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A review by andrew_russell
Vivian by Christina Hesselholdt
1.0
Vivian by Christina Hesselholdt is a polyphonic novel, relating the life and travails of one Vivian Maier, a street and documentary photographer who never viewed herself as such and who only found worldwide fame following her death, after her vast collection of photographic work was sold at an auction and subsequently exposed to the wider public.
Vivian Maier's tale is intriguing and offers rich opportunity for works just such as this. It's a fairytale, with a fairytale ending that Vivian herself never had the good fortune to experience. Added to this is the fact that she was very much an enigma. To say she kept herself to herself is an understatement. For whilst she made many thousands of photographic images in the streets of New York, she was always a spectator, never a participant. Her fascination was with the 'other'; how others behaved and interacted, without a thought given to herself as the photographer. This shows in her work and is a credit to her abilities to remain anonymous, whilst creating some truly magnificent images. While 'working' as a street/documentary photographer, she performed her real job - that of a nanny, frequently rushing along her charges as she moved at pace through the urban environment of New York, frequently exposing them to dangers of which she remained blissfully ignorant.
I'm a photographer myself and was keenly aware of Maier's work before picking this up. Indeed, this was one of my main motivations for doing so. If I lacked this awareness, I'm not sure that this book would have provided anything compelling at all. The fact that I did possess such awareness allowed me to fill in many of the blanks that the book left. The polyphonic structure of the book is poorly executed, a disjointed mish-mash of perspectives that provide only the briefest glimmers of hope that they will meld into something worthwhile; a hope that unfortunately is never fully satisfied. The real interest (unsurprisingly) here, lies in the main subject and indeed the one who lends her name to the title of the book and yet Hesselholdt (surprisingly) neglects this, to the detriment of her own work. 'Too many cooks spoil the broth' is a saying that is only too true in this case.
But as well as including input from too many individuals other than Vivian, Hesselholdt also manages to somehow focus on the least interesting aspects of Maier's life. Again, there are glimmers, brief vignettes that touch momentarily on the interesting aspects of her life but they are just that; flashes that pass all too quickly, before the book turns once again to the musings of one of the children in her care, or her employers. Moreover, Vivian's childhood receives too much attention. Yes, it played a part in who she became but it was not the most compelling part of her story by any means and yet Hesselholdt features it as a core theme throughout the story.
This is a very short book - practically a novella - and yet Hesselholdt squanders precious page space on aspects which are well...dull. This should be a 'back of the net' effort. The story is practically already there, with the author having the freedom to fill in the blanks to create what could be a really, really compelling psychological portrait of a little understood character in the world of photography. But she doesn't. By the end of the book, you can almost feel the author struggling to write the words. Can almost hear her muttering under her breath ' For fucks sake...what should I write next?' The book is almost entirely dull but the 'fairytale ending'; the sale of her possessions and subsequent fame, receives a few clumsily executed paragraphs at either end of the book. A real opportunity to lift her work out of the doldrums of dullness escapes Hesselholdt and indeed, anyone unfamiliar with Maier could be forgiven entirely for missing this element completely. In fact the worldwide fame part just wasn't there at all.
A very poor read. Potentially compelling and interesting story with all the compelling and interesting parts surgically removed by the author. Not to be recommended.
Vivian Maier's tale is intriguing and offers rich opportunity for works just such as this. It's a fairytale, with a fairytale ending that Vivian herself never had the good fortune to experience. Added to this is the fact that she was very much an enigma. To say she kept herself to herself is an understatement. For whilst she made many thousands of photographic images in the streets of New York, she was always a spectator, never a participant. Her fascination was with the 'other'; how others behaved and interacted, without a thought given to herself as the photographer. This shows in her work and is a credit to her abilities to remain anonymous, whilst creating some truly magnificent images. While 'working' as a street/documentary photographer, she performed her real job - that of a nanny, frequently rushing along her charges as she moved at pace through the urban environment of New York, frequently exposing them to dangers of which she remained blissfully ignorant.
I'm a photographer myself and was keenly aware of Maier's work before picking this up. Indeed, this was one of my main motivations for doing so. If I lacked this awareness, I'm not sure that this book would have provided anything compelling at all. The fact that I did possess such awareness allowed me to fill in many of the blanks that the book left. The polyphonic structure of the book is poorly executed, a disjointed mish-mash of perspectives that provide only the briefest glimmers of hope that they will meld into something worthwhile; a hope that unfortunately is never fully satisfied. The real interest (unsurprisingly) here, lies in the main subject and indeed the one who lends her name to the title of the book and yet Hesselholdt (surprisingly) neglects this, to the detriment of her own work. 'Too many cooks spoil the broth' is a saying that is only too true in this case.
But as well as including input from too many individuals other than Vivian, Hesselholdt also manages to somehow focus on the least interesting aspects of Maier's life. Again, there are glimmers, brief vignettes that touch momentarily on the interesting aspects of her life but they are just that; flashes that pass all too quickly, before the book turns once again to the musings of one of the children in her care, or her employers. Moreover, Vivian's childhood receives too much attention. Yes, it played a part in who she became but it was not the most compelling part of her story by any means and yet Hesselholdt features it as a core theme throughout the story.
This is a very short book - practically a novella - and yet Hesselholdt squanders precious page space on aspects which are well...dull. This should be a 'back of the net' effort. The story is practically already there, with the author having the freedom to fill in the blanks to create what could be a really, really compelling psychological portrait of a little understood character in the world of photography. But she doesn't. By the end of the book, you can almost feel the author struggling to write the words. Can almost hear her muttering under her breath ' For fucks sake...what should I write next?' The book is almost entirely dull but the 'fairytale ending'; the sale of her possessions and subsequent fame, receives a few clumsily executed paragraphs at either end of the book. A real opportunity to lift her work out of the doldrums of dullness escapes Hesselholdt and indeed, anyone unfamiliar with Maier could be forgiven entirely for missing this element completely. In fact the worldwide fame part just wasn't there at all.
A very poor read. Potentially compelling and interesting story with all the compelling and interesting parts surgically removed by the author. Not to be recommended.