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A review by debi_g
Life Drawing by Robin Black
3.0
I reveled in the imagery of this book. The artist narrator's view of her surroundings generates visions that feel quite real. Aside from her name (a name I'd chosen, if my child had been a girl), I'm not overly fond of Augusta, yet that is one of the best aspects of this novel: authentic, flawed characters.
At times the plot nears thriller territory, prompting guesswork about where certain threads may ravel. If anything, this tendency weakens what is an otherwise pleasantly meandering sequence of epiphanies and observations honoring the mundane as well as the momentous.
I was willingly, wholeheartedly wrapped up in the story...to a point. Had I been a beta reader, I'd have advised against some turns and branches of plotting. Alas, the book is a success, so my sense of direction may be off kilter, but I resented the ending for its bow to convention. Must fictional infidelity always lead to such drastic, histrionic ends? In this way, the book fails to mimic life as it is broadly experienced, for many studies reveal couples frequently find their relationships worth recovering from (or even accepting and openly planning for) a degree of physical wandering.
Aside from the last third of the book, I truly enjoyed the honest emotions, the keen observations, and the vividly drawn world, along with the characters who inhabit the space of Life Drawing. (Clever title, too.) I'd certainly attend an art show of Gus'.
At times the plot nears thriller territory, prompting guesswork about where certain threads may ravel. If anything, this tendency weakens what is an otherwise pleasantly meandering sequence of epiphanies and observations honoring the mundane as well as the momentous.
I was willingly, wholeheartedly wrapped up in the story...to a point. Had I been a beta reader, I'd have advised against some turns and branches of plotting. Alas, the book is a success, so my sense of direction may be off kilter, but I resented the ending for its bow to convention. Must fictional infidelity always lead to such drastic, histrionic ends? In this way, the book fails to mimic life as it is broadly experienced, for many studies reveal couples frequently find their relationships worth recovering from (or even accepting and openly planning for) a degree of physical wandering.
Aside from the last third of the book, I truly enjoyed the honest emotions, the keen observations, and the vividly drawn world, along with the characters who inhabit the space of Life Drawing. (Clever title, too.) I'd certainly attend an art show of Gus'.