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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Lovely book told from multiple perspectives and times. Focusing on Adela and her relationship with Gustav Klimt and her niece Maria. Great voices in audio version. We hear about Adela in her beautiful glorious heyday and then Maria during WW II, her exile to the us and eventual court case to reclaim the famous stolen portrait of her beloved aunt.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Una novela ligera, con descargas emocionales, con amor, pasión, arte, belleza. Con un velo oscuro, triste, desolador. Laurie nos presenta a Adele y a María. La primera una benefactora del arte, intelectual, culta y musa de Gustav Klimt. La segunda la sobrina de Adele que tendrá que vivir los horrores de la segunda guerra mundial y ser la mujer fuerte e independiente que su tía le enseñó a ser.
Creo que no le falta nada, te atrapa y enamora.
Creo que no le falta nada, te atrapa y enamora.
WWIi set in Vienna featuring a n aunt and her niece and a famous painting.
Even though I was deeply interested in the subject matter of this book (Klimt's Golden Lady) I did not like this novel nearly as much as Albanese's Hester.
nice story, thought it brought up some super interesting points about art and freedom of expression.
didn’t like: felt like there wasn’t any real conflict that had to be overcome in the story. things happened but it wasn’t written in a way that i felt on the edge of my seat at all or concerned about what would happen next. also, the ending?? knocked off a whole star for me. i didn’t get why the austrian museum couldn’t have the painting; it wasn’t explained well at all. and maybe this is just the museum lover in me, but i wanted the museum to have it rather than a private owner? i know she ended up selling it to a different museum (yay, that was a touching scene) but while the whole conflict was happening i was honestly rooting for the museum because i don’t think items of cultural or scientific heritage belong in private collections, sorry not sorry. i feel like there was more to it and i should have been rooting for maria but the story just didn’t build it up in a way that i actually felt like that.
didn’t like: felt like there wasn’t any real conflict that had to be overcome in the story. things happened but it wasn’t written in a way that i felt on the edge of my seat at all or concerned about what would happen next. also, the ending?? knocked off a whole star for me. i didn’t get why the austrian museum couldn’t have the painting; it wasn’t explained well at all. and maybe this is just the museum lover in me, but i wanted the museum to have it rather than a private owner? i know she ended up selling it to a different museum (yay, that was a touching scene) but while the whole conflict was happening i was honestly rooting for the museum because i don’t think items of cultural or scientific heritage belong in private collections, sorry not sorry. i feel like there was more to it and i should have been rooting for maria but the story just didn’t build it up in a way that i actually felt like that.
Historical fiction fans will enjoy this journey through 20th century Vienna. Adele Bloch-Bauer was Jewish, a patron of the arts and the subject of two of Gustav Klimt's most famous paintings including "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" also known as The Lady in Gold or The Woman in Gold. Adele's niece, Maria, escaped Nazi occupied Austria and ended up in the United States. As an older woman, she managed to recover the stolen painting and bring it to the US. That story is the subject of the movie, 'Woman in Gold'. In this novel, Albanese tells the stories of both Adele and Maria interwoven with some art history and Viennese history. This is a fun read for anyone planning to visit Vienna.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
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:
N/A
Great book! One of the best I've ever read, and I've read a lot of books. It's a book that begins in Austria, and focuses on the lives of several people who are all connected to a renowned painting by Gustav Klimt. This painting is the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, or formerly known as "The Lady in Gold" by the Austrian government. The author beautifully researched the art of the time, and did an amazing job of wrapping the story of Austria's Nazi occupation in 1938, and how Adele may have lived at the turn of the century, including her interactions with artists and elite free thinkers in Austria around the turn of the century. The plot is the same as the movie from 2015 starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. If you love historical fiction, art, and great novels, you will love this book.
I first learned about Klimt in Monuments Men by Robert Edsel where his art was mentioned. Then, the movie the Lady in Gold came out with Helen Mirren, which I watched and was curious to know more about Maria and Adele. Next, I read Lady in Gold by Anne Marie O' Connor. So I think I was pretty informed about the subjects in this book before I read it. Personally, I would recommend reading Lady in Gold before this book because then you have an understanding of the time period and information about Adele and Maria. But this book adds emotional depth and explores how Maria and Adele felt about their circumstances, which is what I personally enjoy about historical fiction. Of course, depending on your views about movie adaptions, the movie did a fairly good job so I'd recommend it whenever you have your fill of the books.