yearns for the chance to share her writing with the people around her who are changing art and Florence. At the same time, she knows she must walk a thin line between her art and her station. I enjoyed the exploration of Ginevra's thoughts and feelings throughout the book, and I think Elliot does a good job showing how Ginevra grows throughout the pages. She could be a little jealous and petty toward another girl that she knew, which I didn't like. However, I did appreciate how the people she wanted to discuss poetry with changed throughout the book, from first being interested in discussing it with the powerful men in the room to later understanding that the quiet women also have important insights (and potentially more wisdom) on the subject.
The side characters were really only sort of in the book and it really does center around Ginevra. I thought Elliot did a good job writing the tepid relationship between Ginevra and her husband, and I liked Ginevra's faithfulness as well as her loyalty and strength in her marriage. Bembo was kind of made out to be more of a love interest than he actually was, and he honestly wasn't in the book that much. I liked da Vinci's character and seeing a young version of him. There is a bit of a romantic element here, but it's one-sided and Elliot does stay faithful to historical accuracy re: da Vinci being gay.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought it made for a quick, entertaining read. There were parts of it that were a bit slow and I would've enjoyed it more if there had been more emphasis on discussing and experiencing art and poetry. Ginevra certainly thinks about it a lot, but I would've liked to see more of it.
Recommended for people who like: historical fiction, short reads, Renaissance Italy, art, history
TW attempted sexual assault
This book was an interesting read in terms of historical moments. I liked Renaissance Italy and it's not really a time period I see a lot in YA fiction, so I appreciated finding a book set during that time. As is expected for a historical fiction book, important characters like da Vinci and the Medici's were included in the book, and Ginevra in particular was in the circles of the powerful families of Florence.
While I liked the historical aspects, there was some stuff I was confused about in this department as well. For one, I can't tell if Elliot purposefully ignored the fact that the Medici's were schemers and did, in fact, make huge grabs for power and money, or if she was playing on the fact that Ginevra wouldn't have been privy to that sort of information to say that the Medici's were less power-hungry than the other prominent families at the time.
Ginevra is someone who knows what her duty is in the world but who also desires something more. She's a poet and yearns for the chance to share her writing with the people around her who are changing art and Florence. At the same time, she knows she must walk a thin line between her art and her station. I enjoyed the exploration of Ginevra's thoughts and feelings throughout the book, and I think Elliot does a good job showing how Ginevra grows throughout the pages. She could be a little jealous and petty toward another girl that she knew, which I didn't like. However, I did appreciate how the people she wanted to discuss poetry with changed throughout the book, from first being interested in discussing it with the powerful men in the room to later understanding that the quiet women also have important insights (and potentially more wisdom) on the subject.
The side characters were really only sort of in the book and it really does center around Ginevra. I thought Elliot did a good job writing the tepid relationship between Ginevra and her husband, and I liked Ginevra's faithfulness as well as her loyalty and strength in her marriage. Bembo was kind of made out to be more of a love interest than he actually was, and he honestly wasn't in the book that much. I liked da Vinci's character and seeing a young version of him. There is a bit of a romantic element here, but it's one-sided and Elliot does stay faithful to historical accuracy re: da Vinci being gay.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought it made for a quick, entertaining read. There were parts of it that were a bit slow and I would've enjoyed it more if there had been more emphasis on discussing and experiencing art and poetry. Ginevra certainly thinks about it a lot, but I would've liked to see more of it.
beammey's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book quite a lot. If I could have read it all in one sitting I definitely would have, but alas, it didn't work out that way. I found the characters captivating, the writing style easy to read, and the story went along at a good pace. It's a great shorter read and I would recommend is for sure! 4.5 out of 5 stars.
pippinthepuffin's review against another edition
2.0
If I were to describe how I felt after reading this book in one word it would be: relieved. A book is pretty bad at least for me when it makes me tried while reading it as reading is the past time that I do for enjoyment so it should not feel like work. I pushed through it because:
I needed another book to complete my GoodReads and Beat the Backlist challenge. This one was short, only 281 pages, so I figured that I could knock it out quickly.
I owned it.
Relating to #2, I started reading and was actually enjoying so I kept reading.
That was my biggest source of disappointment; I had high hopes and this book let me down. I was expecting this lush romance between Leonardo Da Vinci and Ginvera as well as more of her spunky attitude and poetry. At least I got her spunky attitude. As for the romance, that was barely a blip and it seemed that she had feelings for him but he did not reciprocate because he was gay but hey it was again like a sentence so who knows. Also, the tagline was "Poet. Muse. Revolutionary." and I got the poet and muse part but I think I missed the revolutionary part.
However, the worst part of the book was all of the names. I understand that this was 15th Century Florence and who you know relates to the power that you have but there were WAY TOO MANY NAMES. Plus they all sounded the same. For example, I was over half way done before I realized that Ginvera's brother was Giovanni, not Giuliano. I wish that Elliot had limited the number of characters because it felt more like a history book then a work of fiction. On that note, I do salute Elliot in the amount of research that she did for this book. In that aspect, this book did allow me to learn about the Medici family, the Renaissance, and Leonardo Da Vinci's life. I would recommend it to a teacher who wants to give their students a book for history class.
Now for the prose and plot, they can be summed up to tiresome. I felt like I was walking though sludge. There were points when it did pick up, especially when the Abbess was talking Ginvera, that was my favorite character interaction. However, the overall feeling was boring.
I needed another book to complete my GoodReads and Beat the Backlist challenge. This one was short, only 281 pages, so I figured that I could knock it out quickly.
I owned it.
Relating to #2, I started reading and was actually enjoying so I kept reading.
That was my biggest source of disappointment; I had high hopes and this book let me down. I was expecting this lush romance between Leonardo Da Vinci and Ginvera as well as more of her spunky attitude and poetry. At least I got her spunky attitude. As for the romance, that was barely a blip and it seemed that she had feelings for him but he did not reciprocate because he was gay but hey it was again like a sentence so who knows. Also, the tagline was "Poet. Muse. Revolutionary." and I got the poet and muse part but I think I missed the revolutionary part.
However, the worst part of the book was all of the names. I understand that this was 15th Century Florence and who you know relates to the power that you have but there were WAY TOO MANY NAMES. Plus they all sounded the same. For example, I was over half way done before I realized that Ginvera's brother was Giovanni, not Giuliano. I wish that Elliot had limited the number of characters because it felt more like a history book then a work of fiction. On that note, I do salute Elliot in the amount of research that she did for this book. In that aspect, this book did allow me to learn about the Medici family, the Renaissance, and Leonardo Da Vinci's life. I would recommend it to a teacher who wants to give their students a book for history class.
Now for the prose and plot, they can be summed up to tiresome. I felt like I was walking though sludge. There were points when it did pick up, especially when the Abbess was talking Ginvera, that was my favorite character interaction. However, the overall feeling was boring.