Scan barcode
A review by avolyn
The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh by Mark Roskill
2.0
Art has been one of my passions for as long as I can remember and I had always heard stories about famous painters and the lives they lived having been awfully strange and full of mental illness, so naturally this book intrigued me as a chance to see inside the life of a famous painter.
I enjoyed the beginning of the book which was written from the view point of his sister-in-law and was very informative on the life he lead and I found it interesting the various career paths that he had explored, and that he didn't really discover his true talent until late in life.
However, I had several issues with this book.
1. While somewhat interesting, I don't know that these letters had enough substance to fill out an entire book. It was rather boring.
2. It was hard to understand what was going on during parts of the book because we only saw his half of the situation, and his opinion. I thought that at times he seemed rather rude, and I would have liked to be able to read the letters from the other side to see whether his attitude was warranted.
3. There was a lot of repetition, it seemed as though I was reading the same letter over and over at times. He was either writing about his feelings for another women that were not returned, being angry with someone, or being poor and in need of money. He was always in need of money! I also was a little bit annoyed with the way in which he took no responsibility for his current situation and if he did have a conflict with someone, he made it clear that it was entirely their fault.
I feel bad that he lived such an unhappy life and had a hard time making friends and keeping friends but I can see why. He seemed like a complete jerk and rather oblivious to his own flaws.
I enjoyed the beginning of the book which was written from the view point of his sister-in-law and was very informative on the life he lead and I found it interesting the various career paths that he had explored, and that he didn't really discover his true talent until late in life.
However, I had several issues with this book.
1. While somewhat interesting, I don't know that these letters had enough substance to fill out an entire book. It was rather boring.
2. It was hard to understand what was going on during parts of the book because we only saw his half of the situation, and his opinion. I thought that at times he seemed rather rude, and I would have liked to be able to read the letters from the other side to see whether his attitude was warranted.
3. There was a lot of repetition, it seemed as though I was reading the same letter over and over at times. He was either writing about his feelings for another women that were not returned, being angry with someone, or being poor and in need of money. He was always in need of money! I also was a little bit annoyed with the way in which he took no responsibility for his current situation and if he did have a conflict with someone, he made it clear that it was entirely their fault.
I feel bad that he lived such an unhappy life and had a hard time making friends and keeping friends but I can see why. He seemed like a complete jerk and rather oblivious to his own flaws.